Anonymous wrote:How are people building such large 401k balances for those ages given the annual contribution limits? Even with high market returns it doesn't seem to add up. Maybe it's generous employer match??

I'm early 40s with 500k. I don't max out (used to). Govt matching.

How are people building such large 401k balances for those ages given the annual contribution limits? Even with high market returns it doesn't seem to add up. Maybe it's generous employer match??

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 45 and have only $119k in my 401k and we have $20k in savings. Very little debt, but also don't own a house (we rent). We have had to dip into retirement accounts several times due to medical issue with one of our kids. We are paying for 2 other kids in college out of pocket without dipping into those amounts. My husband has little in his plan.
Having a sick kid has killed us financially but we are doing the best we can. It's pretty terrifying.

Dumb move. Every spare penny you have should be going towards retirement.

DP.. that's harsh, but yes, PP should be putting max into retirement. For college, your DCs can always get loans; not ideal, but possible. You, oth, no one will loan you money for retirement.

If you have a high deductible health insurance plan, open an HSA and max it out. It probably won't pay for all the medical expenses, but it's tax deductible. Every bit will help.

Forget about trying to save or pay for college right now. Medical costs and your retirement should take precedence.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am 39. I have 90k in my 401k and about $280k in cash. (I know I need to do something with the cash but I'm extremely risk averse.). DH has a little less in his 401k and a little more in his investment account.

You need to do something about that cash. Not enough 401k.

I agree but what can I do to fix it? I'm maxing out the 401k now. There is no way to catch it up, or am I missing something? I'm trying to figure out how to do an IRA or something else to compensate. I'm embarrassingly financially illiterate.

DP.. I'm very risk averse, too, and tried to manage my own investments. It takes a lot of time to do this, so I finally broke down and went with an investment firm. They handle everything now. I would go talk to one, like TD Ameritrade or some place similar.

Anonymous wrote:I'm 45 and have only $119k in my 401k and we have $20k in savings. Very little debt, but also don't own a house (we rent). We have had to dip into retirement accounts several times due to medical issue with one of our kids. We are paying for 2 other kids in college out of pocket without dipping into those amounts. My husband has little in his plan.
Having a sick kid has killed us financially but we are doing the best we can. It's pretty terrifying.

You are not alone.

I'm 53 and have only $300K in my 401k plus a pension. We have a large stack of debt (mortgage, student loans, cc) as we have hit retirement funds and cc for medical issues for two of our three kids. We do the best we can, too.

Anonymous wrote:I'm 45 and have only $119k in my 401k and we have $20k in savings. Very little debt, but also don't own a house (we rent). We have had to dip into retirement accounts several times due to medical issue with one of our kids. We are paying for 2 other kids in college out of pocket without dipping into those amounts. My husband has little in his plan.
Having a sick kid has killed us financially but we are doing the best we can. It's pretty terrifying.

Dumb move. Every spare penny you have should be going towards retirement.

I'm 45 and have only $119k in my 401k and we have $20k in savings. Very little debt, but also don't own a house (we rent). We have had to dip into retirement accounts several times due to medical issue with one of our kids. We are paying for 2 other kids in college out of pocket without dipping into those amounts. My husband has little in his plan.
Having a sick kid has killed us financially but we are doing the best we can. It's pretty terrifying.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am 39. I have 90k in my 401k and about $280k in cash. (I know I need to do something with the cash but I'm extremely risk averse.). DH has a little less in his 401k and a little more in his investment account.

You need to do something about that cash. Not enough 401k.

I agree but what can I do to fix it? I'm maxing out the 401k now. There is no way to catch it up, or am I missing something? I'm trying to figure out how to do an IRA or something else to compensate. I'm embarrassingly financially illiterate.

Age 40 and just broke 600k in my tsp.

Anonymous wrote:About $500k however I have a combined 401k and profit sharing account. I have my own company and therefore have a high contribution limit each year.

Sorry: two kids, college money likely done now, partially by us and both sets of grandparents (mine mostly...with 250k put into their accts)

Savings: about 2 million in various investment accounts. I'm big into saving and thriftiness.

About $500k however I have a combined 401k and profit sharing account. I have my own company and therefore have a high contribution limit each year.

Anonymous wrote:I am curious to find out how much you have in your 401k at age 40 individually. Apart from that how much do you have saved in your bank? Have you also saved funds for child's education. Tell me about it. I am trying to determine if I am on the right track for savings for my retirement.

And you?

Anonymous wrote:DH (age 40): ~$400-450k
Me (age 38): ~150k
Taxable accts: ~100k
Cash: ~50k

No 529.

I'm behind but thankfully have a pension (~$40-50k/year) and two properties that will eventually provide $3k monthly.

I'm 45 and have $350k saved in 401K and a defined benefit pension plan worth $1,600 a month if I quit today. I have $120,000 in 529s for two kids.

But I also have a big mortgage and CC debt.

So, basically I'm like a dumbbell -- big assets and high income, but debt in the middle and very little in the way of liquid savings.

DH (age 40): ~$400-450k
Me (age 38): ~150k
Taxable accts: ~100k
Cash: ~50k

No 529.