401k question

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just so everyone doesn't get completely disheartened, remember that it takes a lot longer to go from 0 to 1x salary than it does from 5x to 6x, or 9x to 10x. It is daunting, but not insurmountable.

Exactly! In our taxable investments, it took us 13 years to get to the first big number but then only 6 years or so after that to double it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be stoked to have as much as you "not enough" posters. I didn't start saving for retirement until 30. Before that, I was in school and/or busting my butt just to make ends meet. It wasn't until I got married and bought a house that retirement planning really even entered my mind. It just boggles my mind that at 25 you were all mature/financially stable enough to be maxing out your 401k and thinking about your Roth. But good for you. I'm jealous.

At 25, I'd just gotten my first real job, and had my first school loan and car loan payments. Seems like a good time to start saving for retirement. Of course, I'm so old this was back before the Roth was invented

[Anonymous]

I'm 29 and started with $1200 a year in a Roth at 23. I was making 29k at the time. Then that plus 5% of salary (with 5% match) at my current job the following year. It's grown to $2400 to Roth plus 10-12% plus match. I'm the sole income in my HH with a child. While I would love to max, I try to contribute every cent I possibly can anyway. I'm still nowhere near six figures, but I'm glad that I never stopped contributing.

I had a coworker at 19 who used to work at Smith Barney and he pleaded with me on a regular basis to begin saving immediately. It took me 4 years to drop the "I can't afford it" mentality. I'm so thankful for his influence!

[Anonymous]

I’m getting married soon and we are both 35 with about $800k together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m getting married soon and we are both 35 with about $800k together.

Talking about inflation.

[Anonymous]

I have 410k in my current company 401k at 31, another 80k in IRA’s, 50k in HSA. Another 500k in brokerage and HYSA. 400k in home equity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks all for the many useful responses, particularly the wall street journal article.

I must say I'm baffled by the folks that have $400k, $700k, or $1MM+ in their 401ks. I've maxed out for almost my entire working life (with a couple years out for grad school) and am no where in that ball park!!

How old are you? I'm 46 and have been putting money in a 401(k) for 20 years now. I have $580,000. I have maxed out each year starting with 1992.

How is that possible? You should have way more than that if you’ve maxed out every year for 20 years. Did you not invest it? Maybe are you defining maxing out as getting your maximum company match rather than the ~$23,000 per year? Also 1992 was more than 20 years ago.

[Anonymous]

This will largely depend on your expenses. Obviously, if you live in a lcol, you don't need as much, but if you live around the DC area, you will need a lot more than average.

[Anonymous]

This thread is 13 years old!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is 13 years old!

Omg!! That explains it. Wow

[Anonymous]

I think I had maybe 25k at 34. I did a phd in humanities d so was not earning for most of my 20s and did not enter a lucrative field. I work in non profit and my highest salary has been 150k. DH's salary hit 200k only recently. So

I am 54 and I now have about 1.4m in my own 401k. DH has a bit more. For a long time, we contributed up to the match or just a bit more. Once our salaries started going up and daycare costs down,etc, we maxed to irs limit and have taken the over 50 catch up. Its hard not to freak out, but it does happen. Between our projected 401k balance in about 8 years, plus assuming we will get something from ss, we should be fine, projected to have cumulative 5.7 m in 8 years (I hope to retire at 62, DH at 67) as long as market does reasonably well (7%) and we continue to contribute the max for the next 8 years.

The other thing is that how much you need depends so much on how much you spend: will you continue to have a large mortgage, health care, send kids to private college, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Early 40s, between 401k and IRA about $750k. Not enough.

I think you are fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is 13 years old!

Omg!! That explains it. Wow

I wish OP would check back in!

[Anonymous]

10x your age is possible if you did max all equities per person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Early 40s, between 401k and IRA about $750k. Not enough.

I think you are fine.

This IS an old thread. They are not fine. Big part of the account belongs to uncle Sam. He has been waiting for it.
All this is taxable as ordinary income, which is higher than investment income. RMDs may cause their social security being taxed also.
High RMDs will cause medicare premiums to be higher than they would otherwise be.
Stick to Roth IRA and taxable investment account that don't have RMDs.