Revised my 2045 retirement goals

The other day, I sat down and was doing some calculations as far as realistic retirement goals.  As a part of that, I was using JLP's retirement savings calculator.

Using the calculator, I figure I am about 40 years away from retirement, and planning on about 30 years of being in retirement.  This would put me at 95 years old, which is probably on the high end, but better safe than sorry.  Using 3% for inflation and 8% for investment return (could hopefully do better, so we'll see).  Also, I am not taking into account any social security income, as I want my own retirement planning to be separate.  Also, I am not counting a house or any other assets.  This will purely be planned retirement money.

Based on the figures I got, we would need just under $3.8 million.  Since I like round numbers, I figured I'd set might sights a little higher and shoot for an even $4 million.  So, to go along with this, I've updated the goal graph.

I'm still no where near showing any of the yellow graph portion.  I need about $30k before it will show, so I have a ways to go.

So now that I have my new $4 million retirement goal, how do I plan on getting there?  I am a very visual person, so I love coming up with graphs and images to represent the progress and help me see where I should be when.

For my contributions to get me there, I don't like using a dollar amount.  Because it is over the course of 40 years, the amount needed will change greatly over time.  So to me, at this time, the thought of having to contribute $3,000 a month is around 30 years seems so foreign and unrealistic.  So instead, I want to look at my contribution as a percentage of our income.

So, by my calculations in coming up with the graph, if I put 12% of our income towards retirement until we retire, we will meet our goal.  This is based on 3% inflation, which I plan my annual raises would roughly match.  I may not maintain that the entire time, but I figure I will likely have some raises over 3%, and that extra amount could be a big deal over the course of 40 years.  Additionally, I think 12% is fairly conservative.  I could definitely see myself upping it to like 15% later.

I also made sure to figure in my lack of contributions this year.  I just started retirement investing this year, and was only contributing a small amount to my company 401(k).  I've since doubled my contribution and opened a Roth IRA, though it is late in the year, so the new changes won't fully compensate for my late start.  Though I certainly plan on picking up the pace and doing well from here on out.  I'm now maxing out my 401(k), taking full advantage of employer matching, and will be greatly increasing my IRA contributions after the new year... have a few house preparation things to try and take care of first.