Our April meeting was very well attended. Our speaker was Courtney McHarg. She is a senior financial Advisor with Ameriprise. She had some great information for those in attendance about saving for retirement and any unforseen life issues.

The rule of 72 was explained by Courtney. Your investment has a return rate. If you divide 72 by the rate of return (10%, 7%, etc) you will get a number that describes how long it will take to double your original investment.

Those people who are planning on retiring in the next 20 years should have 10-20% being taken out for retirement. Time is the second best way to start saving for retirement.

A short-term goal for savings is to have 3-6 months of your salary in savings. For those looking into retirement in the near future, a long-term goal of 20-25% of your gross salary is your goal. One suggestion Courtney had was that when you get a raise automatically add that to your withdrawal. For example, if you are currently having 10% taken out for retirment savings, and you get a 3% raise, change your deduction to 13%.

Those individuals under age 40 should have 50% of their deductions in an aggressive account. A simple calculation is 100 subtracting your age equals the amount to place in a conservative risk account. The remaining amount should be in aggressive.

For those who are retiring or retired, Courtney suggests withdrawing money from your accounts as if you were still receiving a paycheck. Only now it is coming out of your retirement account. Some questions were asked about different investment firms that handle our accounts. Courtney said she felt that fidelity was one of the best companies out there. Also, depending on the amount of penalty for moving money from one company to another would determine whether that move was a good idea.

Courtney is available for questions and would love to help anyone interested in using a financial advisor. Thank you Peggy Coppin for inviting Courtney to talk with us.

Courtney can be reached at 916-922-5811