% for Retirement

[terces]

DH is in a defined benefit plan which he contributes 10% of his salary toward. Should I include this amount as part of my overall retirement %? Right now I don't because its always been out of sight, out of mind.

Currently we are saving 15% toward gen savings (bulkin up emergency fund) and 10% toward retirement (401K & Roth). My goal is to get retirement savings up to 20% while maintaining our other savings.

[littleroc02us]

It's always hard to give good advice without knowing your goals, debt load and other financial info. My belief is that I am totally debt free except my house and then I work on bulking up my EF fund while contributing 15% to my retirement funds. It's been a lot easier to obtain these goals when I don't have the debt burden.

[terces]

Only debt is the house.

My question is when people talk about saving at least 15% of your income for retirement, would they consider any monies they put into a defined benefit plan. If he leaves his job early, he would get a lump sum of what he invsted. But once he hits the 10 year mark (5 years away) he's guaranteed a pension from it.

Part of me is thinking to not include it when I'm calculating our retirement savings. That way its just another added bonus.

[Scanner]

I have learned we can all parce over little things like this (and maybe it's not so little - I get what you are saying - counting the pension deduction within the percentage).

I think the main thing of any plan is it should be "easy to calculate and do." (unless you are JimOhio or Broken Arrow, who enjoy running numbers ).

For me, I am on the hook for substantial child support so I face an ethical dilemma every month - do I contribute to a Roth, which I was in years past when I was married, which would raise the amount of money I make per year or do I take what the state allows me to contribute, which is 7% (I can't use the Federal maxes) and allocate that to my SEP-IRA and thereby reduce my income/child support?

I honestly struggled with it morally but I soon concluded that really, nobody, I mean nobody, cares about you in divorce except you and your attorney. And he only cares about you because you pay him to.

So, what's easy for me is to just take 7% of whatever is in my checkbook at the end of the month and put it in my SEP-IRA to reduce my earnings. It's so easy. If I have $10,000, I put in $700.00. If I have $100, I put in $7.00.

Make an easy plan and stick to it.

[snshijuptr]

15% is a general guideline and does not give you much information. In my mind, put whatever makes you comfortable into retirement (be that 15% of gross, net, including Pensions/Social Security or not), save for medium term goals, then start running the numbers using various retirement calculators. Some I like are:

FIRECalc: A different kind of retirement calculator

https://www.retiremyway.com/plan/PlanningTool.htm

How Much Will I Need To Save For Retirement? | HelpMeFinancial.com

Of course in my stage of life, I'm excited to start my Roth IRA in the next couple months.

[GREENBACK]

I have a pension plan that has built up nicely over the years. I have the luxury of ignoring it and contribute around 20% outside of it. Hopefully I'll end up with more than I need. This approach has worked for me but I have few expenses which makes this much easier to do. If you feel comfortable with other retirement investments, then why not. If it pinches you then maybe not.

[personalbudgetstuff]

Good idea. i just read in another post that 15% is what you should aim for. I'm going to have to rassess my retirement plan.