Has anyone tried out the "retirement calculator" at Fidelity? That's totally depressing. I am making 60k at age 29/30, saving 1k+ each month, yet the results of the thing said i need to work my ass till I am 75...

Plus it suggests me to go very agressive in my investments. However, in the long run, all "agressive" guys eventually got burnt badly.

Planning for retirement is certainly worthy of a separate thread, carlos. There are soooo many factors that go into a calculation like that, it is unreal. If you are saving 20% of your income in a tax-advantaged account (401(k) or IRA), and investing in a good mix of stocks and bonds, you're pretty likely to be fine in retirement.

I went through Fidelity's calculator myself, and I think they equate "aggressive" with "equities" - that is, a very aggressive investor by their measure would invest in 100% equities. I think what you're thinking of about getting burnt badly is people who invested in aggressive stock funds, many of which do experience significant fluctuations. Most investors are pretty well-served by index funds that track a well-diversified set of equities and bonds.

You're young enough that at this point, what matters (mostly) is that you're contributing heavily to a reasonable set of investments. Over time, things will most likely work out well for you.

The calculators at the investment sites are heavily weighed towards getting you to save more. I think Fidelity is at 85% of your income. The true secret is to determine what you spend, not what you earn. That should be your benchmark. There is a great calculator at FIRECALC. It allows you to test various scenarios against actual results in the market. For example, you can test your assumptions if you needed 30 years of retirement and your first year of retirement was in 1929. The buy and hold strategy shows even retiring during the great depression you would do OK!

By buy and hold, I assume you mean buy and hold along with dollar-cost averaging?

Actually, if you had planned to retire in 1929, and then had your nestegg in the market (well diversified), and resisted the urge to withdraw your funds after the crash, you would have met all of your goals for a 30 - 35 year retirement. If you took out the money in fear, as many would do, then you would in all likelihood run out of money.

Check out financialengines.com. It costs money (~$100/year) but its good advice! Try it out for one quarter ($40)

If you go HERE you can get a one year free of Financial Engines. Middle of the page.

Many thanks to our MOD for setting this as an independent thread.

I have a question here: when people planning for retirements, do they actually take into accout those things that almost certainly will happen? I am asking because these things will dramatically change their financial outlook, especially for the retiremet plan.

Some examples here:
1, children, it's definitely a huge burden on your monthly bills, daycare, schools, first car, college, marriage...The average cost of bring up a kid to 18 nowadays is around 200k, i think that didn't include all these above.
2, wife, where the kids come from. she works? she stay home? Will she use her imcome to help you with the house? Or would you have to take care of her retirement too?
3, husband, same as wife.
4, divorce. Oh god!
5, parents. medical bills, eldly care, and of course, funerals. They might leave you some money, but it could also be debt.