I am X years old and have X saved in a retirement fund

[Anonymous]

27 - 100K

[Anonymous]

37 and nothing saved. Relying (stupidly?) on future inheritance of about 2.5 million.

[Anonymous]

Me 39-135k
Husband-42 500k

[Anonymous]

$800k from DH lump sum retirement and my TSP. $500K life insurance on me, LTC insurance on DH. DH quite a bit older than me (I'm 50). We owe $200k on mortgage and have only about $25k saved for college for the one kid. Yes we have more than most people but I feel very nervous about finances. DH spends more than me, just little things, and it drives me nuts... I feel like we should be spending even less than we are and savings more (about $2000 per mon).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what reality check are you talking about? Because the reality check still really goes back to the income and age multipliers, not really the "i have more than you do" thing.

Some of these numbers seem damn near impossible without a)a MUCH higher income at some point or b)some windfall that built up your account.

Almost every article I've read is to try to aim for 15% of your income into retirement accounts yearly and at least 1X HHI by 35 (this has been downgraded a little since the crash). THOSE are the goals people should be aiming for.

THOSE goals are not necessarily any more useful. Those calculators and articles generally assume you spend a certain amount of your HHI and intend to maintain your standard of living in retirement. If, like many of the financial savvy people on DCUM, you save a large percentage of your income, are still paying off hefty student loan debts that will be paid off before you retire, or you plan to move to a cheaper area of the country, it is not as useful to look percentage of income.

My DH and I (both 31) currently live on his $120k salary, and use my $150k salary for savings and student loan repayment. We're intending to leave DC and head back to the midwest within the next 5 years, where we will likely have lower salaries, but much lower cost of living. Using 15% of our current combined incomes to calculate where our retirement should be at doesn't really make sense for us. We've worked with a financial advisor to think about what our actual costs will be in retirement, added a hefty cushion, and worked backward to think about what we should be saving in our retirement funds. It's a more difficult process, but gave us much more useful numbers.

In terms of total amounts: HHI of $270k, my 401k is about $100k, and his has about $45k. We have about $4k in college savings for our just-turned-2 DD. We also have a substantial amount of money saved and invested.

[Anonymous]

Everyone in my family dies by 55. Sometimes I feel like I am saving money for DH's second wife. Sigh.

We know not the hour, I guess....

[Anonymous]

Age 50
HHI 400k
401k 600k
Small pension about 1300 per month.

But college for 4 kids is either paid or saved woohoo!!

[Anonymous]

47 Have $580,000 in my 401(k) and $78,000 in an IRA

Does not include spouse's information

[Anonymous]

27, nothing in retirement yet.

[Anonymous]

This is so depressing. Age 41, HHI is $144K (one spouse SAH), total retirement savings (401K, TSP) is about $150K -- also covered under FERS. I will be working until I am 70.

[Anonymous]

Some of these numbers seem damn near impossible without a)a MUCH higher income at some point or b)some windfall that built up your account.

I agree with this - age 47 with HHI 120k and about 550K in cash/equivalents, zero debt (no mortgage). You can't "save" 10 years take home pay or more without a windfall, unless you work to 70 and eat cat food until retirement.

[Anonymous]

26, income has ranged from 12k-29k over the past few years (to put it simply times have been rough).

Finishing up grad school now, and have been applying to jobs like crazy. The job market stinks, hopefully can get a good job soon and start paying down college debt and setting aside money for college. As of right now I'm pretty much in the hole money-wise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is so depressing. Age 41, HHI is $144K (one spouse SAH), total retirement savings (401K, TSP) is about $150K -- also covered under FERS. I will be working until I am 70.

Yeah, this is why we both work. Can't afford a SAHP in the long run.

[Anonymous]

35
250 k in 401k

[Anonymous]

35 and 37, about $100K