Assessing Your Fitness and Setting Goalsplans allow de1107 you to save toward

Assessing Your Fitness and Setting Goalsplans allow de1107 you to save toward your retirement at your own expense ratherthan at your employer's expense. (To encourage participation in defined-contribution plans, some employers "match" a portion of their employees'contributions.) More of the burden and responsibility of investing for retirementfalls on your shoulders with 401(k) and similar plans, so it's important tounderstand how these plans work. Most people are ill-equipped to know howmuch to save and how to invest the money. The retirement planning worksheetin the next section should help you get started with figuring out the amountyou need to save. (Part III shows you how to de390 invest.)nchinq numbers for r-)our retirement Now that you've toured the components of your future retirement income,take a shot at tallying where you stand in terms of retirement preparations.Don't be afraid to do this exercise - it's not difficult,de303 and you may find thatyou're not in such bad shape.l even explain how to catch up if you find thatyou're behind in saving for cr1000 retirement.Note: The following worksheet (Table 4-2) and the Growth Multiplier(Table 4-3) assume that you're going to retire at age 66 and that yourinvestments will produce an annual rate of return that is 4 percent higherthan the rate of inflation. (For example, if inflation averages 3 percent, thistable assumes that you will earn 7 percent per year on your investments