How Much Income Will I Need in Retirement?

A widely accepted tenet of retirement planning is that you need to replace just 70% to 80% of your pre-retirement income to maintain your standard of living after you call it a career. And on the face of it, this rule of thumb seems to make sense. After all, since you'll no longer have to funnel money into 401(k)s and other retirement savings accounts and many of your expenses are likely to drop after you retire, you should be able to live as well, if not better, on considerably less income than you earned during your career.