Reply to I Live Comfortably on Less than $70K After-Tax in DC Area

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]In your position you are absolutely not saving enough for retirement.  You may be living fine, but you are shorting your retirement.  Also, you should assume 4% for long term growth.  At your age I wouldn't include SS either.[/quote]
OP here. I am saving 18% of my income, which is more than the 15% that advisors recommend. And once I increase my contribution, I will be putting away 20%. I've been doing that since the first year after college, and I'm sure I'll be fine. The main thing is that I started early.[/quote]

Don't count your employer match toward your retirement goal.  I made $18k when I started out at 21 and because I saved as much as I could I am at about $1 million at 44.  My DH did the same.  $2 million in our mid 40s gives us a tremendous amount of flexibility for our future.  What is your financial goal to retire with and at what age?  An arbitrary percentage may or may not get you there.

When you are young with no family iit is also the time to establish a healthy emergency fund and create a taxable savings account for a down payment or other life priorities.  You're right, &90k is a lot for a single person so use the money wisely.  The Bogleheads forum is a good place to get feedback.[/quote]
Thanks for the input. I actually researched that when I was setting up my retirement plan, and it said any employer match counts toward the 15%. But I will check out Bogleheads, since the discussion here is veering into a new direction about how much retirement savings is adequate.

Also, as far as emergency savings, I have about $35,000. If I lost my job, I could drop my spending down to $4,000, which would give me almost 9 months of living expenses. My research told me to have 6 months (one place said 3), so I think that's good as well.

I'll check out the site you recommended. Thanks.

[/quote]

You sound like you have your ducks in a row.  How much emergency fund is also dependent in part on how secure you job is.  My EF is high because I have little job security.  In contrast, DH's job is about as secure as you can get so we know we will always have his salary as a base.  [/quote]

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