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.

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?

We are at $220 HHI and do not fully fund. We have a 5% contribution out of one income and 10% out of the other with half going to TSP, half to a Roth TSP. We also save into two 529's, are rebuilding an emergency fund, and have two kids, one in pre-K and one in private school for special needs.

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.

Anonymous wrote:I tried fully funding at $160K, but found I could not do it - I ended up with credit card debt. So now I fund about $10K annually, plus a company match of 5% of my salary.

What does your budget/expenditure look like? I find it interesting that it's hard to fully fund at 160k without incurring CC debt for other expenses.

I tried fully funding at $160K, but found I could not do it - I ended up with credit card debt. So now I fund about $10K annually, plus a company match of 5% of my salary.

A match is essentially free money/pay raise from the company, in my books. I would NEVER walk away from money on the table.

We have always fully funded our 401K - from the very first paycheck. It also meant that we were living very frugally, and making do with what was our take home pay after deductions.

Anonymous wrote:just do the minimum to get a match, it's a scam and you'll get heavily taxed eventually

Please explain

Anonymous wrote:just do the minimum to get a match, it's a scam and you'll get heavily taxed eventually

Wow...would you rather be taxed on $1,000,000 or $0?

Plus, all those present-day tax savings that are gone forever with each passing year.

Started around $80k when I was single. Mortgage was about $2000 a month. I think Max was $12,000 back then.

just do the minimum to get a match, it's a scam and you'll get heavily taxed eventually

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.

Anonymous wrote:We fund two Roth IRAs but only the company match of one 401k.
DH is not a great saver and thinks we are fine. Have been doing in for 10 years. 2 kids, one in private with FA, renters.
I am trying to figure out an action plan for us that is realistic. Please no answers in the tune of "after I was gifted my great aunts 2 bedroom, I could fully fund my retirement accounts..." It's not in our cards. Thank you!

Independently, prior to marriage, we both have always fully funded our 401ks when they were available and just kept them fully funded- so it was always in the budget. However, that doesn't help you.

What I would do is split the % of any raises you receive here on out. If you get a 3% raise, increase your 401k contribution by 1.5%, until you hit the max. Same for your DH.

Are you saving to purchase a house or fund college?

Anonymous wrote:We fund two Roth IRAs but only the company match of one 401k.
DH is not a great saver and thinks we are fine. Have been doing in for 10 years. 2 kids, one in private with FA, renters.
I am trying to figure out an action plan for us that is realistic. Please no answers in the tune of "after I was gifted my great aunts 2 bedroom, I could fully fund my retirement accounts..." It's not in our cards. Thank you!

Depends on what you want from retirement. Even $36k/year every year is not going to be enough for the retirement I want.

Does your husband realize what you are doing will not be enough?

Anonymous wrote:From the very first paycheck after college. (And no rich relatives and yes we had school debt.)

This.