13 retirement myths

Myth No. 1: You need a big income to build a big nest egg. Other myths busted: A million bucks is your magic number and what it takes to retire early - from Money Magazine.

You can't get rich with a 401(k)
Pam and Tim O'Friel
MYTH
You can't get rich with a 401(k)
When Tim O'Friel graduated from college, his brother gave him sage advice: Put as much as you can in a 401(k) and don't touch it. O'Friel took that to heart, saving 15% of his salary until he reached the IRS max ($15,500 in 2007). After 13 years of steady contributions, O'Friel, a contract negotiator for a manufacturing company in Thousand Oaks, Calif., has a 401(k) worth more than $200,000.

"It's not play money," he says. "I'm not trying to beat the market." O'Friel's hands-off approach became even easier a few years ago when Fidelity, his 401(k) administrator, started offering target-date retirement funds. He jumped at the chance to let professional managers keep an eye on his portfolio. O'Friel put all his money in Fidelity Freedom 2030, the fund that's geared to the year he plans to retire. He's confident in the fund's asset allocation - currently 83% in stocks, 17% in bonds - and he's happy not to have to consider it.

"I need my investments to be as safe as they need to be and as risky as is appropriate," O'Friel says. "And I do my best not to think about it."
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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.