The recent stock market slide may make you too nervous to look at your retirement account, but now more than ever you need to make sure you have realistic expectations for what you will need in retirement and compare that to how much you are saving each month.
Do you know how much you need to save each month for retirement? Jean Chatzky, More Magazine's finance columnist suggests: "Not sure how to do the calculations? Try the Ballpark E$timate at Choose to Save."
Women vs. Men
Many women need to shift the way they think about money and become at least as savvy as men with their retirement savings plans. Why? For starters, women are living longer than men. Yet men think they need to save more for their retirement. Women on average only earn 77 cents on the dollar compared with men. Plus women are more likely to be employed in jobs that are not covered by company retirement and pension plans. Married couples may assume they are better off, but they need to also consider what happens to the surviving spouse–often the wife. According to WSJ.com:
