Charting your finances
The Web's interactive financial calculators can be fun. You can type in different interest or savings rates and see what differences they make in your future net worth. But be careful. Sometimes online calculators have built-in assumptions on inflation rates or other variables that can greatly influence the final output.
So, try several different calculators to get a better picture of how much you need to save. Here are a few places to start:
Legg Mason
Retirement Planning Calculator
Input your age,
current assets, desired retirement income, and the interest rate
you
expect to earn. The calculator will figure out the mind-numbing
sum that you should be saving monthly.
Investor Guide
to Retirement
You can find
information about 401(k) plans, IRAs, Social Security, and estate
planning as well as several links to retirement calculators.