### Retirement Planning: Replacing Income vs. Expenses

Retirement planning emphasizes replacing spending, not income, making savings strategies vital for financial independence.

### Understanding Retirement Savings: The Importance of Expense Replacement
* 💰 Saving **25% of your income** can help you recreate **100% of your income in retirement**, but if you're living off **75%**, you can retire earlier by adjusting your savings strategy.
* 📈 Many people discover financial planning in their 30s or 40s, and while **starting early is beneficial**, your replacement ratio may vary based on **when you begin saving**.
* 💡 In retirement, the focus shifts from replacing income to covering expenses, as "**what really matters is your expenses**."
* 🔍 Estimating future expenses is challenging due to uncertainties in life circumstances, making it **difficult to predict spending 15-30 years ahead**.
* 📊 You can assess your current spending habits to determine your replacement needs, such as spending **60% of your income** currently.
* 📚 Resources like "How Much Can **25% Do for You?**" on moneyguy.com can help clarify how much income you need to replace based on your expenses.
* 🛠 Engaging in the "Know Your Number" course can provide a **clearer picture of your financial goals** and the **steps needed to achieve them**.
* ⏳ As you approach retirement, the focus should transition from **savings rates** to ensuring you can **live comfortably off your accumulated resources**.

You say to save 25% to recreate 100% of your income in retirement, but if you've been living off of 75%, if you're saving 25%, how much earlier can you retire if you plan to just have 75% of your income

in retirement? So, those are a lot of percentages, but what do you think? Can you kind of talk about this thought behind 25%? What I love, Bo, is now Nick... Nick knows enough that he knows that we love 25%, but Nick kind of misused our

words a little bit. Is that we say that we tell you 25% so you can replace 100%. Here's what I would encourage you to do, and I always screw up the name of it, but I would encourage you to go to money.com/resources, what can 25% do for

you? Because, yes, without a doubt, Nick, if you're starting and you're saving and investing when you're in your 20s, it probably will replace 100%. But the reality is, is most people don't discover the wonderful world of finance until

their 30s and even 40s, and that's okay because we create content that hits you no matter where you are in this journey. But just know your replacement ratio likely could change depending on what year you actually start saving and investing. Yeah, when it comes to

financial independence and being retired and living off your resources, your income really doesn't matter all that much. Uh, and hear me out on this. What really matters is your expenses. How much do you spend? So, as you get closer and closer to retirement, what you're really

trying to replace is your spending, not your income. Now here's the problem, and here's why we always use percentages of income as our estimators. It's really, really difficult to estimate exactly what our expenses are going to be 15, 20, 30 years down the road. We have

no idea. I mean, our kids might not be grown yet. We might not be in the part of the country we're going to live in. We don't know the things that we're going to do or how we're going to spend our time. So being able to, like, granularly

come up with, "I'm going to spend this much when I get to retirement" is pretty difficult when you're really young. But what you can say is, "Hey, I know that right now, based on the fact that I make 100% of my income, and then I pay

some portion of that to taxes, and I give some portion of that away, and I save some portion for the future. I know that realistically, based on the income that I have coming in right now, I spend 60% of my income." Okay, great. If I go download at

moneyguy.com, the resource is the "How Much Can 25% Do for You?" I think I combine the two titles there. You did. Uh, it will show how much of your income you can replace. So okay, I need to replace 60% or 80% or

113% or whatever that number may be. You can begin to dial that in until you get to the point, and this is what I think is awesome, you can actually do the "Know Your Number" course. You go out to learn.moneyguide.com, and you can actually

begin to say okay instead of having like this generalized idea of what amount of income I need to replace realistically what are my expenses going to be and if I want to live that lifestyle at that level for that timeline what's my number need to be and then what are the steps

that are required to get me from where I am today to there so it's an evolution that takes place over time and in the early stages in the early years it might be shooting for that's why I focus on savings rate and income replacement but

then as you get closer and closer to retirement then it's about expense replacement and being able to actually live off the resources that you've saved

How Much Do You REALLY Need to Retire?

Bring confidence to your wealth building with simplified strategies from The Money Guy. Learn how to apply financial tactics that go beyond common sense and help you reach your money goals faster. Make your assets do the heavy lifting so you can quit worrying and start living a more fulfilled life.

Subscribe today to stay up to date with our latest episodes, livestreams, and highlight videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/MoneyGuyShow?sub_confirmation=1

Are you ready to go beyond common sense when it comes to your money? Check out all the free resources The Money Guy Show provides: https://moneyguy.com/resources/



The Money Guy Show

Retirement Savings and Income Replacement

Question about retiring earlier by saving 25% to replace 75% of income.

Discussion of the 25% savings rate for 100% income replacement.

Recommendation to use money.com/resources to understand the potential of a 25% savings rate.

Income replacement varies based on age of starting savings and investments.

Focus on Expenses, Not Income, in Retirement Planning

Importance of focusing on expenses rather than income in retirement planning.

Difficulty in accurately predicting future expenses.

Using current income and spending to estimate future needs.

Using moneyguy.com resource to determine income replacement percentage.

Personalized Retirement Planning and Resources

Using learn.moneyguide.com to determine personalized retirement number.

Determining realistic expenses and necessary steps to reach retirement goals.

Shifting focus from savings rate to expense replacement as retirement nears.