Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Passing a Milestone

What d'ya know!

My retirement funds have finally caught up and passed their prior high mark of $174,518, set in October, 2007.

Mathmatically, of course, this isn't quite true, since I have been faithfully depositing over $1000 a month into the account ever since.

BUT, psychologically, it feels like I've turned a corner in my accounts and that my retirement is, once again, back on track.

As of yesterday, I now have $175,089 in the 401(k) and 403(b) plans.

According to Financial Engines, I have an 83% chance of retiring on $50,000 a year, provided I keep saving at the same rate.

Since I honestly think I can live pretty easily on $36,000 a year once my debts and house are paid off, I'm ecstatic!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't forget inflation-- 36K won't be 36K 30 years from now!

Keep chugging on that debt and retirement savings!

Retired Syd said...

I was thinking along the same lines today. Today is the one-year anniversary of our recent bottoming out of the market. The S&P 500 (including dividends) is up 72% from a year ago today.

Glad I just held my breath and held on . . .

frugal zeitgeist said...

Congratulations, Grace! This happened to me just last week.

Regarding inflation: 3% inflation over 20 years will reduce the purchasing power of $50,000 by almost 50% relative to what it is today. Keep on saving and paying off debt!

Shevy said...

Yes, well, I tend not to worry about inflation to the extent that some others do. You've figured that you can live fine on $36K in today's dollars and you're looking at a time frame of what, 10 years down the road?

But your contributions are also in today's dollars and the interest you earn is the present low rate. If there is inflation wages will tend to rise (although sometimes at a slower rate) and interest rates will rise again too.

So you will be able to contribute more (and still be keeping the same percentage) and you'll earn more on your money. If inflation really takes off, things will cost a lot more but you'll also be earning a lot more.

I think it really works out fairly well in the end. I'm planning on us being able to live quite adequately on $24,000 in our chosen retirement area (in 10 to 15 years) even though it costs us much more than that now in our major metropolitan area.

Even accounting for 3% inflation, that amount is still under $36,000 if I wait until I'm 65 to retire. And CPP is indexed.

Like I say, I'm not that worried.

Florence said...

I will be doing our quarterly statements at the end of this month and am anticipating good news too.

Sharon said...

Congrats! That's always good news!Our retirement accounts hit an all time high too! Things are looking up...

Anonymous said...

I live on $13,600.00 per year, and save money. Have had the good times of living on 150k. Like my life a lot better now.

To each his own, and what he thinks he may need.

See Ya

Revanche said...

That's great!

Since I kept contributing for the most part during the crash, I'm not sure that mine have attained their previous highs but then again, the retirement funds were pretty negligible (<$20K) three years ago.