My company matched 11 percent of salary. I stayed with them 10 years and earned a fairly high salary so the account balance grew fast.. I know another company where a relative worked that matches even more. these are not the norm. But it’s one way that balances grow to millions in value.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never been able to max (teacher) and only have $350k at age 45. I am a bit jealous of all these company matches. This year I am finally in a position to max my 403b and 457b. That along with my pension paying $5k a month should have my wife and I pretty well set though. I put 7.5% of salary into the pension. Basically teachers pay 75% of the typical pension benefits. States pay about 25% on average for the typical state pension.

Oh please..a public school teacher complaining? You are a bit jealous of all these company matches..with a pension paying $5k a month, really?

Being saving for almost 43 years- maxed out 401k, IRA about $2M now..I can NOT get $5k/mo off my savings!
Wife was a Catholic school teacher- had no connections to get a public school job- her pension? $5k PER YEAR! NOT Guaranteed, NO COL.

Teachers' pensions, created ridiculous property taxes for NJ & other Dem states- We paid over $15k/yr for an avg 3 bedroom house- which is why retired people can't afford to stay there.

The PP is responsible for contributing to his pension- he funds 75% of it.
In general, pensions are considered to be deferred payments- you accept a slightly lower income now in exchange for a guaranteed income after you retire, typically after a career that spans decades.
I am also confused by why your wife would need connections to get a job as a public school teacher. Did you mean credentials? You generally need teaching credentials and to get ahead you also might need a masters degree.

NP. Yes, that confused me, too. Also, I find it funny that the poster is complaining about teachers having pensions. He likely moved into his neighborhood in NJ because of the great schools for his children to attend. As most people understand, great schools have great teachers and, in order to retain them, you have to offer them some compensation, either a higher salary or better benefits like a pension, because they also have to support themselves and their own families. Once the poster's kids graduated, I guess he didn't care about the great schools anymore? Those great schools also help keep his house value up and provide more equity for him, but I guess that doesn't matter to him since he will retire in a no tax state with poorly compensated teachers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At a less than 200k income:

DW’s 403b: 19.5k per year
DH’s 403b: 19.5k per year
ROTH IRA for both: 12k per year
DH’s 457: 19.5k per year
Plus matches, 3% and 7%.

This comes to saving at least 70k per year, which adds up big time.

Does the match allow you to exceed the maximum? Someone needs to tell us that.

Yes; You + Match can equal up to 50K.

So I get 19.5+18 (10% of base) = 37.5/year. My spouse is similar.

My spouse gets 30K/year this way.

12 K in backdoor roths
7K in HSA

So we net out about 85K in tax-sheltered/deferred savings. Seems pretty typical where I work, the Fidelity person i met with says he sees this situation pretty regularly at my workplace. (Higher Ed/Healthcare in the DMV)

I have a 457 but I think they aren't that common so OP should factor that in if she doesn't have that option.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At a less than 200k income:

DW’s 403b: 19.5k per year
DH’s 403b: 19.5k per year
ROTH IRA for both: 12k per year
DH’s 457: 19.5k per year
Plus matches, 3% and 7%.

This comes to saving at least 70k per year, which adds up big time.

Does the match allow you to exceed the maximum? Someone needs to tell us that.

Yes; You + Match can equal up to 50K.

So I get 19.5+18 (10% of base) = 37.5/year. My spouse is similar.

My spouse gets 30K/year this way.

12 K in backdoor roths
7K in HSA

So we net out about 85K in tax-sheltered/deferred savings. Seems pretty typical where I work, the Fidelity person i met with says he sees this situation pretty regularly at my workplace. (Higher Ed/Healthcare in the DMV)

Not in HC or Education, but spouse and I have maxed most of our careers (started late 20s as both came out of 4/5 yr grad school programs). Spouse has 11% matching with 403(b) and mandatory 5% salary contributions. I'm a fed who gets 8% match. So we hit our first $1M combined when I was almost 40 (roughly 13 years of investing). Now at 48, we have $3.3M. We were able to max out every year except during the height of our child care years when paying a nanny for two kids and PT preschool tuition. However, that was just for a little over a year. And spouse was still getting 11% with mandatory 5% contribution so that time wasn't completely $0 towards our retirement accounts.

Anonymous wrote:The $19,500 is the employee deferral maximum. The employer matches are a separate limit. See https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-401k-and-profit-sharing-plan-contribution-limits.

The reason people are mentioning the match is because that helps explain how people have massive amounts saved (the account balance includes their employee contribution plus their employer matches). That and compounding.

Yes, regular middle-class working stiffs are limited to $19,500 while high-earners with fancy employers get to shelter $58,000 of income from taxes. Really sensible public policy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At a less than 200k income:

DW’s 403b: 19.5k per year
DH’s 403b: 19.5k per year
ROTH IRA for both: 12k per year
DH’s 457: 19.5k per year
Plus matches, 3% and 7%.

This comes to saving at least 70k per year, which adds up big time.

Does the match allow you to exceed the maximum? Someone needs to tell us that.

Yes; You + Match can equal up to 50K.

So I get 19.5+18 (10% of base) = 37.5/year. My spouse is similar.

My spouse gets 30K/year this way.

12 K in backdoor roths
7K in HSA

So we net out about 85K in tax-sheltered/deferred savings. Seems pretty typical where I work, the Fidelity person i met with says he sees this situation pretty regularly at my workplace. (Higher Ed/Healthcare in the DMV)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At a less than 200k income:

DW’s 403b: 19.5k per year
DH’s 403b: 19.5k per year
ROTH IRA for both: 12k per year
DH’s 457: 19.5k per year
Plus matches, 3% and 7%.

This comes to saving at least 70k per year, which adds up big time.

Does the match allow you to exceed the maximum? Someone needs to tell us that.

Yes, they do.

The overall limit is not $19500, it is $58,000 in 2021. $19,500 is the max for voluntary contribution. If your employer requires a % contribution it does not count against the $19,500. Your employer’s match does not count against the $19,500. I have never put in the ‘max’ $19,500 people like to reference all the time here but have been around $40-$50k in total contributions for the last several years

The $19,500 is the employee deferral maximum. The employer matches are a separate limit. See https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-401k-and-profit-sharing-plan-contribution-limits.

The reason people are mentioning the match is because that helps explain how people have massive amounts saved (the account balance includes their employee contribution plus their employer matches). That and compounding.

Anonymous wrote:At a less than 200k income:

DW’s 403b: 19.5k per year
DH’s 403b: 19.5k per year
ROTH IRA for both: 12k per year
DH’s 457: 19.5k per year
Plus matches, 3% and 7%.

This comes to saving at least 70k per year, which adds up big time.

Does the match allow you to exceed the maximum? Someone needs to tell us that.

I don’t think the employer match increases the 19,500 limit does it? If not why are people mentioning it? It’s irrelevant. But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you can put in much more than 19,500 (plus any catch ups) due to a match.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never been able to max (teacher) and only have $350k at age 45. I am a bit jealous of all these company matches. This year I am finally in a position to max my 403b and 457b. That along with my pension paying $5k a month should have my wife and I pretty well set though. I put 7.5% of salary into the pension. Basically teachers pay 75% of the typical pension benefits. States pay about 25% on average for the typical state pension.

Oh please..a public school teacher complaining? You are a bit jealous of all these company matches..with a pension paying $5k a month, really?

Being saving for almost 43 years- maxed out 401k, IRA about $2M now..I can NOT get $5k/mo off my savings!
Wife was a Catholic school teacher- had no connections to get a public school job- her pension? $5k PER YEAR! NOT Guaranteed, NO COL.

Teachers' pensions, created ridiculous property taxes for NJ & other Dem states- We paid over $15k/yr for an avg 3 bedroom house- which is why retired people can't afford to stay there.

The PP is responsible for contributing to his pension- he funds 75% of it.
In general, pensions are considered to be deferred payments- you accept a slightly lower income now in exchange for a guaranteed income after you retire, typically after a career that spans decades.
I am also confused by why your wife would need connections to get a job as a public school teacher. Did you mean credentials? You generally need teaching credentials and to get ahead you also might need a masters degree.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never been able to max (teacher) and only have $350k at age 45. I am a bit jealous of all these company matches. This year I am finally in a position to max my 403b and 457b. That along with my pension paying $5k a month should have my wife and I pretty well set though. I put 7.5% of salary into the pension. Basically teachers pay 75% of the typical pension benefits. States pay about 25% on average for the typical state pension.

Oh please..a public school teacher complaining? You are a bit jealous of all these company matches..with a pension paying $5k a month, really?

Being saving for almost 43 years- maxed out 401k, IRA about $2M now..I can NOT get $5k/mo off my savings!
Wife was a Catholic school teacher- had no connections to get a public school job- her pension? $5k PER YEAR! NOT Guaranteed, NO COL.

Teachers' pensions, created ridiculous property taxes for NJ & other Dem states- We paid over $15k/yr for an avg 3 bedroom house- which is why retired people can't afford to stay there.

Why do you say that you can't get to $5,000/month with a $2 million portfolio? If you use the 3% rule, you get a $60,000/year withdrawal, which works out to $5,000/month.

Yep, and there’s $2 million left for your kids when you die.

At a less than 200k income:

DW’s 403b: 19.5k per year
DH’s 403b: 19.5k per year
ROTH IRA for both: 12k per year
DH’s 457: 19.5k per year
Plus matches, 3% and 7%.

This comes to saving at least 70k per year, which adds up big time.