At what HHI did you start fully funding your 401k?

[Anonymous]

I have always put in the max, starting with my first job out of law school. I think I earned $30k then. It comes out before I see the paycheck. I have about $750k in FERS now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've always done a solid 10%. I just can't do more than that. At 100K, I'm only at 10K/year.

DH, who makes double me, maxes it out.

I will say that I've started last year putting every bit of an annual salary increase in. So maybe in 5-7 years I'll be maxing out? I don't know.

That's bs. Your income is joint. Why wouldn't you also max and he funds more if the household expenses. It benefits you both. The way you are doing it, if you end up divorced he has way better retirement savings than you do. Total bs.

[Anonymous]

We've always done12% each. I'm not sure when that meant that we hit max. Before I made the income I do now to max out earlier in the year, I used to look at my December bonus and sometimes add extra in to hit the max. My company always sends out reminders at the end of the year to change our deduction we want to cap it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've always done a solid 10%. I just can't do more than that. At 100K, I'm only at 10K/year.

DH, who makes double me, maxes it out.

I will say that I've started last year putting every bit of an annual salary increase in. So maybe in 5-7 years I'll be maxing out? I don't know.

That's bs. Your income is joint. Why wouldn't you also max and he funds more if the household expenses. It benefits you both. The way you are doing it, if you end up divorced he has way better retirement savings than you do. Total bs.

Could not agree more. Also, you have to realize that your tax rate is also based on your joint income and to the extent you earn less than your DH you are paying higher taxes as a result of his earnings. Just another reason why thinking of what each of you earn independently is not really a "fair" way to do things if that is your underlying goal.

[Anonymous]

We've had ebbs and flows. When I first started working, I didn't have access to a 401k, so fully funded a roth. At 40k I finally had a 401k and came close the first year. The second year it was maxed and that continued until we married. Then we maxed 1
401k and 2 iras, and funded the other 403b up to the match, until student loans and grad school were paid off. . .. Four years total. Then, at 135k combined, we maxed both 401ks and IRAs until kids. Now we max the 1 401k we have access to and both IRAs. Hhi this year will probably 130 ( I work PT and it fluctuates). Previous poster who said you start to see rewarding gains after 300k was spot on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fund it fully from the moment you get your first job. Cut other expenses to the bone if you need to, but you have to assume that what you save will be all you will have.

I always struggle with the math behind whether I'll have a bunch of money or not enough. What does the calculation look like for someone that works for say, 30 years and contributes the max each? What would that look like in today's dollars?

Maxing a 401k for 2 people alone will not be an upper middle class lifestyle. It just depends what kind of retirement you want.

I'm pretty sure I could have a nice retirement on $100K per year or less in today's dollars. But, like I said, I have no idea what the 401k would look like after years of contribution. I struggle with the values to use for things like the rate of return and inflation, etc. Then, I guess you have to take that number and scale it back to 2015 dollars which I also don't know how to do.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone believe the tax rate will go down in the future?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've had ebbs and flows. When I first started working, I didn't have access to a 401k, so fully funded a roth. At 40k I finally had a 401k and came close the first year. The second year it was maxed and that continued until we married. Then we maxed 1
401k and 2 iras, and funded the other 403b up to the match, until student loans and grad school were paid off. . .. Four years total. Then, at 135k combined, we maxed both 401ks and IRAs until kids. Now we max the 1 401k we have access to and both IRAs. Hhi this year will probably 130 ( I work PT and it fluctuates). Previous poster who said you start to see rewarding gains after 300k was spot on.

Yea, until this year. HORRIBLE. I can't even look.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the replies. I think we are doing good with the % which goes towards retirement (17%). Hoping to pass the 300k soon to witness some lift off as this has been more grinding than I thought it would be. I liked many of the strategies and thoughts behind the advantages of saving in a pre tax account.

[Anonymous]

it will be funny when everything crashes again, the only people who don't get out are the 401ks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it will be funny when everything crashes again, the only people who don't get out are the 401ks

That's a good point. I prefer the Roth IRA because I can hold cash and trade myself. Funds are very limited though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it will be funny when everything crashes again, the only people who don't get out are the 401ks

Yea, hilarious. I love it when the economy tanks and when people reach retirement age and either have to go back to work, or continue working while college grads can hardly find a job at a retail store. I'll have my popcorn out just buckled over in laughter. Nothing makes me happier than to see people as miserable as I am.

[Anonymous]

You really don't need as much money in retirment as many people think they do

All those calculators assume the same or even higher income in retirment which is nuts.

Think about your major expenses, mortage and kids

In retirement both of those are gone

Even in this area I think most people even DCUM people are going to be perfectly fine on 100k a year in retirement and most should be fine on more like 75k a year.

When you factor in SS you are looking at around 60k at most per year that you actually have to save for.

[Anonymous]

When I first started working when I was single and making $68,000. The max I could put in was $7,500 as a highly compensated employee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You really don't need as much money in retirment as many people think they do

All those calculators assume the same or even higher income in retirment which is nuts.

Think about your major expenses, mortage and kids

In retirement both of those are gone

Even in this area I think most people even DCUM people are going to be perfectly fine on 100k a year in retirement and most should be fine on more like 75k a year.

When you factor in SS you are looking at around 60k at most per year that you actually have to save for.

We have no mortgage or other debt and still blow through $100,000 a year. We do have kids at home though.