Personal finance author and radio
host Jennifer Openshaw has come a long way since working
as a motel maid at age 14. The "Rags to Riches" AOL
columnist lived her own rags-to-riches story by working
her way to top positions at Bank of America, Bank
One, Wilshire Associates and eventually founding two
financial services companies and writing two books
about building wealth, including her latest, "The
Millionaire Zone: 7 Winning Steps to a Seven-Figure
Fortune."
 |
| At a glance |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sharing her retirement planning tips,
Openshaw explains how to save smarter, invest more
wisely and avoid common mistakes people make while
planning for their golden years.
 In your new book, you say that "even if you did save through your 401(k) during your career, chances are you wouldn't be close to having what you need for retirement." Would you elaborate?
 Millionaires or otherwise financially successful people don't count on their 401(k)s because they realize it's just not going to get them to real financial freedom.
Let's take a 50-year-old person earning $50,000 a year. He or she would need about a $700,000 nest egg to retire at that same standard of living produced by $50,000 a year received from age 65 to 90. And, that "nest egg" doesn't include your primary residence since it doesn't produce retirement income while you're living in it. To get to that hefty number, then, you'd have to be contributing in the neighborhood of $8,000 a year over 30 years. Unfortunately, most people haven't done that and can't because of their salary levels and rules around 401(k) contributions.
| --
Posted: April 23, 2007 |
|
