Retirement Calculator
Retirement Calculator in St. Louis. Everyone knows the importance of planning for retirement early, but many St. Louis residents don't have the time, knowledge, or interest to calculate how much they need to save by the time they retire. While looking up "retirement calculator" may be helpful to give you a sense of where you currently stand, you'll need proven and trustworthy St. Louis retirement planners and financial advisors to best understand how to move forward. At Correct Capital Wealth Management, we balance your current financial realities, future financial prospects, and lifestyle goals to apply our skills and investment knowledge to help you get the retirement of your dreams. For an experienced human retirement calculator, call us today at 877-930-4015 or contact us online.
How to Calculate How Much You'll Need for Retirement in St. Louis
In order to calculate how much you need for retirement planning, you'll need to balance your estimated monthly expenses with your estimated monthly income once you retire. To do this, you need to consider:
- Your current status — Before figuring out where you want to go, it's important to develop an understanding of where you are now. This includes your age, household income, current retirement savings, and how much you put away each month for retirement. Doing this will help identify areas where your financial portfolio needs improvement.
- Your real rate of return for retirement — You'll have to look at your rate of return both before and during retirement. Your real rate of return adjusts the increase in your savings and investments with inflation. For example, if you had a return of 10% last year, but inflation was 3%, your real rate of return was 7%.
- Expected salary increases — Salaries are almost always on the rise. Average base pay salary growth increased by an average of 4.8% year over year in the second quarter of 2022. Depending on what stage you're at in your career, you may also be about to enter a more lucrative field, gain promotions, get offered company stock, or switch jobs multiple times to higher-paying positions. A higher income will allow you to save more, but will also likely make you accustomed to an increasingly comfortable lifestyle.
- How long you'll need a retirement income — Obviously, none of us know exactly how long our golden years will last. But having a good understanding of what age you'll be when you retire and your health will help guide your retirement calculations.
- Expected rate of inflation — As we've seen over the last few years, predicting fluctuations in the market and inflation is an uncertain task to say the least. Still, most wealth managers recommend staying calm and assuming 3% annual inflation for people calculating their retirement needs.
- Your Social Security benefits — Understanding what benefits you are entitled to is a key aspect of calculating how much you'll need in retirement. Certain types of employment, for example farm work, working for the federal government, military service, or being self-employed have special rules for your benefits.
There are many ways to consider how much income you'll need in retirement. One rule of thumb some retirement calculators use is that your income need in retirement will be 80-100% of your most recent after-tax salary. Another way to look at it is the 4% rule, which stipulates that each year you can withdraw 4% of your savings at the time of your retirement to have a comfortable but financially secure retirement for up to 30 years. It's important to reach out to a professional St. Louis retirement consultant who will be able to look at your personal financial situation and decide what the best way to calculate your retirement needs is for you.
Other Questions to Consider | St. Louis Retirement Calculator
Beyond the technical aspects of a retirement calculator, like inflation and returns, you'll also need to consider more subjective questions, such as:
- What age would you like to retire? Some people want to see the white sands of Anguilla while they're still young enough to sprint over them. Others would feel better dutifully working as long as they're physically able. Whether you're in one of those camps or somewhere in between, the age you retire will determine how long you need retirement savings for, and whether or not there are any tax implications for your Social Security benefits.
- Where do you want to live when you retire? The cost of living is different in St. Louis than it is in New York City, Alaska, Italy, or anywhere else. Different locations also have different taxes, housing costs, health care expenses, travel expenses, and even different opportunities for a part-time job if you're feeling restless.
- What kind of lifestyle will you want? Do you have travel destinations, ski trips, and bungee jumping to cross off your bucket list? Would you rather sit on the back porch with a book, a cigar, and a moderately-priced pinot? Or do subsequent generations live far away from St. Louis and you want to take consistent trips to see them? A more active retirement usually means more expenses.
- Are you married? Married couples have a higher maximum Social Security benefit than unmarried people. They'll also have more expenses, yet potentially more income. Whether you'll spend the coming decades with a spouse will go a long way in
- How long will you have dependents? If you have children or other dependents, you'll have to spend a significant portion of money on their care, and may choose to help them in other ways through saving for their higher education or taking out a life insurance policy. This will affect how much you can responsibly put away for retirement each year.
Choose Correct Capital's St. Louis Financial Advisors as Your Retirement Calculators
Your St. Louiss advisor team at Correct Capital consists of CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals, a five-time Top 1200 Advisor by Barrons, an Accredited Investment Fiduciary®, and a support team dedicated to competently and ethically handling your money. We help St. Louis families and individuals prepare for the golden years of their dreams, as well as business owners who wish to give their employees a great 401(k) plan.
No matter where you are and where you want to go, our comprehensive financial advice includes helping you understand different retirement plans like Roth IRAs, whether or not you should rollover your 401(k) when changing jobs, and how to best manage your assets in the interest of growing your retirement savings.
Take Control of Your Retirement Planning in St. Louis With Savology
Another important aspect to consider when choosing a wealth management firm is what resources and tools they can offer you to optimize your financial journey. Correct Capital partners with Savology to offer St. Louis individuals and families a free, innovative online retirement calculator to take control of their finances. You can reach a more secure financial future in three easy steps:
- Take the survey — It takes just 5 minutes to open an account and answer a few quick questions. Then, you'll receive a personalized plan aimed at improving your financial wellness and financial literacy.
- Review Your Plan — You'll get a report card that lets you know how you're doing in over 10 categories, including retirement, debt, income, and savings. We'll also provide you with clear action items you can take to help you reach your financial goals.
- Work with a Financial Advisor in St. Louis from Correct Capital — We're here to answer any question you may have, help you understand your plan and how the action items correlate to your goals, and provide any additional insights we can.
Through Savology and Correct Capital's partnership, you'll receive a clear road map that lets you know what steps you can take now that will pay off later.
St. Louis, MO Retirement Calculator | Correct Capital Wealth Management
As Correct Capital is not tied to any larger firm or financial institution, our financial advisors will only give you advice that is independent, objective, and unbiased. We know that trusting someone with your hard-earned money and your family's future is difficult, and we will never take that trust for granted. As fiduciary advisors, we are legally and ethically bound to act purely in your best interest. For a retirement calculator in St. Louis with a human face, brain, and touch, call Correct Capital today at 877-930-4015 or contact us online.
