Does everyone on DCUM max out retirement?

[Anonymous]

Just started maxing out after paying off student loans. DH 42, I'm 41. DD in elementary, DS in preschool. We haven't started 529 yet because we prioritized getting to 401k max first.

[Anonymous]

What exactly is maxing out your retirement?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What exactly is maxing out your retirement?

Depends on your company's plan.

For us it is a 2 earning household. We both contribute 19K each to 401K. my company also offers a mega roth,with an after tax contribution limit is 25K. we also contribute to the HSA, which we do not touch. So for us, annually we contribute 70K before gains into retirement.

We do this because we'd like to retire at 55, live on savings for 4.5yrs and start drawing down at 59.5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly is maxing out your retirement?

Depends on your company's plan.

For us it is a 2 earning household. We both contribute 19K each to 401K. my company also offers a mega roth,with an after tax contribution limit is 25K. we also contribute to the HSA, which we do not touch. So for us, annually we contribute 70K before gains into retirement.

We do this because we'd like to retire at 55, live on savings for 4.5yrs and start drawing down at 59.5.

You know you don't have to wait until 59.5 if you retire at 55, right? You can begin withdrawals from your 401k immediately without penalty.

See "Separation from Service" at this link:

https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-tax-on-early-distributions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly is maxing out your retirement?

Depends on your company's plan.

For us it is a 2 earning household. We both contribute 19K each to 401K. my company also offers a mega roth,with an after tax contribution limit is 25K. we also contribute to the HSA, which we do not touch. So for us, annually we contribute 70K before gains into retirement.

We do this because we'd like to retire at 55, live on savings for 4.5yrs and start drawing down at 59.5.

You know you don't have to wait until 59.5 if you retire at 55, right? You can begin withdrawals from your 401k immediately without penalty.

See "Separation from Service" at this link:

https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-tax-on-early-distributions

I did not know that, good info. However I'd definitely like to hold off on withdrawls as long as possible. Who knows if we live into our 90s...that's a lot of time. However, I can see myself viewing retirement more as "now I can work doing something I like, not for the money" type of retirement. That would be a really great feeling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly is maxing out your retirement?

Depends on your company's plan.

For us it is a 2 earning household. We both contribute 19K each to 401K. my company also offers a mega roth,with an after tax contribution limit is 25K. we also contribute to the HSA, which we do not touch. So for us, annually we contribute 70K before gains into retirement.

We do this because we'd like to retire at 55, live on savings for 4.5yrs and start drawing down at 59.5.

You know you don't have to wait until 59.5 if you retire at 55, right? You can begin withdrawals from your 401k immediately without penalty.

See "Separation from Service" at this link:

https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-tax-on-early-distributions

I did not know that, good info. However I'd definitely like to hold off on withdrawls as long as possible. Who knows if we live into our 90s...that's a lot of time. However, I can see myself viewing retirement more as "now I can work doing something I like, not for the money" type of retirement. That would be a really great feeling.

NP here and if you do in fact retire at 55 you should definitely take the withdrawals to fill up your lower tax buckets and do Roth conversions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No but I think a good UMC lawyer should have built enough wealth and an ability to continue to generate income when he/she is old.
If they are worrying about maxing out retirement, then they are just simple worker bees like most poor and middle class folks.

LOL. You’re funny. Unless you make partner at a big name firm, most dual income attorney families are making 500-700k which goes almost entirely to a mortgage on a nice but nothing crazy house, private schools, nanny, UMC lifestyle etc. They are rarely creating such significant wealth that they don’t have to concern themselves with a 401k!

There are different categories of people:
1- The good employees: They go to college. They graduate and find a good 9 to 5 job. They are happy to be employed and earn a paycheck. They work and save some money from their paycheck for retirement. When they retire, they start withdrawing money from their retirement savings to cover their living expenses.

2- The entrepreneurs: They don't go to college or they drop out of college. They hate working for someone else. They start a business and build wealth and a fortune.

3- The hybrids: They go to college. They graduate and get a job. They work regular jobs but start a business on the side or other activities that generate passive income. This allows them to build true wealth. They may eventually transition to full time entrepreneur (category 2)

Most people on DCUM fit into category 1. They are good workers. hey worry about retirement a lot because they don't have anything that can generate income outside of their savings.
People in category 2 and 3 don't worry about 401k and such. While they still save, they are more worried about creating sources of income.

If you are making that kind of income (500-700k) for a long period of time and you can't leverage it to build true wealth as category 2 and 3, then I'm sorry because you are doing something wrong.
You are just a "poor" good worker.

What is your definition of "true" wealth as in category 3? What's the difference between receiving rent or investing returns?

You achieve "true" wealth when you are generating enough income to cover your living expenses without touching your principal.
Most people on 401k cover their expenses in retirement by withdrawing from the principal. If they live longer than expected, they will run out of money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:White collar employees planning on working forever are in for a rude awakening. A layoff or firing after 47 or so is probably the end for your career, and especially if you're used to making a lot of money. Plan for the worst; hope for the best.

True true true. For myself, my husband, many cousins, friends, neighbors. People don't easily talk about this but dig a little deeper and you will see. We went from 300k to $200k and now both looking - DH is 50 and I am 46. Yeah.

Many professionals have skills, qualifications and networks that will allow them to work independently post retirement. Thinking here of MDs, dentists, accountants, lawyers, consultants etc etc. In my family, even the blue collar guy who rose through the ranks of a union, does part-time consulting now at 72.

As a PP said, “I think the impact of this is vastly underestimated on this board but I suspect a lot of that has to do with these boards skewing younger. Go to a place like Bogleheads and there are plenty of stories of folks being underemployed in their 50s or forced into early retirement because they can't find another job.“.

So unless you are a doctor or accountant, you name two of the top professions, it’s not as easy as you make it out to be. I am in IT and even in this field, very few can consult after being laid off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:White collar employees planning on working forever are in for a rude awakening. A layoff or firing after 47 or so is probably the end for your career, and especially if you're used to making a lot of money. Plan for the worst; hope for the best.

True true true. For myself, my husband, many cousins, friends, neighbors. People don't easily talk about this but dig a little deeper and you will see. We went from 300k to $200k and now both looking - DH is 50 and I am 46. Yeah.

Many professionals have skills, qualifications and networks that will allow them to work independently post retirement. Thinking here of MDs, dentists, accountants, lawyers, consultants etc etc. In my family, even the blue collar guy who rose through the ranks of a union, does part-time consulting now at 72.

As a PP said, “I think the impact of this is vastly underestimated on this board but I suspect a lot of that has to do with these boards skewing younger. Go to a place like Bogleheads and there are plenty of stories of folks being underemployed in their 50s or forced into early retirement because they can't find another job.“.

So unless you are a doctor or accountant, you name two of the top professions, it’s not as easy as you make it out to be. I am in IT and even in this field, very few can consult after being laid off.

+1. If it’s so lucrative then why haven’t these doctors and accountants left to do their own thing already?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:White collar employees planning on working forever are in for a rude awakening. A layoff or firing after 47 or so is probably the end for your career, and especially if you're used to making a lot of money. Plan for the worst; hope for the best.

True true true. For myself, my husband, many cousins, friends, neighbors. People don't easily talk about this but dig a little deeper and you will see. We went from 300k to $200k and now both looking - DH is 50 and I am 46. Yeah.

Many professionals have skills, qualifications and networks that will allow them to work independently post retirement. Thinking here of MDs, dentists, accountants, lawyers, consultants etc etc. In my family, even the blue collar guy who rose through the ranks of a union, does part-time consulting now at 72.

MDs, dentists, accountants all have hard, tech skills and are licensed by the State. There will always be work for such if they choose to work.
The ones who need to worry are the ones with "soft skills" who are pure managers, business dev, marketing, PR, etc types. When they get shi$canned at 48, they usually don't find the same job with equivalent compensation.

Yep, I was an IT manager and got canned at 45. I am 46 and have been looking for identical pay job, even 15% less than the $150k I made. Not finding anywhere close.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people don't and most people don't have to

For the majority of the population a 1 million retirement account is plenty

anything over 3 million is ridiculous except for maybe the top 1%

You are in for a rude shock.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’re at around $28,000/year combined and trying to do more but just can’t. HHI is around $180K. It seems like everyone on this forum is maxing out and we are still catching up, but not quite. We try but it seems like something always gets in the way - medical emergency, home repairs, job transition. We do have an investment property that will generate income in retirement and has around $300k in equity now, so that counts, but I feel anxious about not maxing out when it seems the smartest thing to do.

Don't beat yourself up. $28k is good. Of course more is always better, but at least you're saving a lot more than most Americans. DCUM posters are the extreeeeeeeeeme minorities in the country. The loudest people on the money boards are of course the people with the most money, because they want to make sure everyone knows how much money they have. Make it a goal every single year to try to increase your retirement contributions by $1000 per year. Set reasonable goals for yourself and don't pay attention to, or compare yourself to others. You'll always feel 'behind' if you're constantly sizing yourself up to other people and trying to keep up with the Joneses. There's always someone else out there with more money.

And liars.

Jealous much? Don’t you know how many are millionaires in the US? So nah it’s not extreme. Minority sure.

[Anonymous]

Tangent — when people say you need $3 mil or $1 mil or whatever for retirement, does that mean $1-3 mil in retirement vehicles or $1-3mil overall liquid net assets?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t max out. Retirement is for blue collar workers. I don’t plan to retire. Rich people don’t retire, they continue work.
I save money for things that I need but not for retirement.

Says the person with the crystal ball...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm 46 and I have been maxing out my 401(k) for over 20 years, we've been maxing out back door Roth IRAs for probably 10 years, maxing out HSA for probably 5 years, contributing $1000 total a month between two separate 529s, and putting $1000 a month into a taxable brokerage account for years. HHI was 280K. My salary took a big hit in the Fall down to about $170K, so we had to cut the contributions to the taxable brokerage account down to $100 a month. It's been a massive struggle to stay in budget and I may have to cut my 401(k) contributions for the first time in 20 years. It breaks my heart even though my financial planner says I don't need to max my contributions to retire comfortably in a 9 years. I just don't like NOT maxing out my 401(k). It's just me but it really affects me.

Wow, what’s your net worth. You’ve done so well.