Not maxing out 401k, even though high income

[Anonymous]

Is he investing in some other ways? If the goal is early retirement 401K shouldn't be your only thing, it's limited to a certain age before you can take advantage of it. Growing your investments to get to financial independence earlier and be able to leverage the funds is another life plan which isn't less valid necessarily, just a matter of preference and how you feel about your career, your ability to keep on going till retirement age.

You need to start talking about your plans as a family, because he may not be on the same page with you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is he investing in some other ways? If the goal is early retirement 401K shouldn't be your only thing, it's limited to a certain age before you can take advantage of it. Growing your investments to get to financial independence earlier and be able to leverage the funds is another life plan which isn't less valid necessarily, just a matter of preference and how you feel about your career, your ability to keep on going till retirement age.

You need to start talking about your plans as a family, because he may not be on the same page with you?

She stated in a later post that she's divorcing him. She's disappointed in how much she'll be getting from their joint retirement savings.

"any recourse" lmao

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH is high income (over 500k) but not financially savvy. He said and I believe he thought he was maxing his 401k, but was only putting in 5000 for most of the last 20 years. I’m so disappointed. There’s no recourse for this, right? He wasn’t sharing his 401k balance with me, and I was surprised to hear how low it was.

Maybe he was quite savvy, and decided to enjoy his income rather than save it to be taken away in divorce.

Genius move to lose out on tax savings and growth over the last 20 years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is he investing in some other ways? If the goal is early retirement 401K shouldn't be your only thing, it's limited to a certain age before you can take advantage of it. Growing your investments to get to financial independence earlier and be able to leverage the funds is another life plan which isn't less valid necessarily, just a matter of preference and how you feel about your career, your ability to keep on going till retirement age.

You need to start talking about your plans as a family, because he may not be on the same page with you?

We have a planner, and DH was telling both of us he maxed out but he did not. No early retirement goal, just disappointed in the lying/incompetence.

Not sure about divorce, numerous financial and other issues have come up in recent years.

[Anonymous]

Or, if he knows you're divorcing him, maybe he's lying. You can get a forensic accountant, but it will cost you.

[Anonymous]

This would have been obvious if you were more involved in finances. Your planner didn’t give you financial statements? You never looked at a paystub or w2?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This would have been obvious if you were more involved in finances. Your planner didn’t give you financial statements? You never looked at a paystub or w2?

If my husband ever demanded my pay stubs to dictate how much I would be contributing to my workplace retirement plan, I think I might divorce him on general principle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This would have been obvious if you were more involved in finances. Your planner didn’t give you financial statements? You never looked at a paystub or w2?

If my husband ever demanded my pay stubs to dictate how much I would be contributing to my workplace retirement plan, I think I might divorce him on general principle.

This whole situation seems bizarre. My wife and I periodically look at our retirement accounts together to update them. I couldn’t imagine not looking at it for 20 years.

[Anonymous]

What about you, OP? Were you maxing out your retirement accounts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This would have been obvious if you were more involved in finances. Your planner didn’t give you financial statements? You never looked at a paystub or w2?

If my husband ever demanded my pay stubs to dictate how much I would be contributing to my workplace retirement plan, I think I might divorce him on general principle.

If you apply for a mortgage you need these documents. If you file your taxes you need these documents. Also a financial planner would ask for investment statements and pay stubs and use them to make some kind of net worth statement. If OP really had no idea how much money was there it’s because she wasn’t paying attention.

[Anonymous]

Is he saving in other vehicles?

[Anonymous]

Plenty of high income people have very few assets to show for it. Sounds like the case here. OP, what state are you in and how long were you married? Spousal support is possible many places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about you, OP? Were you maxing out your retirement accounts?

+1

Channeling Jack Nicholson in As Good as It Gets: "I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability"

[Anonymous]

So, where's his money? He took it home and did what with it?
I would have asked for $1000 a month to spend, give the cash for my sister to invest and add me as the beneficiary.
I wouldn't put anything in a 401k. I do my own investing with much higher returns. Maybe your husband is playing stupid.

[Anonymous]

op, what profession your husband is in?