Imagine that you decide to jump into your employers 401(k) thing (a type of profit-sharing plan) and that it allows you to plop 6,000 into a retirement account that you think will earn about 9 percent annually.

Youre on your own here, but let me suggest that this is a time to be honest.

Ideally you want to run out of steam there, thats a safe metaphor before you run out of money.

This is slightly less than the average return that the stock market produces over long periods of time.

Also, if youre investing some portion of your money into lower-risk investments like bonds, that approach, although perhaps very prudent, will slightly reduce your annual yield.

By the way, you can visit the Social Security Administration (SSA) website and use their retirement estimator to get a good working estimate of your future retirement benefits.

Select the Non-Sheltered Investment option button if the money is taxed.

Tax-sheltered investments are such things as IRAs, annuities, and employer-sponsored 401(k)s and 403(b)s.

A 403(b) is kind of a profit-sharing plan for a nonprofit agency.

By deferring income taxes on your earnings, you earn interest on the money you otherwise would have paid as income tax.

Then type the combined federal and state income tax rate that you pay on your last dollars of income.

Quicken whips up a quick little report showing the annual deposits, income, and ending retirement account balances for each year you plan to add to and withdraw from your retirement savings.

Quicken Lifetime Planner For Mac