How can I calculate my cost of living at retirement?

I am trying to decide how to determine the "level of comfort" I want to have at retirement.

Public Comments

1. The general rule-of-thumb is that to maintain your current standard of living in retirement, your income in retirement should be approximately 80% of your current income.
2. You should check out Dave Ramsey's books Financial Peace and Total Money Makeover. He's the best financial counselor I ever had.
3. I figer that three meals a day is $30 Minamum and the rent (morguage) is paid off and reversed.(reverse morguage) and the phone and DSL and cell are billed together @150 Mo, The taxes are 2000 to 4000 per year. + cars trailers and toys = another 2000 mo and asundy is another 3000 mo. so that adds up to a mininum alotment of 12,180$ mo expences. rounded to 13,000 for the sake of investments.
4. Laura has it right, some people say it is anywhere from 60-90% of your current salary. With my clients, I woudl say at least 80% of current salary would suffice. Also, it depends on exactly what you plan on doing in retirement, if you travel or want to be more extravagant, I would up the percentage closer to 85%. It really depends on how you live, but start with an average of 80% of your salary prior to retirement or 80% of an average of your highest 5 years of retirement. If you want some personal advising on this topic, feel free to email me and I can see if I can help you out some. SteveHalsell@gmail.com
5. talk to someone from Primerica.