How much should be in 401k at age 40?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This! I am 42 with around $200k. How did you achieve this??

Anonymous wrote:I had $206,000 in my 401k when I was 40. Have $1.4 million now at 53.

Curious as well. But I think it is maxing out contribution, very good match, plus aggressively invested.

The average s&p return over the last 10 years has been ~12.5% per year.
Anyone who invested all in stocks and continued to max/near max individual contributions could have achieved around this level of growth in a 13 year period even with no employer match.

[Anonymous]

Make sure your 401k is invested in domestic stocks. I’m sure half the folks here are invested in something that has low ROI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're asking about the 401k, but by 40 you should try backdoor contributions to a Roth IRA as well.

Can a brokerage firm or advisor help with the mechanics of this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're asking about the 401k, but by 40 you should try backdoor contributions to a Roth IRA as well.

Can a brokerage firm or advisor help with the mechanics of this?

Not all employers allow backdoor Roth, including the federal government.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're asking about the 401k, but by 40 you should try backdoor contributions to a Roth IRA as well.

Can a brokerage firm or advisor help with the mechanics of this?

Not all employers allow backdoor Roth, including the federal government.

Sorry, I was thinking of a mega backdoor Roth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the rule of thumb for 40 is 3x your salary

Terrible rule of thumb and is completely unattainable for most people

How is it unattainable?

If you make 100k, you think it's ridiculous to have 300k after 18 years of working?

If you saved 10% of your income + company match, with below avg growth you would have well over 300k

Um.....between myself and my employers, it's over 10% and I don't have 300 K. I'm over 200 K.

starting at 0, 18yrs at 10k a year all in (including employer) contributions growing at 8% is 404k. EVen at 6% its 328k

Your returns must be quite low.

[Anonymous]

I am 40 and have been saving for 10 years (spent my 20s as a student or in low paying jobs). I have $475k and currently make $150k (started my 30s at $50k). So I have met the 3x my salary amount. Only started maxing out 401k a couple of years ago. DH is similar in terms of earnings and savings.

Our secret is having only 1 kid and living a middle class lifestyle (kid goes to a lovely but not fancy daycare, we live in a townhouse). Also advocated for raises at work.

[Anonymous]

We hit 1M at around 38. Keep saving!

[Anonymous]

You need to focus on net worth not 401k balances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the rule of thumb for 40 is 3x your salary

Terrible rule of thumb and is completely unattainable for most people

How is it unattainable?

If you make 100k, you think it's ridiculous to have 300k after 18 years of working?

If you saved 10% of your income + company match, with below avg growth you would have well over 300k

Um.....between myself and my employers, it's over 10% and I don't have 300 K. I'm over 200 K.

It's more like $7K per year because I don't make that much money. Under $100K. More than the average salary though!

I think your perception is a little off because you are probably much wealthier than average.

starting at 0, 18yrs at 10k a year all in (including employer) contributions growing at 8% is 404k. EVen at 6% its 328k

Your returns must be quite low.

[Anonymous]

Well my TSP has 20k in it since I just got back into the workforce, but I have 250k in a Roth IRA and another 85k in a Traditional IRA that I rolled over when I left my prior employer. I did not work for 8 years due to kids but put as much in as I could right after college. I also did lot of Roth conversions along the way. My spouse has been maxing their TSP for years so I assume they probably have at least double what I do. We're late 30's/early 40's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the rule of thumb for 40 is 3x your salary

Terrible rule of thumb and is completely unattainable for most people

How is it unattainable?

If you make 100k, you think it's ridiculous to have 300k after 18 years of working?

If you saved 10% of your income + company match, with below avg growth you would have well over 300k

Um.....between myself and my employers, it's over 10% and I don't have 300 K. I'm over 200 K.

It's more like $7K per year because I don't make that much money. Under $100K. More than the average salary though!

I think your perception is a little off because you are probably much wealthier than average.

starting at 0, 18yrs at 10k a year all in (including employer) contributions growing at 8% is 404k. EVen at 6% its 328k

Your returns must be quite low.

Even at 7k a year with an 8% return it's just shy of 300k ($283k).

7k a year of contributions is pretty in line with middle class household incomes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well my TSP has 20k in it since I just got back into the workforce, but I have 250k in a Roth IRA and another 85k in a Traditional IRA that I rolled over when I left my prior employer. I did not work for 8 years due to kids but put as much in as I could right after college. I also did lot of Roth conversions along the way. My spouse has been maxing their TSP for years so I assume they probably have at least double what I do. We're late 30's/early 40's.

If you’re going to depend on your spouse to be the sole breadwinner for almost a decade you really should know how much money they have in their retirement account not make assumptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m 37 and have 150k.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're asking about the 401k, but by 40 you should try backdoor contributions to a Roth IRA as well.

Can a brokerage firm or advisor help with the mechanics of this?

Yes but it’s pretty straightforward. If you have an IRA, they should have a mechanism to backdoor it into a Roth.