Today’s retirement – and retiree – are anything but typical. As a result, the “tried and true” retirement finance axioms popularized over the past decades no longer apply. However, many people still refer to them when working toward their retirement planning and income goals. As people live longer and stay in the workforce longer, both out of necessity and a passion for their work, it’s time to revisit these obsolete ideas.

You Need $1 Million Dollars to Retire

The truth is your lifestyle, spending habits and health are the main determinants of how much of a nest egg you need. Striving toward a random number is a flawed plan.

Use Your Age to Determine Your Stock/Bond Allocation

This is another maxim that may have had some validity in the past but doesn’t apply as much today. The idea is that subtracting your age from 100 will determine what percentage of your portfolio should be in equities. Forty-five years old? Using this formula, you should have an asset allocation of 55 percent stocks and 45 percent fixed income. But this doesn’t account for your risk tolerance, your overall time horizon and your individual goals.

The 4 Percent Withdrawal Rule

Conventional wisdom holds that if you withdraw 4 percent of the value of your retirement portfolio each year (and adjust for inflation beginning in year two), you will not run out of money for 30 years. The problem? This rule supposes a low rate of inflation, which for today’s investors, is simply not the reality. In addition, many investors spend more than 30 years in retirement.

Having a Certain Dollar Amount by a Certain Age

A popular gauge of an investor’s retirement planning success is having saved a certain multiple of their annual income by a certain age: six times your income by age 50, or eight times your income by age 60, for example. While reasonable guidelines, this standard does not take into account longevity, inflation or an investor’s lifestyle in retirement.

During Retirement, You Should Plan on Replacing 80 Percent of Your Pre-retirement Income

This approach assumes that an investor’s expenses will go down in retirement. That’s not always the case. Inflation, healthcare costs and increased expenses associated with travel and hobbies all impact a retiree’s bottom line and make the 80 percent rule a questionable goal.

You Shouldn’t Retire with ANY Debt

Postponing retirement until you are debt-free may not be possible. While it’s always a good idea to keep debt to a minimum, there are different kinds of debt. For example, a mortgage is considered a “good” debt. It’s important to view your financial situation in its entirety to determine if retiring with debt is a viable option.

The 45 Percent Rule

The 45 percent rule posits that your retirement portfolio should generate 45 percent of pre-retirement income, with Social Security payments covering the balance of expenses. Again, this does not consider an investor’s lifestyle. Nor does it account for possible cuts to Social Security payments down the line.

I’m 65, Time to Retire

There’s no magic number when it comes to retirement. Some investors retire at 50. Others are working well into their seventies and beyond. Every person must decide for themselves how to approach their retirement years.

Given the evolving nature of investing and retirement, it’s challenging to know how to proceed. While there’s no single approach that works for everyone, there is one rule that does apply across the board: start planning early.