What's your age / 401k balance

[Anonymous]

I'm 41 and have been out of the workforce for 7 years. Personally have 215k in 401ks and IRAs. Another 80k in a brokerage. Spouse is not included in the above, nor is equity or either of our pensions. I am a bit behind, but college savings is on track and I've gone back to work and will start maxing this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, paid off house. We don't do the 401k because we're teachers, so we do IRAs and mutual funds. We do use the 4% rule but have far less than 500k. However, it's growing, and we do have enough to keep the house and keep ourselves fed.

How'd you get your house paid off by your early 30's on teacher salaries?

You must have a house with a pretty low property tax if "far less" than $20K can cover your property tax, utilities/basic expenses, and food! And it sounded like you had at least one kid. Good for you though, totally goes to the point of keeping expenses low. Do you live around DC? If you're teachers, I assume you're paying into some sort of pension beyond just IRAs (unless private)?

We're not in DC; we're in a lower COL area. We bought a house that was 2x HHI based on one of our incomes and then combined that with aggressive repayment and freelancing and knocked it out in our 20s. We've got 2 kids and property taxes are around 4k/yr. Utilities are somewhere around 300/mo on average, and we could definitely trim food to 300 or less. We do pay into a pension, but we have no faith in it continuing to be available (there'll be something, but we think it'll be turned into a 401k after being decimated continually over the years), so our plans are independent of it. Despite that, social security is either completely inaccessible to us or will be severely reduced because of the pension that may or may not exist. Oh well. Thank you for your kind words. And yes, we'd like 1-2 more kids, which is a big part of why we continue to work (babies cost us around 2-3k with our health insurance...).

Sorry, need to clarify...we'd need to trim utilities and food to about 300/mo combined. That would be hard, but doable.

[Anonymous]

34, 185K. Not bad for a GS-11 with a kid.

I wouldnt let these posters with 500K balances at 30 bother you. Most of us are faring far better than many of our fellow Americans who will solely or primarily depend on SS.

[Anonymous]

47 and DH is 52. Just passed $1 million in all our IRA and 401k/403b accounts.

[Anonymous]

30 and I have 23k

[Anonymous]

26 and I have $60k. DH is 28 and have $75k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:34, 185K. Not bad for a GS-11 with a kid.

I wouldnt let these posters with 500K balances at 30 bother you. Most of us are faring far better than many of our fellow Americans who will solely or primarily depend on SS.

Indeed. And the truth is that the people who will solely or primarily depend on SS--which, in fact, are the vast majority of Americans--will be just fine. All you actually need to survive is a roof over your head, food in your belly, and affordable medical care, while all you need to be happy, per research, is a sense of purpose and social connections. Once you have a paid off house and are eligible for Medicare or Medicaid, none of these things requires an HHI of more than 25k anywhere in the country besides in the areas where property taxes are so high that you have no money left over for food and utilities each month. And in such areas, your home will be worth enough for you to move to a cheaper COL area easily.

[Anonymous]

I am 38 in my TSP $310k, equity in home $800k, and salary $154k.
I feel very blessed and live below my means.

[Anonymous]

$1.35 million for 47 DH and 43 DW combined. Not good.

[Anonymous]

The only "guru" I follow is financial samurai who is actually from DMV. Not as unrealistically, financially austere as MMM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$1.35 million for 47 DH and 43 DW combined. Not good.

you are better than us - 1.45 at 55/53

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$1.35 million for 47 DH and 43 DW combined. Not good.

You're the worst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only "guru" I follow is financial samurai who is actually from DMV. Not as unrealistically, financially austere as MMM.

I like Financial Samurai too.

[Anonymous]

Me: $617K
DH: $675K

[Anonymous]

DH and I are in our 60's. We have a ridiculous amounts in our retirement accounts. The great thing is that when we hit 70.5 and have to take mandatory withdrawals those withdrawals can be directed to charities. No taxes!

If you're in your early 40's and have $500K in retirement accounts you are doing great!