There is abundant advice about how much to save, much of which urges individuals to aim to replace 80 percent of their preretirement pretax income. However, those who wait to save for retirement and follow this rule of thumb would save far too much of their gross income, and many would see their annual resources spike upward when they retire. The constant savings rate required to equalize consumption across the preretirement and postretirement years generally is generally much lower than the 80 percent rule.