How much money you need for retirement depends on many factors. Houston-based Certified Financial Planner Richard Rosso says that magic number is different for different people.
Headlines saying you need $1 million are scary and not realistic. Rosso says the idea can be damaging.
“When you have headlines like this,” he says, “you really pretty much discourage them, through scaring them and they give up. They go, you know what, forget it. I'm never going to make it, so why even bother?”
Rosso says your retirement needs depend on your lifestyle and how much debt you are carrying. It's not a one-size-fits-all measurement.
A million dollars?
“For the most part it's a scare tactic by the financial services industry to have you put more money into stocks,” Rosso says.
We should settle down.
“It's not a realistic goal for some individuals,” he adds, “but that doesn't mean you can't retire.”