Are You Ready For Retirement? Take the Quiz!

Since succession and transition comprises about 90 percent of what we do here, I came across a financial retirement quiz compiled by business cable network CNBC which posited 10 questions in an effort to gauge how knowledgeable folks are about the amount of money they’ll need once they call it quits for their careers.

With frightening regularity, there are myriad online and print articles which demonstrate how shockingly little many folks have put away for retirement – if any – and how unprepared they are for the reality of not receiving a regular paycheck.

I’m sure you’ve read about or sadly know someone who has nothing put away for the future. I once heard that more than 50 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved for their post-working years. To put that dollar figure into perspective, it’s barely enough to rent a $400 a month apartment for two years.

For example, do you know how much money experts advise that you put away? Admittedly, I missed this one. Actually, it’s 10x your annual salary. Therefore, if you make $100,000 per year, you should in theory have a nest egg of $1 million.

What is the biggest expense for couples in retirement? I thought it would be health care given the aging population, but in reality it’s housing.

I once had a colleague who contributed nothing to the company 401(k) despite the fact the company matched it up to 4 percent. So in essence he was throwing away free money. When I asked him why, he explained that his late aunt had set aside $20,000 for him in her will. So I asked him what he paid in rent for his apartment in Manhattan. At the time his rent was roughly $1,000 a month and food was running him another $300 or so. I explained to him that if nothing else changed, he would burn through that money in 16 months. Alas, he ignored my advice.

If, for example you retired at age 65 do you know how many years your retirement savings should last? On average, 22 years.

Any idea what the average Social Security payout was in 2016? For those keeping score at home it was $1,300. Not nearly enough to cover housing, food and any health care problems.

And finally, what percent of your retirement savings should you withdraw each year. While I’ve heard differing opinions on this, those far smarter than me say between 4 percent and 5 percent.

The king of the one liners, Henny Youngman used to joke that he had enough money to live on the rest of his life – provided he died by 5 o’clock that afternoon. Sadly that may be true for too many.