Hello everyone,

Mike from Los Angeles asked me how much he should save for retirement on a monthly basis.

Obviously there is not a straight forward answer. Mike, who is in his early 30s, has about 30 years to go until retirement and then another 30 plus years of retirement. The only thing certain to me is that there is way too much uncertainty to say for example: If you save 500 dollars per month, you will be all set for retirement.

I don’t like to do that way. I prefer to see if someone is on the right track, and then revisit it on a regular basis to make sure the plan is still doing what it is supposed to do. I think the worst thing that I can do if I tell someone that you have to save ‘X’ dollars, and then they count on that figure.

The most important thing you can do is to save regularly and on a consistent basis. With good allocation and diversification, this will allow you to retire.

Patrick