MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) – Planning for your retirement might seem daunting, but experts say the basics can be easily understood with only four numbers.
On Wednesday in the Northern Center on Northern Michigan University’s campus in Marquette, Retirement Fiduciary Advisor Tyler Krzewina gave a presentation on planning for retirement.
He says in Upper Michigan, 2024 data places the average 401k plan balance at less than $75,000. While that might sound like a lot, Krzewina says you should only take 4% of your total balance a year in retirement. Other common pitfalls include that paying 1% more in management fees can mean over $1,000 less in monthly income during retirement.
In order to succeed, Krzewina says you should save 15% of your income (including employer contributions), aim to average 8.5% in annual returns and try not to pay more than 0.75% in account management fees. If you do all three, he says you can take out 4% of your total retirement balance in your first year of retirement, and every year thereafter for 30 years.
If you’re not already saving 15% of your income a year, Krzewina says that’s okay, but you should start prioritizing reaching that level.
“Set a goal, over the next 15 months, to do whatever you need to do with your own personal household budget to get to that point of saving 15%,” Krzewina said.
He says if everyone were to follow these guidelines, the U.P.’s retirement future would be much brighter.
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