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Achieving a Comfortable Retirement (INFOGRAPHIC)


Whether you want to retire like Mr. Peanut or like Charlie Bucket’s family (before they were given the chocolate factory anyways), is largely up to you. A comfortable retirement is just a matter of consistent savings, low investment fees, broad diversification and emotional control over time. Does that sound like a lot of work? Well it gets easier as you go.

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Only wealthy peanuts can afford monocles and fashion canes.
Only wealthy peanuts can afford monocles and fashion canes.
Two of them look dead already.
They can’t be getting good circulation, two of them appear to be dead.

Comfortable Retirement Infographic

Although this is a simplification of a somewhat complex process, the Valuist Retirement Investment Timeline Infographic demonstrates easy, time-tested tactics to achieve a comfortable retirement.

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Because there is some terminology here that new investors might not understand offhand…

Here’s a quick term guide:

  • Emergency Fund: 6-12 months of savings to cover necessary expenses in case of a catastrophic event or job loss.
  • Asset Allocation: How your investments are balanced, adjusted to your risk tolerance. Try this Asset Allocation Test from Vanguard.
  • Tax Sheltered Account: Accounts where taxes are deferred and lower your annual taxable income, or grow and are withdrawn tax free.
  • Total Market/Target Retirement Funds: Funds that cover large portions of the market, such as Total US Market Funds, Total International Funds or combinations of both.
  • Market Noise/Trends: The daily buzz, scares and hype surrounding market movements.
  • Dollar Cost Average: Reducing the average cost of funds by buying at the same time each year regardless of how the stock market is moving.
  • Dividend Funds: Mutual funds that prioritize consistent dividend payouts, even when the market is dropping.
  • Burn Rate: How much money you’re spending per month, year, decade etc.

Are you more of a Mr. Peanut or a Grandpa Bucket? Comment and we may send you a peanut-sized monocle, fashion cane or a bed for four of your grandparents to share.



7 comments

  1. Great post, great illustrations, great strategy! But especially great examples of what our future could look like based on present choices. It kinda takes retirement planning out of the abstract.

    1. Thanks so much Dan. My aim was to be informative enough without being too dense. It’s my first shot at an infographic and it ended up taking almost as long to do as an article!

  2. Great first effort—Very sharp and visually appealing, and as a snapshot, this serves as a great place to start. My only complaint is that the math to fool the robot is too hard. Am I in trouble?

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