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How old are you and how much do you have saved for retirement?

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What's really fun is when you get tagged as a "High Income Earner" and then get gimped on how much you can put into a 401k. My wife can only put in around ~12k of her own money until she gets a nastygram from her employer and a check cut back she needs to pay taxes on. Bleh.

Getting screwed for saving too much. Yay government!
 
30 and only have 1.5 years of salary in savings. Making a big life move though and this should double in the next 3 years.
 
vi edit said:
What's really fun is when you get tagged as a "High Income Earner" and then get gimped on how much you can put into a 401k. My wife can only put in around ~12k of her own money until she gets a nastygram from her employer and a check cut back she needs to pay taxes on. Bleh.

Getting screwed for saving too much. Yay government!
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Sucks to be an HCE without a deferred comp plan. Better tell her to get to exec status soon or convince her company to do/increase auto-deferrals to the 401(k).
 
Elbryn said:
if you nearly cashed out due to the drop, you might want to consider more bonds. presuming you held on, re-balanced, and added to contributions, it's all worked out for you. now might be the time to change the plan to a less potentially volatile one that you can comfortably maintain without panicking.
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I have already changed and I never really panicked.....almost at the 64% down mark but I held on. Hell, at that point, there wasn't much reason to not hold on, lol! 😛
 
vi edit said:
What's really fun is when you get tagged as a "High Income Earner" and then get gimped on how much you can put into a 401k. My wife can only put in around ~12k of her own money until she gets a nastygram from her employer and a check cut back she needs to pay taxes on. Bleh.

Getting screwed for saving too much. Yay government!
Click to expand...

I had that happen in 05 and 06 because of the massive amounts of overtime that I worked. Didn't matter that I made it via overtime, all that mattered is that I made it. They sent back a check for about 80% of my contributions for each year because the average employee in the company put in less than 2% to the 401k plan (which is what they base how much you can put it from).
 
47 - Currently about 3x my current salary in 401k. Realistically I could probably work another ~10-13 years in my current job role [field service engineer] until the company would probably "retire me" [2015 will be my 20th anniversary with the company].

Depending if the wife can still stand to be with me until retirement, we will own the house before we retire so the only things to pay for are the necessities [utilities, gas, tv/internet, food].

My parents - they made some bad financial decisions [mainly due to my Dad's overspending habits] and are living off SS income and the part time work my Dad has at Walmart. They aren't strapped for cash each month - but my Mom is definitely keeping a close eye on the finances.

I forsee my retirement as someone who's happy sitting at a computer playing games, watching tv, doing piddly work around the house, and working a part time job...with maybe 1 or 2 vacations on a cruise ship per year.
 
coloumb said:
I forsee my retirement as someone who's happy sitting at a computer playing games, watching tv, doing piddly work around the house, and working a part time job...with maybe 1 or 2 vacations on a cruise ship per year.
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same here! probably the part time job would be contract/consulting gigs once or twice a year, and flying/driving out west a few times a year
 
ultimatebob said:
My wife is a teacher, so I'm not too worried about it. She'll get a big pension.
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That pension will likely get slashed big time. I wouldn't count on it. I wouldn't count on SS either. I would count on the 401k, but since most people's 401k is almost entirely invested in the stock market, you are really at the whim of that.
 
I'm 32 and only have 1/2 my yearly income saved. I decided rather than save more I'll just try to pay off my mountain of student loan debt as quickly as possible so I can look at a career change. I think retirement is overrated though...I'd rather be working at something I love doing until its physically impossible to continue, and by that time Ill be too old to enjoy the money.
 
soxfan said:
2003 toyota corolla LE. ~120k miles on it. Runs good. No need or desire to replace it. Car is not representative of my income level, but rather my view that cars are a poor investment. I'd like a nicer car and I could afford one, but I can't justify buying one when my current car works fine and a new one will rapidly depreciate in value.

I do have a life, if that is what you are getting at.
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same boat as you.
when its TIME to buy another car, i buy another AFFORDABLE car 🙂

I have a rule: if you WANT to buy a nice car, atleast have 2x the amount in your savings just in case.

Im 27, and i have 25% of my gross salary in 401k excluding other savings which i have sitting as 'emergency' cash.

definite rule: have at least a 6-9 month worth of your salary sitting in safe deposit before you go BIG SPENDING.
 
CptObvious said:
I'm 32 and only have 1/2 my yearly income saved. I decided rather than save more I'll just try to pay off my mountain of student loan debt as quickly as possible so I can look at a career change. I think retirement is overrated though...I'd rather be working at something I love doing until its physically impossible to continue, and by that time Ill be too old to enjoy the money.
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you haven't traveled the world far enough outside your home... obviously

Travel my friend, you will see, there is more to work.

Work to Live 🙂
 
At 29.. I guess I'm around .5? Though I do have more saved than I was making just a few years ago. My salary has pretty much tripled in 5 years.
 
rh71 said:
35, 2x. I've had my mom manage my finances since I was in HS and I started the 401k at 22. Company matches 6%. She says I'll be a millionaire when I retire. I don't want to be a millionaire when I retire. I want it NOW while I'm not yet gray and bald.
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smart man.

keep you mama as your financial adviser. i wish i let my mother take care of my finance but im too scared 😛
 
desiplaya4life said:
you haven't traveled the world far enough outside your home... obviously

Travel my friend, you will see, there is more to work.

Work to Live 🙂
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On the contrary, from 2007-2010 I lived and worked in Korea with all my possessions fitting in a suitcase. Every six months or so I got a different assignment and got to move to a new place. It was the most liberating experience in my life, not having to worry about mortgage payments or car payments and being able to travel around Asia every couple of months. When I came back to the States to work the 8-5 desk job I just asked myself, what is the point of living like this for the rest of my life, accumulating stuff and retirement savings when I'll probably develop some kind of disease from sitting on my ass for 30+ years? Watching people around me at the office nearing retirement, it's just not the kind of life that appeals to me, even if its the "safer" route. My wife is Korean and we've often talked about going back because we're dying of boredom here.
 
vi edit said:
What's really fun is when you get tagged as a "High Income Earner" and then get gimped on how much you can put into a 401k. My wife can only put in around ~12k of her own money until she gets a nastygram from her employer and a check cut back she needs to pay taxes on. Bleh.

Getting screwed for saving too much. Yay government!
Click to expand...
Though, theoretically, the government can only afford (Government caring about affording things...hilarious!) so much tax-advantaged space. If you're pulling in enough to count as a high-income earner, you're probably doing rather well without the help. Or someone could always volunteer to take a pay cut in order to get the tax breaks. 😉

Yes, I pay way more in taxes than when I worked at Walmart before going to college, which was next to nothing. And I sure as hell don't want to go back to that job or pay rate just so I can avoid these taxes.
 
CptObvious said:
On the contrary, from 2007-2010 I lived and worked in Korea with all my possessions fitting in a suitcase. Every six months or so I got a different assignment and got to move to a new place. It was the most liberating experience in my life, not having to worry about mortgage payments or car payments and being able to travel around Asia every couple of months. When I came back to the States to work the 8-5 desk job I just asked myself, what is the point of living like this for the rest of my life, accumulating stuff and retirement savings when I'll probably develop some kind of disease from sitting on my ass for 30+ years? Watching people around me at the office nearing retirement, it's just not the kind of life that appeals to me, even if its the "safer" route. My wife is Korean and we've often talked about going back because we're dying of boredom here.
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I really like the live with just what you need thing. I've never been someone to collect a lot of stuff. Basically at 32 if I can buy a new bed and a cheap table I can just about fit everything I own in my car. I guess I'd have to sell the TV too. But in he end not too attached to the stuff I have.

I lived in 3 different houses growing up and we didn't have a lot so I guess I just don't get attached to objects. Always wonder why people do and can never understand the logic of hoarder types. I mean a laptop some clothes and somewhere to sleep in the end is all us ATOT posters need haha.
 
CptObvious said:
I'm 32 and only have 1/2 my yearly income saved. I decided rather than save more I'll just try to pay off my mountain of student loan debt as quickly as possible so I can look at a career change. I think retirement is overrated though...I'd rather be working at something I love doing until its physically impossible to continue, and by that time Ill be too old to enjoy the money.
Click to expand...

I'm a programmer and I agree. I plan to work until my brain doesn't work. I mean I go in to work and code new cool things and I get paid money to do it. Or I can say around a all day. Just have to find a career and job you like . I guess if I was a garbage Man or something I could not say that
 
jpiniero said:
That pension will likely get slashed big time. I wouldn't count on it. I wouldn't count on SS either. I would count on the 401k, but since most people's 401k is almost entirely invested in the stock market, you are really at the whim of that.
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How many pension funds do you think will fail before the politicians decide to loot 401ks?
 
If you're talking 401k then put yourself in the ~0~ column. Regardless of its current value. All it takes is one major hit and say bye bye to steak and hello to tuna helper. And that's all while living in your kids basement to boot. 401k's were never developed for your benefit. They benefit corporations. With the way congress works these days, and our trending economy, get use to tuna helper. And taking orders from little Billy's wife.
Welcome to retirement reality 101.
 
sportage said:
If you're talking 401k then put yourself in the ~0~ column. Regardless of its current value. All it takes is one major hit and say bye bye to steak and hello to tuna helper. And that's all while living in your kids basement to boot. 401k's were never developed for your benefit. They benefit corporations. With the way congress works these days, and our trending economy, get use to tuna helper. And taking orders from little Billy's wife.
Welcome to retirement reality 101.
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Actually they were made to benefit the stock market ponzi scheme with a constant flow of incoming money. That's why the market has been up since the early 80s when 401ks got popular. So the baby boomers could feel like they could retire off the next greater fools I.e. people in their 30s and 20s today
 
hans007 said:
Actually they were made to benefit the stock market ponzi scheme with a constant flow of incoming money. That's why the market has been up since the early 80s when 401ks got popular. So the baby boomers could feel like they could retire off the next greater fools I.e. people in their 30s and 20s today
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The market has been essentially flat for the last 15 years...

also

Since 80% of stocks are owned by top 10% of people....

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-08-14/markets/29956234_1_stock-market-real-crash-sales-fall

it's very doubtful that the 401k money from the other 90% is actually doing much to "influence" the market.
 
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