Bloomberg: “The Retirement Countdown: A Year-by-Year Guide to Help You Retire Rich”
April 15, 2026 — In today’s feature by reporter Daydreaming about life after work is one thing; making sure you’ve got enough capital for that eventual reality is another thing entirely. Retirement planning and saving can feel like a long climb toward a distant summit, one where the paths you choose along the way — saving, investing, managing taxes, shaping your lifestyle — influence how arduous your journey will be. And while the right steps put you on a steady path, it’s possible to take a wrong turn or tumble off a cliff.”
Her in-depth guide is designed to help you stay on track at every age and stage — avoiding tax traps, ensuring you don’t fall behind and avoiding other people’s mistakes. Whether you’re just setting off on the journey, approaching the halfway point or preparing for the final ascent, the goal remains the same: Reach the summit with enough strength and resources to enjoy the view.
For insight, she turned to Marguerita Cheng of Blue Ocean Global Wealth.
“These days, it’s not uncommon for people in their 50s to provide financial support to adult children. Helping family can be generous and meaningful — as long as it doesn’t come at the expense of your own financial security,” says Rita. “It is certainly okay to help your kids, but don’t do it to the point where it is hurting you.” When housing is expensive and job markets are tough, parental support can be a huge help as long as it comes with guardrails and a budget. Remember that ensuring you have a comfortable retirement will benefit your whole family in the long run, and the only way to achieve that is, as the saying goes, to put the oxygen mask on yourself first.
Ballpark future needs, she says.
How will you know how much is enough for retirement? Some financial services firms peg your “retirement number” to a multiple of your annual income, and raise that multiple as you get older. Broad rules of thumb — like having enough savings to replace roughly 80% of your pre-retirement income, often measured by your final working-year salary — can be useful starting points. Your actual needs, though, will depend on spending goals, your health, lifestyle and where you will live, among other things.
Start by tracking what you spend now, then model how it could shift in retirement, depending on where you want to live or how much you’ll travel. Next, look at what you can expect from Social Security by creating an account on its website and using the SSA’s online calculator (remember that as much as 85% of it may be taxed). The percentage of pre-retirement pre-tax income that Social Security replaces falls as earnings rise. For example, a household earning $250,000 a year would see about 18% replaced, compared with 37% for a household earning $80,000, according to data cited in a J.P. Morgan Asset Management report. The gap between that reliable income (and any other income sources like a pension) and your projected spending is what you may need to draw from your portfolio every year.