Retirement Planning 201

That is the estimate now based on polling that people need to cover their retirement. Assuming a 4% withdrawal rate, that implies $50,000 per year then add Social Security. What sort of side gig or passive income stream can you create to offset some of that $50,000? This can take a huge burden off your portfolio if you end up with that much or make up the difference if you retire with less than $1.25 million, or whatever number you think you need. Start working on this now, don't wait until you retire.

Trust me, you want all four if at all possible;

• Taxable account
• Traditional IRA/401k
• Roth IRA/401k
• HSA

This is the risk of some sort of down market for stocks either right before or right after you retire. IMO, the simplest way to avoid the consequence of an adverse sequence is to set aside some amount of cash to cover expected expenses for a period of time that makes you most comfortable. I'd go with two years' worth but there's no wrong answer.

They don't make sense for too many people. One good time to do them could be some circumstance where you have no earned income. Converting a dollar amount equal to your standard deduction would be a small tax free conversion.

Retirement will be much easier with no mortgage payment. You also don't need to save money for retirement once you're retired.

Some number that you stumbled across from a planning website or advisor when you were 35 or 40 means nothing. Whatever you wind up with at retirement is your reality, that's what you have to make work.

If you think you need $40,000/yr from your investments but can only safely withdraw $28,000 to avoid running out of money then something will have to give. You might have to work in your primary career longer, find some sort of post-retirement or secondary career, spend less money, downsize your home, maybe some combo of these or something else.