What's your Pudding Score?

**am_vanquish** · 10-06-2009, 01:58 AM

My score is 207!!!

Looks like this is being driven by an over-simplified replacement ratio. The company I work for does a pretty good bit of work with retirement replacement ratios ... my boss is even considered THE expert on them.

**kork13** · 10-06-2009, 03:28 AM

.......uh...... it says 999+ for me.... I guess that's a good thing??

Okay, I ran it again including only my strictly retirement accounts.... 521. hooray? I'm curious about the math it's doing behind the scenes (I find it suspect........)

**simpletron** · 10-06-2009, 08:58 AM

272 for just retirement accounts(IRAs, 401K).

to kork, from the FAQ:
If you are age 25 or younger, you can achieve a Pudding Score of 100 with a retirement plan balance of just 10% (1/10th) of your annual pay. For you, the challenge will be to stay on a good course. The Benchmark Account will increase a lot in future years. You will have your work cut out to keep pace.
the results aren't very accurate for the under 25 crowd because your score is the ratio of your savings to the index, which is basically flat until 25 when it starts ramping up(as in you need to double your savings between your 25th and 26th birthdays to keep the same score)

A score of a 100 means you match the index which only replaces 55% of your income for women and 60% for men at age 65. which might not be effort for a comfortable retirement even with social security. also to maintain a score of a 100, you need to save 9%, earn 7% and increase your pay by an "inflation factor" every year.

**LuxLiving** · 10-06-2009, 09:20 AM

I'm in the pudding! Woohooo!!!

**feh** · 10-06-2009, 09:33 AM

My score is 328.

**woodie96** · 10-09-2009, 07:42 AM

OUCH....I knew I got a late start....but dang....only a 31 pudding score....
time to go collect some more aluminum cans...LOL

**Goldy** · 10-12-2009, 07:44 AM

549 for me
168 for the wife.

My wife and I make the same salary and the only difference is that I started saving earlier than she did. Really shows the power of saving early.

**Broken Arrow** · 10-12-2009, 07:57 AM

122

But actually not bad considering that I was such a financial mess even just a few years ago. I just need to keep pushing.

**EconoMutt** · 10-12-2009, 10:45 AM

Mine's only a 33.
I guess I'm in worse shape than I thought. :-)

**illinigamer** · 10-13-2009, 10:26 AM

202...but honestly I would not (and do not) place any value on the numbers this thing is giving.

**disneysteve** · 10-13-2009, 11:58 AM

I don't really see where this number is of any significance. Since I have no employer-sponsored retirement plan, much of the money I am putting away that is ear-marked for retirement is not in a "retirement" account but rather in a regular taxable account. Technically, that money shouldn't be included for this calculation.

Even if I include all of our investable assets, the number has no bearing on reality because it ignores important stuff like what % of income I'm saving, how costly or frugal our lifestyle is, how long I've been earning my current income, what type of lifestyle we plan in retirement, etc.

My number was well over 100, so according to them, I'm doing okay, but I just don't see the relevance of their calculation.

**KTP** · 10-13-2009, 06:10 PM

ya I thought it was a pretty dumb way to calculate a score also.

What's your Pudding Score?