CtWatchdog’s Personal Finance Series: Tip 2 – How To Determine Your Assets And Retirement Needs

By George Gombossy | Last updated Nov 17, 2009, 9:57 am

This blog is Part 2 of our Personal Finance Series that will stretch over several weeks. It was prompted by the Personal Finance Seminar I am moderating for Rockville Bank on Dec. 15 in Glastonbury. The event is free, but seating is limited. For reservations, call 860-291-3654. Before taking any of my advice please check with you financial advisor. I am not certified as any kind of financial planner and my advice is solely based on my personal experiences investing over the past 40 years and from being the Business Editor of The Courant for 12 years. And keep in mind. No matter what anyone says there is risk to any financial decision you make or don’t make.

Before you can decide on a financial goal – and I am a firm believer in goals, especially written ones – you must first discover where you are today.

Most of us have only a vague idea of what our net worth really is. Net worth is the value of all our assets minus our debts.

So get out your insurance policies, retirement plans, investments, and add their value. Then add not what you think your home should be worth, but what you could sell it for today. Then subtract all your debts. You might want to consider using Mint both for this task and the next. Its FREE and excellent.

The next step is to figure out how much money you need each year to live the way you do now.

And finally pick one of the four Internet sites that the Wall Street Journal recently reviewed to help calculate your retirement needs and what you need to do to get there.

Ballpark Estimate, Nationwide’s Retirability Check, AARP, and Fidelity’s MyPlan are all worth checking out.

Tomorrow we will discuss why the average investor SHOULD NOT purchase individual stocks.

Sunday’s Tip One – Borrow Now When You Don’t Need The Money