Doesn't do much for you when interest rates are so low, or when 401k's lose 5% or more per year, rather than gaining 5%+.
I wasn't counting on cancer. I never saw Obama coming. I didn't see 2008 in my lifetime. The point is, these "How To" articles are just space fillers for something that ends up in the bottom of a bird cage.
If someone is thinking of "retiring" today, let that just mean changing jobs to something else you might enjoy more than what you are doing now. You will probably NEVER really get to retire unless you win the Lottery. A "normal" working person will NEVER save enough money other than some sort of inheritance or lucky break somewhere in your life.
Cancer awaits many, strokes and other more uncommon maladies, await others. Car wreck injuries, and other things you do to yourself also take a toll on retirees. I even didn't do too terribly during the 2008 crash as I have been investing since Nixon and a 500 Dow and knew how to limit losses and more or less read charts to time the markets. The real problems for me came with Obama and low interest rates. Obama Care ruined me. My company ditched retirees ASAP with mandatory enrollment in Obama Care. Well, "ditched" is probably not accurate as my free medical insurance became $300 to $400 to now $700 a month, much more than my house note. Interest rates remaining low for more than a decade was also unexpected. You can't remain diversified if half of your money is drawing chump change for years at a time. Then 2008 hit and made it even more difficult.
The point of this post is, don't even think about retiring and your plan will last more than a year. How about Social Security remaining the same amount for multiple years? Not even $20 bucks raise? Now I have survived cancer, praise God!, But high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, bad knees, and a bum back, keep me from even being a WalMart Greeter,( yeah, I know they don't have those anymore, but you get the picture.) My wife has a part time job, but had 3 just a few weeks ago, but there are NO jobs that will pay what she used to make and give her 40 hrs.
Everything in the article is sound advice, but don't expect clear sailing in the real world.
Then the bottom fell out.
Good point.
The rule of 7 is all you need to know. 7percent over 7years Nd your money doubles