Financial services giant Fidelity has a rule for retirement savings you may have heard of: Have 10 times your annual salary saved for retirement by age 67. This oft-cited guideline can help you identify a retirement savings goal, but it doesn’t fully account for how much of those savings will cover in retirement.

Enter Fidelity’s 45% rule, which states that your retirement savings should generate about 45% of your pretax, pre-retirement income each year, with Social Security benefits covering the rest of your spending needs.

A financial advisor can analyze your income needs and help you plan for retirement. Find an advisor today.

The financial services firm analyzed spending data for working people between 50 and 65 years old and found that most retirees need to replace between 55% and 80% of their pre-retirement income in order to preserve their current lifestyle. Because retirees have lower day-to-day expenses and don’t typically contribute to retirement accounts, their income requirements are lower than people who are still working.

As a result, a retiree who was earning $100,000 a year would need between $55,000 and $80,000 per year in Social Security benefits and savings withdrawals (including pension benefits) to continue their current lifestyle.

Fidelity’s 45% guideline dictates that a retiree’s nest egg should be large enough to replace 45% of their pre-retirement, pretax income each year. Following this rule, the same retiree who was earning $100,000 per year would need enough saved up to spend $45,000 a year, in addition to his Social Security benefits, to fund his lifestyle. Assuming the person lives another 25 years after reaching retirement age, this person would need $1.125 million in savings.

A financial advisor can help you make projections for your own retirement. Get matched with a financial advisor today.

Pre-Retirement Income Plays an Important Role

But all retirement spending plans aren’t equal. Those who earned less money during their careers will have less saved than high earners, and as a result, will need to replace a larger proportion of their pre-retirement income.

“Your salary plays a big role in determining what percentage of your income you will need to replace in retirement,” Fidelity wrote in its most recent Viewpoints. “People with higher incomes tend to spend a small portion of their income during their working years, and that means a lower income replacement goal in percentage terms to maintain their lifestyle in retirement.”

According to Fidelity, a person who makes $50,000 per year would need savings and Social Security to replace approximately 80% of his income in retirement. An individual earning $200,000, however, could get by in retirement by replacing just 60%.

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Social Security plays a less significant role in the retirement plans of higher-earning workers. Consider the table below:

Replacing Income Using Fidelity’s 45% Rule Pre-Retirement Income Replacement Rate From Savings Replacement Rate From Social Security Total Replacement Rate $50,000 45% 35% 80% $100,000 45% 27% 72% $200,000 45% 16% 61% $300,000 44% 11% 55%

According to Fidelity, a retiree who made $50,000 per year would receive 35% of that income via Social Security. But a high-earning individual who made $300,000 per year would only see 11% of his income replaced by Social Security benefits. While higher-earning individuals don’t need to replace as much of their pre-retirement income, retirement savings plays a more important role for these types of retirees.

Consider matching with a financial advisor if you’re interested in personalized, professional financial advice.

Bottom Line

Fidelity’s 10x rule of thumb is a nifty guideline to follow as you save for retirement over the course of many decades. But when retirement arrives, Fidelity recommends that your savings should cover 45% of your income needs, with Social Security covering the rest. As a result, the average retiree will need to replace between 55% and 80% of his pre-retirement, pretax income to maintain his current lifestyle.

Tips for Retirement Planning

• A financial advisor can be an invaluable resource when it comes to planning for retirement. Whether it’s saving in tax-advantaged accounts or mapping out your income needs, an advisor can help you with your retirement planning needs.

  Finding a qualified financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to three financial advisors who serve your area, and you can interview your advisor matches at no cost to decide which one is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.

• While people can start collecting Social Security benefits at age 62, delaying collection will result in higher benefits. SmartAsset’s Social Security calculator can help you develop a collection plan that enables you to maximize your benefits and enjoy retirement.

• Keep an emergency fund on hand in case you run into unexpected expenses. An emergency fund should be liquid — in an account that isn’t at risk of significant fluctuation like the stock market. The tradeoff is that the value of liquid cash can be eroded by inflation. But a high-interest account allows you to earn compound interest. Compare savings accounts from these banks.

• Are you a financial advisor looking to grow your business? SmartAsset AMP helps advisors connect with leads and offers marketing automation solutions so you can spend more time making conversions. Learn more about SmartAsset AMP.

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The post Should the 45% Rule Guide Your Retirement Strategy? appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.

Two people are facing charges in Indiana in connection with a series of thefts of bronze veteran markers from headstones from various veteran burial locations in the Hoosier State.

Terry Wood, 53, and Breanna Puentez, 25, were taken into custody Friday after at least 15 grave markers from six different cemeteries in La Porte County last month were reported stolen while another was reportedly damaged, the La Porte County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Both suspects are facing several felony counts of theft and cemetery mischief.

The sheriff’s office publicly announced the investigation into the stolen grave markers on Aug. 28 and urged residents to visit the grave sites of deceased veterans. The next day, the agency said investigators received credible information identifying a suspect.

FORMER INDIANA SHERIFF PLEADS GUILTY TO CHARGES OF SPENDING FUNDS ON TRAVEL, GIFTS, CARS

Terry Wood, 53, and Breanna Puentez, 25, are facing felony counts of theft and cemetery mischief. (La Porte County Sheriff’s Office)

Detective Jake Koch, a veteran himself, led the investigation, which revealed that the grave markers were taken from cemeteries in Union Mills, Rolling Prairie, Carmel, Pinola, Greenwood and St. Stan’s.

Investigators presented evidence to the La Porte County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and later to La Porte County Circuit Court, where probable cause was found for Wood’s arrest.

The “Justice, Peace, and Salute” operation was executed Friday in the 400 block of Andrew Avenue in La Porte, where Wood was arrested, and additional evidence was collected.

The investigation revealed that the grave markers were taken from cemeteries in Union Mills, Rolling Prairie, Carmel, Pinola, Greenwood and St. Stan’s. (iStock)

Later that day, Puentez was taken into custody and charged in connection with the thefts.

“This type of criminal behavior is disgusting, unacceptable, and will not be tolerated in La Porte County! It is the hope of the entire Sheriff’s Office that because of the diligent and thorough investigation by Detectives Koch and Banic, justice will be served to both accused subjects. Hopefully, US Veterans, both deceased and living, can find peace and comfort with these arrests, and with that, we salute them for their service,” Capt. Derek J. Allen said in a statement.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTED AFTER STABBING OF TEEN GIRL AT INDIANA BASEBALL GAME: POLICE

Both suspects were booked into the La Porte County Jail. (iStock)

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Both suspects were booked into the La Porte County Jail.

Wood is being held on a $15,005 cash-only bond, while Puentez is not eligible for bond because she was out on bond.

If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for September 10, 2024 read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Today’s puzzle is medium difficult; I got it in four. Beware, there are spoilers below for September 10, Wordle #1,179! Keep scrolling if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Wordle game.

How to play Wordle

Wordle lives here on the New York Times website. A new puzzle goes live every day at midnight, your local time.

Start by guessing a five-letter word. The letters of the word will turn green if they’re correct, yellow if you have the right letter in the wrong place, or gray if the letter isn’t in the day’s secret word at all. For more, check out our guide to playing Wordle here, and my strategy guide here for more advanced tips. (We also have more information at the bottom of this post, after the hints and answers.)

Ready for the hints? Let’s go!

Does today’s Wordle have any unusual letters?

We’ll define common letters as those that appear in the old typesetters’ phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Memorize this! Pronounce it “Edwin Shirdloo,” like a name, and pretend he’s a friend of yours.)

There are four common letters from our mnemonic today. The fifth letter is fairly common.

Can you give me a hint for today’s Wordle?

As a noun, a person in opposition, with or without a cause.

Does today’s Wordle have any double or repeated letters?

There is one repeated letter today. 

How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?

There is one vowel, used twice.

What letter does today’s Wordle start with?

Today’s word starts with R. 

What letter does today’s Wordle end with?

Today’s word ends with L. 

What is the solution to today’s Wordle?

Ready? Today’s word is REBEL.

How I solved today’s Wordle

I started with RAISE and TOUCH, followed by PYLON to eliminate likely consonants. This left a few possible solutions, of which REBEL was the most common word.

Wordle 1,179 4/6

🟩⬛⬛⬛🟨
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle was easier. The hint was “a type of card you carry in your wallet” and the answer contained four common letters and one fairly common letter.

The answer to yesterday’s Wordle was DEBIT.

A primer on Wordle basics

The idea of Wordle is to guess the day’s secret word. When you first open the Wordle game, you’ll see an empty grid of letters. It’s up to you to make the first move: type in any five-letter word. 

Now, you can use the colors that are revealed to get clues about the word: Green means you correctly guessed a letter, and it’s in the correct position. (For example, if you guess PARTY, and the word is actually PURSE, the P and R will be green.)

• Yellow means the letter is somewhere in the word, but not in the position you guessed it. (For example, if you guessed PARTY, but the word is actually ROAST, the R, A and T will all be yellow.)

• Gray means the letter is not in the solution word at all. (If you guessed PARTY and everything is gray, then the solution cannot be PURSE or ROAST.)

With all that in mind, guess another word, and then another, trying to land on the correct word before you run out of chances. You get six guesses, and then it’s game over.

The best starter words for Wordle

What should you play for that first guess? The best starters tend to contain common letters, to increase the chances of getting yellow and green squares to guide your guessing. (And if you get all grays when guessing common letters, that’s still excellent information to help you rule out possibilities.) There isn’t a single “best” starting word, but the New York Times’s Wordle analysis bot has suggested starting with one of these:

• CRANE

• TRACE

• SLANT

• CRATE

• CARTE

Meanwhile, an MIT analysis found that you’ll eliminate the most possibilities in the first round by starting with one of these:

• SALET

• REAST

• TRACE

• CRATE

• SLATE

Other good picks might be ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO get more vowels in play, but you could argue that it’s better to start with an emphasis on consonants, using a starter like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose your strategy, and see how it plays out.

How to win at Wordle

We have a few guides to Wordle strategy, which you might like to read over if you’re a serious student of the game. This one covers how to use consonants to your advantage, while this one focuses on a strategy that uses the most common letters. In this advanced guide, we detail a three-pronged approach for fishing for hints while maximizing your chances of winning quickly.

The biggest thing that separates Wordle winners from Wordle losers is that winners use their guesses to gather information about what letters are in the word. If you know that the word must end in -OUND, don’t waste four guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; combine those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lights up in yellow, you know the solution.

One more note on strategy: the original Wordle used a list of about 2,300 solution words, but after the game was bought by the NYT, the game now has an editor who hand-picks the solutions. Sometimes they are slightly tricky words that wouldn’t have made the original list, and sometimes they are topical. For example, FEAST was the solution one Thanksgiving. So keep in mind that there may be a theme.

Wordle alternatives

If you can’t get enough of five-letter guessing games and their kin, the best Wordle alternatives, ranked by difficulty, include:

• Wheeldle, which lets you play one puzzle after another

• Dordle and Quordle, which ask you to play two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles at the same time, with the same guesses. There is also Octordle, with eight puzzles, and Sedecordle, with 16.

• Waffle, which shows you several five-letter words, scrambled in a grid; you play by swapping the letters around until you solve.

• Absurdle, which changes the solution after each guess, but needs to stay consistent with its previous feedback. You have to strategically back it into a corner until there is only one possible word left; then you guess it, and win.

• Squabble, in which you play Wordle against other people with a timer running. You take damage if you spend too much time between guesses; winner is the last one standing.

• Antiwordle, in which you are trying not to guess the day’s solution. You’re required to reuse any letters that you (oops) guessed correctly, so the longer it takes you, the better you are at the game.