Building a large enough nest egg to finance the kind of retirement you’re hoping for is a task that takes decades. But how much you need to retire? It all depends on what you’ve saved and how well you wish to live.

One of the tricky parts of retirement planning is figuring out how much money you should aim to have set aside. So how much do you need to retire comfortably?

By now, you’ve likely heard the recommendation that you should aim to have savings of $1 million to $1.7 million. Or that your savings should amount to 10 to 12 times your current income. While this number may seem unattainable for most, there’s no magic amount you should strive to attain, but there are some questions you can ask yourself to determine your optimal “number.”

What’s Your Number?

To answer this, you need to ask yourself “What do I want to do in retirement?” The answer varies person-to-person, you then need an action plan of how to achieve your dreams. But the key is to keep your dreams realistic by figuring out a number attainable for you.

Start by creating a budget to track your expenses and finish with a sound plan to stay on track. Here’s a breakdown of how to achieve your number in 7 steps:

1. Start with a dream—what you want to do in retirement.
2. Use retirement calculator tools to get a high-level view of your retirement needs.
3. Use your current budget to create a mock retirement budget.
4. Subtract current debts (like a mortgage or loans) you won’t have in retirement.
5. Add future costs (like health care) you will have in retirement.
6. Create a plan to work toward this financial goal. Including exploring tactical stock market and non-stock market retirement portfolios.
7. Work closely with a pro to stay on track with your plan.

Let’s Get You There

Building large amounts of wealth for retirement isn’t something that only higher earners can do. If you’re willing to make some modest sacrifices and explore fresh new ideas for your retirement income, you may be surprised at just how much much you can wind up with.

If you’re ready to talk with a financial advisor about your retirement accounts, contact CKS Summit Group. We can give you the information, direction and confidence you need to reach your retirement goal.

Our cutting edge tactical portfolios help our clients achieve safe, healthy growth of their savings and preservation of their principal balance.

CKS Summit Group designs plans which are specifically structured to limit downside stock market risk. This allows us to protect our client’s assets while providing them with strategies for achieving effective tax reduction and inflation protection. Set up your complimentary strategy session with us here today.