Retirement Worksheet

Retirement Worksheet Name:
____________________________________________

1.
After my
education is complete, my career plans include:

____________________________________________________________________________________

2.
I am
currently working _________hrs./week at _______________________ where my
primary job

responsibilities
include________________________________________________________________.

3.
I believe / don’t believe this job
will assist me in achieving my long-term career goals.

4.
YOUR ESTIMATE/BEST GUESS: I
intend to withdraw $_________________ at the END of each year from my
retirement account to support my lifestyle.
Input how much you think you need to live comfortably in your retirement
years. To help you with your estimate, experts
estimate you should plan to have approximately 70% of your ending salary in
your retirement years in order to maintain your standard of living. (Assume no pension or Social Security
benefits.)

5. When I retire, my goal is to have saved
$_______________________ in a retirement account. I believe these funds will be sufficient to
maintain my desired lifestyle through my retirement years. Input this figure BEFORE you calculate
anything on the Excel template. Just
take a guess. What do you think is a
reasonable amount to have as your nest egg on the day you retire (age 65 in
this example) that would support the annuity withdrawal from the previous
question.

6.
Based on my
total retirement savings from question #5, assuming those funds are invested at
5% compounded annually, I am able to withdraw $______________ from my
retirement fund each year over the next 20 years. (Show
all work here.) Easiest to compute with
the financial calculator (solve for PMT).

INPUTS:

7. In order to meet your retirement goals
(withdrawing an annuity stream for 20 years) from question #4, how much would
you need to have in your retirement account at age 65? In other words, based on the amount of the
annuity from question #4, the total retirement savings account must have an
actual balance of $______________ in the account on the day of retirement at
age 65 assuming a rate of 5% compounded annually. This is a present value of annuity
calculation. (Show all work here.)

INPUTS:

8.
Review your
answers from questions #4-#7. This is
just the “off the cuff” approach to retirement planning. How close were you to “reality”? What are your thoughts or conclusions?

____________________________________________________________________________________

Now let’s
take a more analytical approach to retirement planning:

9.
INPUT INTO
TEMPLATE:

I hope to
have $___________________ of retirement
savings in the bank by age 30.

I hope to
earn $___________________ per year when I’m 30.

I hope to
earn $___________________ per year when I’m 40.

I hope to
earn $___________________ per year when I’m 50.

I hope to
earn $___________________ per year when I’m 60.

10. I PROMISE
that I WILL SAVE 15% of that salary each year, and I expect to retire at age
65.

11. If my life expectancy is age 85, my
retirement years will total ________.

12. SHOW WORK IN
THE TEMPLATE: Assume I invest 15% of my salary annually
based upon the above salaries at a savings rate of 6.5% compounded
annually. At retirement age, my nest egg
(including the retirement funds I had saved by age 30) would total:

$_______________________ (from
Excel template)

13. SHOW WORK IN
THE TEMPLATE: Based on the amount of funds in your
retirement account (question #12), how much can you withdraw each year during
retirement? In other words, what is your
annual annuity?

$_______________________ (from
Excel template)

14. With a disciplined savings plan I know I can
meet my long-term financial goals: TRUE/FALSE

15. Please
comment on this exercise. What are your
thoughts/conclusions?