Have You Run a Retirement Projection Recently?
Financial PlanningRunning a retirement projection is the financial version of your annual medical check-up. The retirement calculator is a diagnostic test that tells you whether you are on track --or not on track -- to retire at a target date with a comfortable income for the rest of your life.
Are you on track to replace 80% of your income in retirement?
There are two common, interrelated retirement planning guidelines. The first is that you should aim to replace 70-80 percent of your pre-retirement income. Why 70-80 percent and not 100 percent? Primarily because you no longer have to save for retirement or contribute to Social Security.
What's in a real estate retirement projection?
If you're a real estate investor, start by using a real estate-friendly retirement calculator to run a retirement projection. Financial planners who work with real estate investors typically use either Right Capital or eMoney to model real estate retirement scenarios. A good real estate retirement projection includes: 
- A vision of your ideal retirement
- Your personal mix of assets, liabilities, and income
- How you think your spending and lifestyle will change when you're retired
- How much you save -- and where
- Taxes and inflation rates, both now and in the future
- Current property income and expenses, accumulated depreciation, vacancy rates, and planned capital improvements
Knowledge is power. By checking in on your retirement progress every year, you'll know if you're on track, or if you need to make some changes in how you save, invest, or prepare.
Want to learn more? Read Real Estate Investors - Include These 5 Factors In Your Retirement Projection
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