Ask the Experts

Financial planners Stuart Ritter of T. Rowe Price, Alexandra Armstrong of Armstrong, MacIntyre & Severns and Mary Malgoire of the Family Firm offer their advice:

At 41, Pamela Ginsberg has begun to think about retirement. As a butcher at a Washington grocery store, she earns about $40,000 a year, enough to rent a one-bedroom apartment in Adams Morgan. She has about $7,000 in savings, no debt and no dependents. But she also has no retirement savings.

When she retires in 24 years, she is supposed to receive about $950 a month in Social Security.

But what about after 2041, when Social Security will no longer be able to pay 100 percent of benefits? And will a private retirement account make up the difference? The three financial planners take a look at her situtation.

Related story: Saving for the Future (Post, March 28, 2005)

The Washington Post