The other day, Consumerism Commentary pointed me to the A.G. Edwards Nest Egg Score widget. It took me a few minutes to answer their 14-question survey, and they gave me this summary of my situation:
Your estimated score of 778 (631 is average) gives you a Nest Egg Score ranking of Excellent, which means you've done an outstanding job of building your nest egg up to this point in your life. Now you may want to focus on developing strategies for continuing to build and preserve your wealth, protecting it from unexpected costs (such as long-term health care or a disability), and providing for heirs in the event something happens to you.
Well, thank you very much. I appreciate the affirmation that I know what I'm doing. Now, if only I could convince my kids of that fact, I'd be doing really well. ;-)
A.G. Edwards did go on to give me some additional advice on what I should do next financially. Their suggestions:
1. Continue to manage debt.
2. Maximize your retirement contributions.
3. Consider your other financial goals.
4. Review your investment mix.
5. Create or review your estate plan.
As you can imagine, I've got all of these covered. Specifically:
1. Managing my debt is relatively easy -- since I have none.
2. I am contributing the max to my 401k. I've been doing so for years.
3. We are saving for our kids' college costs, though we may need to ramp it up a bit.
4. I reviewed our investment mix earlier this year and made changes as a result. I'll do so again at the beginning of the new year.
5. I have an estate plan, but am in the process of updating it.
This isn't the most complete financial calculator out there (much of their advice was canned), but it's at least a good spot check to see how you're doing. Go ahead and try out the A.G. Edwards Nest Egg Score widget. Then come back here and comment on how it went for you.
It was an interesting exercise. I'm sure the recommendations are canned, because I got the same exact recommendations, and my score was one range below yours, in the "Good" territory. The "you should focus on saving more" advice that the score estimator gave me is right on target - I do save a high percentage of my income, but I don't have a huge amount of savings built up, outside of my retirement fund, because I graduated college just two years ago.
Posted by: GHoosdum | July 14, 2006 at 09:13 AM
I was kind of surprised at the questions. It never asked how much debt I have or how much I have saved to date. I think the questionaire is a bit misleading with very broad age ranges (mine was 35 - 44, I'm 35. I hope I am in much better shape and have a different strategy at 44). Maybe I just started saving 20% yesterday at age 50 but saved nothing up until then. This calculator would have given an above average score based on imcomplete data.
Posted by: Phillip | July 14, 2006 at 09:24 AM
Phillip -- I agree. The same was true on the income ranges too. Some were very wide -- and I was at the mid-to high of one that had a much lower number as the minimum.
But still a fun exercise. ;-)
Posted by: FMF | July 14, 2006 at 09:44 AM
A facile exercise in number crunching - but that about sums up all the web-based, Java-powered calculators designed to assess savings. Dinkytown.net is filthy with them. It seems the more complex an equation one is trying to assess - and things like retirement savings, or nest eggs, qualify - the less accurate these egg timers are.
That said, my score was 791. Eggcellent, of course, as long as it doesn't make me spend today's paycheck wantonly this weekend....
Posted by: MrAtoZ | July 14, 2006 at 09:56 AM