Dave Says: Don’t put all of your eggs into one retirement basket

Dear Dave,

The school system I work for puts 12 percent of my pay into a public teacher retirement fund, and they match this amount. I’ve seen where you tell people to put 15 percent of their income toward retirement. If that’s the case, should I put three percent into another retirement fund? I have no debt and very little in terms of expenses. Or, what would you think about the idea of opening another retirement account at a full 15 percent of what I make?

Patti

Dear Patti,

I wouldn’t go as far as to pour an additional 15 percent into a different retirement plan, but I would consider putting maybe eight to 10 percent into a Roth IRA. I want you to have some money that’s separate from the school system account, just in case things go south with their retirement fund.

It sounds like you’ve got a pretty good pension plan, but you never know what might happen. I’m not predicting bad things, but at the same time there’s no way I’d lean on the school system fund as my one and only source of retirement income. You should never put all your financial eggs in one basket!

—Dave