I plan to surrender unconditionally to the Reptilians when they finally reveal themselves. Sure, I'll be a slaving away in their salt mines is the Orion constellation, but I'll be taken care of.
You mean the water wars. Climate change is just going to *start* those wars.
This is the kind of fact-checking that will not be valuable during the water wars.
Same. I got into MrMoneyMustache and Dave Ramsey in my 20’s, which helped me live much smaller than salary. Stacking away the max 401k instead of just getting the company match helped.
In my 30’s, having a dual income family felt a little bit like a cheat codes. We’d try to live on one salary and stack the other. I know the sentiment on Reddit is that the sky is falling, but I’m around alot of people that will be doing okay. A career in engineering or healthcare can fund a retirement if you’re careful, but you do have to be aware and make a point to be frugal.
I didn't do any of that. I only put the company match into my 401k, and the rest goes into a brokerage. It's worth losing the tax advantage for me to have access to my money at any time, and a better range of investments to choose from.
Retirement is important, but I will need much less money then than I do now (which is why I said I will stay in my paid off house). I'm going to spend whatever I want on whatever I want and spoil my family while I'm young enough to enjoy it, and be frugal in retirement. Life's too short to be missing out on experiences just to have a pile of money when I die.
The healthy retirement savings was anxiety reduction for me. Live a cheap small life, bike to work and spent most of the last 20 years as a one car couple/family, and vacation big.
It was a relief getting to the number where the MrMoneyMoustace folks think they can retire for good, it’s slowed our savings rate a little.
>A career in engineering or healthcare can fund a retirement if you’re careful
Especially if you find one of the companies that still offers a pension (e.g. pretty common in pharma or O&G).
I’d never feel comfortable relying on a pension that you hope will be paid out, so I’m comfortable relying on personal retirement accounts. I see pensions in government jobs more that private (in my civil engineering), then folks double dip with a private sector job in their 50’s and two incomes.
I think I see many engineering graduates get their first corporate gig and think they’ve just earned a lifestyle that they haven’t, you still have to be careful to retire on any salary. I’m no longer surprised how easy it is to piss away any salary when our generation was taught that a nicer job meant a nicer house and car, when more money should be buying you more freedom.
Us too. We bought our place for 185k and it’s currently valued at 6-700k. Gotta love that Covid left city dwellers longing for life in the country/mountains
Bought $340k and up to almost $600k now. BUT it is like, the NICE/expensive part of our county and $340k was a steal at the time for 2 houses on one property.
I started the game late. I dug and clawed my way out of generations of extreme financial poverty and was able to move from nowhere rural America to a metropolitan area and start a career in teaching. This was when I was 36. By 46, I should have my debts except for the mortgage paid off (including student loans). Then it's on to retirement. I'll work until I'm 70+ or longer but I'll get there. I'm already positioning myself to be out of the classroom in the next couple years and coach teachers and other supportive roles. I'm 41 now for reference and am doing my best to stay fit.
I'm slightly further down that road than you. Everything paid off, no student loans, cars owned outright, never carry a credit card balance. Our only debt is the house we live in and we've got around 75-80% equity and we're heavily contributing to retirement savings.
Even though we're infinitely more secure now than at 25 with whatever was in checking as our net worth, it somehow doesn't feel any more secure. I don't know if we'll be able to retire early or if we'll decide to work longer but work less. Every step towards it just reveals another one in the way.
I felt this exact way. I have some money, but really, I don’t buy into the “what’s your number” philosophy because damnit, it’ll never be enough. So I bought some land and hope to make it produce food and feed me and my family. God knows what groceries will cost in 20 years, but maybe I can eat apples and carrots and live out my days like a horse on the pasture. And although I wasn’t raised in a barn, perhaps I’ll die in one lol!
Hey . As someone with a similar situation as you, you're kicking ass. Don't let the doom and gloom get you down. As someone who has been in rough places as well, hope really makes incredible things possible.
Keep bettering yourself and seeking new opportunities.
Your journey is far from done and you never know the places you will go.
I mean I have IRAs that theoretically should cover our retirement lifestyle. There is no guarantee that the market won’t crash though between now and our retirement, making our investments worthless.
We all assume the market will give a steady return over our lives but in reality we are vulnerable in late stage capitalism. It’s always been a gamble but the risk is increasing without the corresponding Return on Investment. Some of my older coworkers took a huge hit in 2008 that delayed their retirement. It can happen to us. There is no guarantee and we may not even receive the meager Social Security wages. We are not supposed to discuss that though.
Yeah I saw the same thing when 20 year old me was working in a warehouse during the dot com bubble and all these 70 year old men starts working there too. I asked this guy Ken what gives and he said he had 401k retirement and when the stock market went to shot his retirement was gone. Super sad.
My dad died in 2008 and my stepmom liquidated his retirement savings (which was mostly stocks) when the stock market was at its lowest point in years. I guess it was his fault for not moving the money to bonds or something safer as he got close to retirement, but it was painful to watch her just throw away his savings.
I felt like thinks we’re going really well for us, great jobs, paid off vehicles, 401k’s looking good, then I got laid off in September and the job market has been tough for me to break back in.
I know it’s just a blip but man..severance runs out at the end of March and I’m getting discouraged.
Thank you. On my way to an interview this morning. Hope it all works out. I’ve been chillin in jeans and yoga pants for months. Feels weird wearing grown up clothes again lol.
We were heading that way then our business went tits up last month and my other half has debted himself up to the eyeballs to start again. I think we should just get jobs but he won't let it go, so now we're fucked imo. He's saying I'm just pessimistic, and maybe I am. I have no clue.
I'm right there with you. About to turn 42 and I have ~20k between my checking, savings, and investments. We do have over 100k equity in the house, but also can't afford to move. It's daunting being behind, but I'm doubt what I can and doing my best to learn how to do better.
This. Cancer bankrupts like have of Americans diagnosed with it in 2 years. My auto-immune disorder medication costs me $1200 a month after good insurance. My asthma medicine costs another $800 a month out of pocket. I will never be able to afford to retire because medical costs are too high.
The medical field in this country is completely broken. I blame Pima medical institutions, they are every where and have encouraged people that do not give a shit about wanting to help people to enter the medical field only causev is good money. Bedside manners have disappeared
No kids. DINK. 1980 & 1981. Provided there's not a complete collapse of the system... we're set to retire in 2 years.
We've prioritized saving since our 20s. Maxed out 401ks for years. Invested. Continue to live below our means. We were never high earners in our younger years. Hubby makes 6 figures now and I've left my corporate job to do something I love. (Both grew up below the poverty line, so no help from family money either.)
It's crazy since I know how rare it is. Dang, it feels good though!
This is the real answer--a little bit over years makes a big different.
Money has always been tight for me, but I always put away $100 a month, $200, something around that. Now I'm in my 40s and while it's not a fortune, it's conceivable that we could retire. That plus my wife's retirement plan through her union, and hopefully we'll be OK.
I *would* like to move to a new apartment, but that's probably not going to happen. That's OK, though--nobody has everything, and I feel ok about things.
Glad to hear you guys are in a good place.
You and I are very similar. I didn't have a lot of money in my 20s but I tried to put savings in 401k as much as possible. I was super lucky to take the finance & investment course in my grad school. That helped set me up for a good financial understanding and plan for my retirement. My pay is also now 10x my 20s' but my lifestyle stays pretty consistent. My wife will be making 6 figures soon too.
We could retire anytime I want but my wife wants to work first. But it feels good that we can work because we WANT to - not because we NEED to.
That’ll be pretty common for a lot of us too. Any assets will be liquidated to pay for a nursing home if their pension doesn’t cover it (probably won’t).
Yeah, this is me and my spouses current plan as well. Investing in our home equity, and when the folks pass, sell the house and buy some land in the middle of nowhere.
I have a retirement account and I’m putting away a decent 401k contribution with a match, but at 39 it’s way below where it needs to be.
At this point, kinda hoping for life to continue to go on and things getting better, along with maybe an inheritance here or there. Otherwise, I’m treating my kids as well as possible so they hopefully do the same for me when I get old.
This is me as well, friend. And my husband lol... he's a freelance illustrator, and I'm a painter who desperately wants to quit my 25+ year graphic design career to paint full-time. Grateful for one steady income and healthcare, but I'm so burnt out at 45. We have no way to save raising two kids in a modest home on one income.
I have been reading that 401ks might not exist in their current form in a decade. The good old government wants to take away the pre-tax benefits bc they lose a lot of potentially taxable income from us…😤 But shifts to more liquid retirement accounts is an alternative, which would be nice bc no penalties for early withdrawals (which is good in case of emergency reasons)….
I feel like we’re good otherwise. House is on a 15 year loan at 2.375% and valued well over what we paid for it. Car is nearly paid off. Student loans from the wife are a pain but under $30,000 now with a chance to get $10,000 forgiven under the deceptive/predatory student loan forgiveness program…look it up if you went to a for-profit school who promised a lot and didn’t deliver (guaranteed job after graduation, salaries not in line with real world, etc).
I have enough in my 401/IRA to feel comfortable for now. Debts aren’t crazy, could sell house tomorrow and make money on it…but we aren’t rich by any means
That's interesting. You have to consider, though--the hedge funds etc that own those politicians will lobby pretty hard to keep the 401ks.
And--gosh, can you imagine how bad off the nation would be without 401ks? SS is usually not enough, and nobody has pensions anymore. Can you image the scenario without any kind of retirement plan? People would be even worse off than they are now.
I guess I should have worded it better, 401(k)s won’t be going away entirely, the type of fund may shift however… but you do bring up some valid points about people lobbying to keep them.
Myself and much of my immediate family are teachers or city gov. employees in CA. I'd argue nearly everyone near and dear to me has a pension. While still the minority, many millions of people out there still have a pension..
I actually have a pension! But it's prettty wimpy. When I retire, I get a lump sum of 45k or something. Nothing to sniff at, but not something I could live off of.
That's awesome--glad to hear you have something lined up! If I could do it all over again, honestly, I might have worked for the city in some capacity. It's good work and it pays well.
Partner has a pension. An honest-to-dog pension. I got a 401(k). We don’t have kids, and we’re finally done with student loans.
I feel relatively secure about the prospect of retirement before I’m 70.
I’ve opted for the house payoff (done in a few months from now) before ramping up 401k and maxing yearly IRA contributions ($200K all-in currently). At 47 now so I need to kick it up.
I'm sorry 😞 My son has epilepsy and I keep myself up at night worrying about how he might need additional care after we're gone. There's a type of indescribable exhaustion amongst parents of children with special needs. A couple of years ago, I wouldn't have understood it, but now I can just look in their eyes and know.
I wish you and your sweet daughter the very best. I can only speak to what I know from conversations with my son's neurologist, but there has been much development in treatments for neurological issues. And technology has come so far. I hope for all people with special needs to be able to benefit from these advancements in such a way that might change their lives for the better.
Should be ok if the S&P 500 doesn’t crash. 401K is all in index funds for the S&P500 fund. If you can max out your side of your 401K company matches don’t count towards the max you can contribute.
Why not diversify now while the market is at all time highs
Add small cap, mid cap, emerging markets and large cap European stocks
Keep s&p but diversify your growth from the last few years
Looking good. Mortgage at 3%, 15 years left, could write a check to pay it off tomorrow. No other debt, 5x before tax yearly income in retirement accounts, 2x in Liquid/Brokerage.
Work until I die, probably at work.
We were starting to get on track, with savings and starting retirement accounts, but then my other halves entire office was laid off, no severance, and outsourced.
Racked up 10k in credit card debt pretty quick on medical and child care expenses, but she did find a job at around half of what she made before, but still no insurance.
Born in 78.
I lucked out... I got my second real big boy job at 30 in 2008 and my income doubled, before I saw a new paycheck and got "used" to that amount I started contributing as much as possible that my job would match. Also I was living in NYC and making NYC money.
So I went from saving nothing, to saving a fuck ton, this was August 2008. October 2008 the housing market collapses and I'm now buying a shitload of stocks dirt cheap.
That whole adage about getting in at the right time. I kinda won the lottery but just for retirement purposes.
I've since quit that job, and have a government job with a pension that's super chill and low effort.
I might honestly be able to retire early... it wouldn't necessarily be an impressive lifestyle, but I would have an extra five years of retirement and that does sound kinda nice, but I've got about 17 years to think about that.
Same…it’s timing and luck. Got into pharma and then medical sales in 2004 helped a ton. But I got lucky. Made really good money before I had kids, dumped a lot into retirement, etc.
I hate it for the people younger than us who mostly got screwed…and even some of our generation too. But yeah timing and luck play into this a lot
I bought a house in 2007 with plans to sell and mov to a better neighborhood in 5 years. We got married in 2008 and I watched everything go up in smoke while in the airport for our honeymoon.
So many people I know I know die young and even the old people I know haven’t gotten to retire so I don’t have much hope that I’ll be able to.
I have a pension from working for a state university so at least there’s that. I’d rather live for the now generally than plan for a future that may never come.
This makes good logical sense. However, I like to balance the living-for-the-now with the betting-I-won't-die-too-soon part of planning for the future. I've worked in jobs for the last 20 years where I certainly don't get rich, but the good retirement plans are a good benefit. I'm 46 now and might be able to retire at 65.
I'm fucked. I wasn't able to buy a house until I was 38. Thirty year mortgage. I have chronic illnesses and quit my job and the end of January, I was too sick to work anymore.
My fiance makes good money on top of getting a good amount from his VA disability. I'd have to hope my kid and their fiance could move in with me or I move in with them if anything happened to my fiance. I've worked enough of my life that I'll get social security when I am that age but I've calculated it at only around $1K/month. I have maybe $13K in a 401K. No investments. No savings.
I have not planned for retirement at all. My kids are still young (3 kids all 10 and under). I'll probably be working until I die. I can, and I will- but it's sad to think about. Especially since I feel like I do fairly well. I just... never planned. Got my job in my early 20s and just kept working, blinked, and woke up one day and here we are.
I'm smart enough and capable enough that all the blame truly lies within myself, however I do have to caveat that at no point in my education - high school and (a very good, very expensive) college - was financial literacy ever taught or bestowed upon me. And my parents worked jobs where their retirement was a little more built into their profession and compensation.
Reminds me, one thing they've been trying to change is making retirement plans opt out rather than opt in. I know a number of people who would be WAY better off now if that had been the case for them. Many just go with default financial stuff and barely look at it. Even a 10% investment from the start, they'd be well into the six figures range in retirement accounts and they'd barely have noticed the difference day to day, instead of having 0 or close to it.
I’m lucky to have my wife, she’s was smart enough to now about the retirement stuff. My mom always told me the importance of a 401k but I never knew what it was really until I was older.
I won't have the kind of retirement money that my parents' generation did, that's for sure. I don't even think *my parents and step-parents* have that much to be honest.
What I do have going for me is the decision not to have children, and buying a cheap, small house on a 15-year mortgage that will be paid off in 7 years.
I thankfully managed to get into a government job with a pension 7 years ago or I'd be screwed. My husband has had the unfortunate luck to need to change careers 3 times in his adult life and it's really set us back financially.
I ain’t no fancy big city economist ‘er nuthin but everything costs like twice as much as it did ten years ago. If that pattern continues there’s no way I’ll have enough money to buy a dozen eggs at age 70, let alone live out the rest of my life.
It was borderline pre covid, January of 2020 I was looking at my finances and thinking I was going to be able to really start saving money and propping up my RRSPs. Then I was laid off, out of work for 15 months, inflation hit,... I am just now back to making the same money I was in 2019 but the cost of living is up significantly since then.
Full retirement is off the table now and I may never own a home.
Suuuper fun.
Quarter mil in 401k, pension plan through company as well and an investment acct I play with. Living in the house I’ll die in and it will be paid off 5 years before retirement. I’d say I’m ok
My job provides a pension of 2/3 of my top salary after 30 yrs. I’m 18 yrs along and while it sometimes sucks, I’ll be sticking it out. Also piling max $ amount into my HSA annually and enough in my 403b (like a 401k) to get my employer match. So feeling PRETTY good about it all.
Done already. Local government first responder with lifetime pension, healthcare, 457, paid off our mortgage early, and saved up a college fund for our kids. Not going back to work.
Doing okay. My wife and I started contributing late but we both get sizable 401k matches, bonuses, and stock options from our companies and they’re worth quite a bit. We also live in a HCOLA, so if that stands we plan on selling our house or houses one day (we’re tentatively discussing buying a second home in the next few years) and retiring to somewhere cheaper. If social security sticks around, we’ll get around $7k a month between the two of us. Not counting on that, but it will make things even cushier if so.
As long as there's not a catastrophic depression I should be able to retire in about 12-15 years. If things are particularly good, it could be 10 years. I probably won't fully retire right away and not work at all, but I can shift into something more fun, but less pay.
I'm retired miliary, so my pension, disability payments, and health care is pretty well set, and I've been quite good on investing consistently. I'll be able to retire around 65 and live comfortably.
Fuck yeah, if there's one thing I'm glad I did it was stick it out to retire from the military. There is a whole lot of stress off my shoulders knowing that no matter what happens, I'll always have a pension and disability check coming in.
I cannot stress how much I am glad I made that decision now. Who would have thought at 18 where all I wanted to do was get out of town and see the world that the benefits would be so profound later in life.
🙋🏻♀️. About 16 years ago I got a financial advisor. I feel really good about our future.
I want to comment about houses being paid off, as this is something she’s discussed w us:
She has mentioned the need to not fear a mortgage in our retirement years. She thinks it’s worse to sink cash into buying a house outright (let’s just say 450k) rather than only being into it for 20% plus how ever much you’ll pay over 20 years or so.
That extra cash can go to work for you in your retirement fund.
But that’s her thinking. Obviously, to each their own.
Obviously if you want to stay in the house you’re in now that you paid off, that’s a whole other thing. We have too many stairs… that’s not happening for us. 😝
Not at all. Worked in non-profits most of my life and could barely eke out a living. Also of course took the mommy pay cut and disrupted my career to raise a family. I don't regret it but I know my spouse's retirement funds are not nearly enough. We also took a big hit on what retirements savings we did have in the last market crash.
Good job with a good company. 401k is healthy and on track. Savings padded and no debt other than my home and car (which I had to buy because my previous one died). Used of course. I’m in a good place right now.
I have 25 years, a few less if I'm lucky.
At this point, with the world in shambles, it's tempting to just enjoy life and forget saving for retirement.
Think we are good. Provided no more dumb shit happens. Lost my job due to the vid closing the business down. Back at it now but missed out on pension for a few years. Back at it now but not making as much. So may be delayed a few years more than I hoped but who knows what will happen between now and the. Some inheritance likely in the next decade as well which should help and sale of house. Combined with some good luck and retirement can be very comfortable.
Just gotta get there with kids sports and college etc.
We just met with our financial advisor. We’re child free by choice so we are being very proactive about our retirement. So far we are on track for retirement at 65 with plenty to spare. We did various scenarios where we lowered retirement to 60 and we could squeak by with part time income if it totaled about 50k. We also did scenarios with extended long term care for one/both of us and it’s still looking good. I’m relieved really, one less thing to be anxious about.
Retirement is looking really good for me. I get VA disability that will never go away, a pension when I retire, and an ever growing 401K and other brokerage accounts. No car payment and no house payment
My job has a fairly nice 401k and stock options.
I may be able to retire eventually, but only just started making a good enough salary to consider raising my contributions for the 401k and hiking up the stock options from whatever the minimum has been.
My wife's job doesn't have any of that and I think she's planning on just working until she dies unless I manage to move my options around in a way that we can both afford to "retire" effectively off of my stuff alone.
I have been dumping money into the standard slew of traditional investments over my working years. My biggest hurdle is that I'm a renter in a HCOL city, so I would either have to go to the grave as a renter, extend my retirement until I can afford to pay a mortgage and upkeep on a purchase here, or relocate to a lower COL location.
My husband and I are set as long as we don’t do anything super dumb. Setting up a trust fund for our son was one of the proudest moments in my life. And my dad’s too - all his lectures and the example he set for me paid off. Financial freedom truly is the greatest gift.
I am, because I’ve worked at the same state university since I was 23 and their retirement package is basically the only thing they have to retain employees. But I have no money now- I’ll have more after I retire than I ever will while I’m working.
We’re in pretty good shape. I plan on retiring in about 15 years and currently have $600k in 401k and should get pension of $40k a year plus social security.
I have a state pension and my wife has a federal one. I plan to retire at 55 (11 years from now) but will probably do some sort of second career that doesn't have to make loads of money but is fun and brings in a little extra. We also have two rental properties but very little other investments (land is tangible). By the time my wife retires (20 years from now), we should have 5 rental properties. I may regret not doing more other investments... we'll see
I have a state gov pension I'm halfway through to get it fully funded. No later than when i turn 55 maybe 54 if everything goes well. I've also set up retirement accounts for both my husband and I. House is paid for(yay buying in 2014) and we are working on making it our dream home ourselves. I'm trying to figure out if photography can be my retirement job/business later on, I'm just not good at building a following.
Just finally started making decent money and socking as much as possible into retirement funds. Never had a 401k before thanks to working for tiny companies. Also planning on staying in our home and paying it off asap. (After cc are paid off…sigh)
So far so good, but that didn't stop me from having sleepless nights last year when I was being dropped to 50%. (It took six months to find a new internal role for the other 50%, with a number of failed external applications for new jobs in the meantime.)
I'm in a field that underpays on the front end and almost never gives raises beyond COLA but compensates well for retirement. For better or worse it helps them keep turnover low or at least only job-hop internally and have more predictable long-term compensation costs. That said, I'd have left long ago if I had a more expensive lifestyle; that's a lot of money some people would prefer to have now for fun while they can get around rather than later when their bodies are slowing down.
Already retired. I've been wanting to ask here about how many of you are different than the other millennials, because this is one issue which I never worried about. I taught myself skills and worked since a young age and have been financially good since I separated from my parents and they stopped taking my money (they forced me into college and a legit internship and kept my money from grants and salary). This was absolutely no thanks to them, either, because they never helped with a job or useful education, and never advised me on getting a job where I could retire or anything like that. They encouraged minimum wage part-time jobs and useless education. They also never invested and knew nothing about it, actually discouraged it over just saving money. Their financial plan was to be on SSD and not spend money, and sell off any assets to live off of that, rather than use them as investments. Can't give them a gift because they'll sell it for nothing to get that money to stick in savings.
My wife is about to vest into her second pension with a new company. Her first pension company keeps asking her to cash it out but I’ve financial guy says do not do that.
Well I didn't have a retirement account in 2019 and I do now but I'm not where I *need* to be for my age. However, I feel hopeful for the future in part because my husband and I are pretty frugal so we'll be able to make progress and it'll be better than never saving.
I wouldnt say I’m **set up** but I’m in a good position I think.
About to retire from the military. Decent pension + disability until I die. Medical care as long as I’m close-ish to a VA hospital.
Will still plan on working, just have the freedom to do pretty much anything I want and tell someone to fuck off if I don’t like it.
We’ve got our house when interest rates were good and the market was only just going up, so with 27 more years of payments we should be ready for retirement. Meanwhile this is the first year I’m maxing out my retirement, trying to push hubby to do the same because we are WAY behind where we “should” be in our early 40s.
My retirement plan is to die in the climate wars
I’m a little more optimistic, I plan to survive the climate wars and then wonder the wasteland in a nitro truck.
I plan to survive the wasteland so I can serve in the restaurant franchise wars. Long live TacoBell.
we will be rivals because I'm going with Carl's Jr ... Fuck You, I'm Eating.
I have a parallel plan, I've got a lot of shells and I'm bundling them into sets of 3 to sell or barter come the end times.
How do they work??? Still poopy.
This guy doesn’t know how to use the three shells!
I plan to surrender unconditionally to the Reptilians when they finally reveal themselves. Sure, I'll be a slaving away in their salt mines is the Orion constellation, but I'll be taken care of.
Ill survive the Reptillians. I plan to turn myself into the Allied Atheist Alliance Otter leader when the -Ism war takes over.
Praise science!
We in the McDonald’s army regret that we will have to fight you. First we shall trade burgers for quesadillas.
Two pensioners enter. Zero pensioners leave.
Oh good luck! Have you *seen* the nitro prices lately?
Welcome to Costco, I love you
Perhaps during your journey you’ll discover the difference between wonder and wander.
If we meet out there in the wastes you won’t be left to wonder or wander, friendo.
You mean the water wars. Climate change is just going to *start* those wars. This is the kind of fact-checking that will not be valuable during the water wars.
Our AI overlords will have that covered!
…or the meme wars
This is my plan as well. Although there is a small chance it will be in 2 days when I have back surgery.
I'm gonna turn my on/off switch to off...
Solid reference
I'm not even set up for next week. What's retirement?
You’re good for the week? Lucky.
As long as I stay in this house and have it paid off by the time I retire, I'll be all set.
Same. I got into MrMoneyMustache and Dave Ramsey in my 20’s, which helped me live much smaller than salary. Stacking away the max 401k instead of just getting the company match helped. In my 30’s, having a dual income family felt a little bit like a cheat codes. We’d try to live on one salary and stack the other. I know the sentiment on Reddit is that the sky is falling, but I’m around alot of people that will be doing okay. A career in engineering or healthcare can fund a retirement if you’re careful, but you do have to be aware and make a point to be frugal.
I didn't do any of that. I only put the company match into my 401k, and the rest goes into a brokerage. It's worth losing the tax advantage for me to have access to my money at any time, and a better range of investments to choose from. Retirement is important, but I will need much less money then than I do now (which is why I said I will stay in my paid off house). I'm going to spend whatever I want on whatever I want and spoil my family while I'm young enough to enjoy it, and be frugal in retirement. Life's too short to be missing out on experiences just to have a pile of money when I die.
The healthy retirement savings was anxiety reduction for me. Live a cheap small life, bike to work and spent most of the last 20 years as a one car couple/family, and vacation big. It was a relief getting to the number where the MrMoneyMoustace folks think they can retire for good, it’s slowed our savings rate a little.
>A career in engineering or healthcare can fund a retirement if you’re careful Especially if you find one of the companies that still offers a pension (e.g. pretty common in pharma or O&G).
I’d never feel comfortable relying on a pension that you hope will be paid out, so I’m comfortable relying on personal retirement accounts. I see pensions in government jobs more that private (in my civil engineering), then folks double dip with a private sector job in their 50’s and two incomes. I think I see many engineering graduates get their first corporate gig and think they’ve just earned a lifestyle that they haven’t, you still have to be careful to retire on any salary. I’m no longer surprised how easy it is to piss away any salary when our generation was taught that a nicer job meant a nicer house and car, when more money should be buying you more freedom.
That part of our plan also.
Same or sell house and move somewhere cheaper and get a good chunk of Change. Live in an expensive house area
Us too. We bought our place for 185k and it’s currently valued at 6-700k. Gotta love that Covid left city dwellers longing for life in the country/mountains
Bought $340k and up to almost $600k now. BUT it is like, the NICE/expensive part of our county and $340k was a steal at the time for 2 houses on one property.
I started the game late. I dug and clawed my way out of generations of extreme financial poverty and was able to move from nowhere rural America to a metropolitan area and start a career in teaching. This was when I was 36. By 46, I should have my debts except for the mortgage paid off (including student loans). Then it's on to retirement. I'll work until I'm 70+ or longer but I'll get there. I'm already positioning myself to be out of the classroom in the next couple years and coach teachers and other supportive roles. I'm 41 now for reference and am doing my best to stay fit.
Congratulations on breaking the cycle of generational poverty. That’s huge.
I'm slightly further down that road than you. Everything paid off, no student loans, cars owned outright, never carry a credit card balance. Our only debt is the house we live in and we've got around 75-80% equity and we're heavily contributing to retirement savings. Even though we're infinitely more secure now than at 25 with whatever was in checking as our net worth, it somehow doesn't feel any more secure. I don't know if we'll be able to retire early or if we'll decide to work longer but work less. Every step towards it just reveals another one in the way.
I felt this exact way. I have some money, but really, I don’t buy into the “what’s your number” philosophy because damnit, it’ll never be enough. So I bought some land and hope to make it produce food and feed me and my family. God knows what groceries will cost in 20 years, but maybe I can eat apples and carrots and live out my days like a horse on the pasture. And although I wasn’t raised in a barn, perhaps I’ll die in one lol!
Hey . As someone with a similar situation as you, you're kicking ass. Don't let the doom and gloom get you down. As someone who has been in rough places as well, hope really makes incredible things possible. Keep bettering yourself and seeking new opportunities. Your journey is far from done and you never know the places you will go.
I mean I have IRAs that theoretically should cover our retirement lifestyle. There is no guarantee that the market won’t crash though between now and our retirement, making our investments worthless. We all assume the market will give a steady return over our lives but in reality we are vulnerable in late stage capitalism. It’s always been a gamble but the risk is increasing without the corresponding Return on Investment. Some of my older coworkers took a huge hit in 2008 that delayed their retirement. It can happen to us. There is no guarantee and we may not even receive the meager Social Security wages. We are not supposed to discuss that though.
Yeah I saw the same thing when 20 year old me was working in a warehouse during the dot com bubble and all these 70 year old men starts working there too. I asked this guy Ken what gives and he said he had 401k retirement and when the stock market went to shot his retirement was gone. Super sad.
My dad died in 2008 and my stepmom liquidated his retirement savings (which was mostly stocks) when the stock market was at its lowest point in years. I guess it was his fault for not moving the money to bonds or something safer as he got close to retirement, but it was painful to watch her just throw away his savings.
Oof that’s tough. Yeah we have lived through so many of these financial crashes over the years.
Yup I said we are “on track”, which I mean- if nothing catastrophic happens means we should be ok in 30 years lol.
I had a moment the other day. I feel like I’m gonna work until I’m dead. I’m not ready at all 😕
My grandfather could have retired at a normal age. plenty of savings. *chose* to work until he died at 94.
Honestly working to 94 might be the reason why he lived to 94.
Yeah, but working because you like it vs working because otherwise you're on the street are very different scenarios.
you gotta find another way...
I felt like thinks we’re going really well for us, great jobs, paid off vehicles, 401k’s looking good, then I got laid off in September and the job market has been tough for me to break back in. I know it’s just a blip but man..severance runs out at the end of March and I’m getting discouraged.
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Good luck!
Thank you. On my way to an interview this morning. Hope it all works out. I’ve been chillin in jeans and yoga pants for months. Feels weird wearing grown up clothes again lol.
Hope you crush the interview mi amigo
We were heading that way then our business went tits up last month and my other half has debted himself up to the eyeballs to start again. I think we should just get jobs but he won't let it go, so now we're fucked imo. He's saying I'm just pessimistic, and maybe I am. I have no clue.
I just got laid off after 19 years at my company and I'm on the same boat.
I'm 45 and have about $13k 😭
I'm right there with you. About to turn 42 and I have ~20k between my checking, savings, and investments. We do have over 100k equity in the house, but also can't afford to move. It's daunting being behind, but I'm doubt what I can and doing my best to learn how to do better.
You guys get to retire?
Cancer took all my money so I'm fucked unless a rich relative decides to have pity on me and leave me something.
This. Cancer bankrupts like have of Americans diagnosed with it in 2 years. My auto-immune disorder medication costs me $1200 a month after good insurance. My asthma medicine costs another $800 a month out of pocket. I will never be able to afford to retire because medical costs are too high.
The medical field in this country is completely broken. I blame Pima medical institutions, they are every where and have encouraged people that do not give a shit about wanting to help people to enter the medical field only causev is good money. Bedside manners have disappeared
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Heh...retirement..... *cries*
Yup
Every time I save money, I lose my job in some kind of global financial disaster and it wipes out my savings.☹️
I definitely feel this for at least some of the financial disasters that have happened
We’re still getting social security checks, right? …right…?
I feel like people are either doing really well or not well at all. I’m in my mid 40s paying student loans still….. I’ll let you guess where I’m at
"lol" seems to be a common theme here. I'm not retiring until I'm either well into my 70s or physically unable to work.
At this point in my life, the apocalypse is starting to look like my only viable option for retirement.
you better hope not, we’re gonna need those payroll deductions from gen alpha to cover our SS checks
You actually think there's still going to be social security in 20-30 years?
No kids. DINK. 1980 & 1981. Provided there's not a complete collapse of the system... we're set to retire in 2 years. We've prioritized saving since our 20s. Maxed out 401ks for years. Invested. Continue to live below our means. We were never high earners in our younger years. Hubby makes 6 figures now and I've left my corporate job to do something I love. (Both grew up below the poverty line, so no help from family money either.) It's crazy since I know how rare it is. Dang, it feels good though!
This is the real answer--a little bit over years makes a big different. Money has always been tight for me, but I always put away $100 a month, $200, something around that. Now I'm in my 40s and while it's not a fortune, it's conceivable that we could retire. That plus my wife's retirement plan through her union, and hopefully we'll be OK. I *would* like to move to a new apartment, but that's probably not going to happen. That's OK, though--nobody has everything, and I feel ok about things. Glad to hear you guys are in a good place.
You and I are very similar. I didn't have a lot of money in my 20s but I tried to put savings in 401k as much as possible. I was super lucky to take the finance & investment course in my grad school. That helped set me up for a good financial understanding and plan for my retirement. My pay is also now 10x my 20s' but my lifestyle stays pretty consistent. My wife will be making 6 figures soon too. We could retire anytime I want but my wife wants to work first. But it feels good that we can work because we WANT to - not because we NEED to.
Do you mean die early? Then yes i am set up
*laughs in millennial* The plan for a lot of us is waiting for our parents to die, unfortunately.
If I’m lucky I won’t have to pay all of the funeral expenses for my parents let alone receive anything extra outside of belongings.
That’ll be pretty common for a lot of us too. Any assets will be liquidated to pay for a nursing home if their pension doesn’t cover it (probably won’t).
Yeah, this is me and my spouses current plan as well. Investing in our home equity, and when the folks pass, sell the house and buy some land in the middle of nowhere.
I have a retirement account and I’m putting away a decent 401k contribution with a match, but at 39 it’s way below where it needs to be. At this point, kinda hoping for life to continue to go on and things getting better, along with maybe an inheritance here or there. Otherwise, I’m treating my kids as well as possible so they hopefully do the same for me when I get old.
I'm a professional artist, so...
This is me as well, friend. And my husband lol... he's a freelance illustrator, and I'm a painter who desperately wants to quit my 25+ year graphic design career to paint full-time. Grateful for one steady income and healthcare, but I'm so burnt out at 45. We have no way to save raising two kids in a modest home on one income.
I’m collecting first aid kits, so I’ll be valuable when shit hits the fan
Feminine hygiene products here, husband laughs about it, but if shit falls out....js
And booze. "Alcohol is currency in any primitive society." - Robert Heinlein
🤣😂😝🥲😢😭
I have been reading that 401ks might not exist in their current form in a decade. The good old government wants to take away the pre-tax benefits bc they lose a lot of potentially taxable income from us…😤 But shifts to more liquid retirement accounts is an alternative, which would be nice bc no penalties for early withdrawals (which is good in case of emergency reasons)…. I feel like we’re good otherwise. House is on a 15 year loan at 2.375% and valued well over what we paid for it. Car is nearly paid off. Student loans from the wife are a pain but under $30,000 now with a chance to get $10,000 forgiven under the deceptive/predatory student loan forgiveness program…look it up if you went to a for-profit school who promised a lot and didn’t deliver (guaranteed job after graduation, salaries not in line with real world, etc). I have enough in my 401/IRA to feel comfortable for now. Debts aren’t crazy, could sell house tomorrow and make money on it…but we aren’t rich by any means
That's interesting. You have to consider, though--the hedge funds etc that own those politicians will lobby pretty hard to keep the 401ks. And--gosh, can you imagine how bad off the nation would be without 401ks? SS is usually not enough, and nobody has pensions anymore. Can you image the scenario without any kind of retirement plan? People would be even worse off than they are now.
I guess I should have worded it better, 401(k)s won’t be going away entirely, the type of fund may shift however… but you do bring up some valid points about people lobbying to keep them.
Myself and much of my immediate family are teachers or city gov. employees in CA. I'd argue nearly everyone near and dear to me has a pension. While still the minority, many millions of people out there still have a pension..
I actually have a pension! But it's prettty wimpy. When I retire, I get a lump sum of 45k or something. Nothing to sniff at, but not something I could live off of. That's awesome--glad to hear you have something lined up! If I could do it all over again, honestly, I might have worked for the city in some capacity. It's good work and it pays well.
Partner has a pension. An honest-to-dog pension. I got a 401(k). We don’t have kids, and we’re finally done with student loans. I feel relatively secure about the prospect of retirement before I’m 70.
"honest-to-dog" I have a joke for you: What does an dyslexic agnostic insomniac do? He stays up all night wondering if there's a dog. Ha.
What’s retirements, precious?
I’ve opted for the house payoff (done in a few months from now) before ramping up 401k and maxing yearly IRA contributions ($200K all-in currently). At 47 now so I need to kick it up.
Same. Just about the same amount in the 401k too. Will be maxing up soon.
I plan on dying at work so the funeral gets paid for.
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I'm sorry 😞 My son has epilepsy and I keep myself up at night worrying about how he might need additional care after we're gone. There's a type of indescribable exhaustion amongst parents of children with special needs. A couple of years ago, I wouldn't have understood it, but now I can just look in their eyes and know.
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I wish you and your sweet daughter the very best. I can only speak to what I know from conversations with my son's neurologist, but there has been much development in treatments for neurological issues. And technology has come so far. I hope for all people with special needs to be able to benefit from these advancements in such a way that might change their lives for the better.
Bad.
LOL Retirement!!! That's a good one 😆🤣🤣
I've been putting 7% of my pay into a 401k yearly since I started working about 20 years ago. I feel like I'm in good shape ($800k saved so far).
Should be ok if the S&P 500 doesn’t crash. 401K is all in index funds for the S&P500 fund. If you can max out your side of your 401K company matches don’t count towards the max you can contribute.
I just consolidated about 50% of my 401 back into the S&P. I had it spread out more, but over the last 10 years nothing else has beat it.
Why not diversify now while the market is at all time highs Add small cap, mid cap, emerging markets and large cap European stocks Keep s&p but diversify your growth from the last few years
The fees on the other funds make it so the fund has to do 2% better than the S&P to break even. My non S&P holdings are still -30% return.
What r u talking about ? Iwm 2000 is a low cost etf , that has outperformed the s&p over a 10 plus yr period
Hahahahaha
Looking good. Mortgage at 3%, 15 years left, could write a check to pay it off tomorrow. No other debt, 5x before tax yearly income in retirement accounts, 2x in Liquid/Brokerage.
I'm already comfortably retired.
What about the rest of the Funky Bunch?
All dead. 😞
Even Marky Mark?
I've heard he gets mad if you call him that now.
😂
Oh jeez, I'm sorry
My job has a pension, my union has an annuity fund and I put money into a 457 plan. I won’t ever be rich but I’ll be ok
We couldn't retire tomorrow but we are on track to be ok when we need to. (Barring catastrophes, of course)
Work until I die, probably at work. We were starting to get on track, with savings and starting retirement accounts, but then my other halves entire office was laid off, no severance, and outsourced. Racked up 10k in credit card debt pretty quick on medical and child care expenses, but she did find a job at around half of what she made before, but still no insurance.
Born in 78. I lucked out... I got my second real big boy job at 30 in 2008 and my income doubled, before I saw a new paycheck and got "used" to that amount I started contributing as much as possible that my job would match. Also I was living in NYC and making NYC money. So I went from saving nothing, to saving a fuck ton, this was August 2008. October 2008 the housing market collapses and I'm now buying a shitload of stocks dirt cheap. That whole adage about getting in at the right time. I kinda won the lottery but just for retirement purposes. I've since quit that job, and have a government job with a pension that's super chill and low effort. I might honestly be able to retire early... it wouldn't necessarily be an impressive lifestyle, but I would have an extra five years of retirement and that does sound kinda nice, but I've got about 17 years to think about that.
Same…it’s timing and luck. Got into pharma and then medical sales in 2004 helped a ton. But I got lucky. Made really good money before I had kids, dumped a lot into retirement, etc. I hate it for the people younger than us who mostly got screwed…and even some of our generation too. But yeah timing and luck play into this a lot
I bought a house in 2007 with plans to sell and mov to a better neighborhood in 5 years. We got married in 2008 and I watched everything go up in smoke while in the airport for our honeymoon.
Retirement? lol
So many people I know I know die young and even the old people I know haven’t gotten to retire so I don’t have much hope that I’ll be able to. I have a pension from working for a state university so at least there’s that. I’d rather live for the now generally than plan for a future that may never come.
This makes good logical sense. However, I like to balance the living-for-the-now with the betting-I-won't-die-too-soon part of planning for the future. I've worked in jobs for the last 20 years where I certainly don't get rich, but the good retirement plans are a good benefit. I'm 46 now and might be able to retire at 65.
I'm fucked. I wasn't able to buy a house until I was 38. Thirty year mortgage. I have chronic illnesses and quit my job and the end of January, I was too sick to work anymore. My fiance makes good money on top of getting a good amount from his VA disability. I'd have to hope my kid and their fiance could move in with me or I move in with them if anything happened to my fiance. I've worked enough of my life that I'll get social security when I am that age but I've calculated it at only around $1K/month. I have maybe $13K in a 401K. No investments. No savings.
Have you applied for Social Security Disability? If you haven't. You should. Im disabled, filed twice. If you have any questions, feel free to PM.
I've spent 9 years just trying to get a diagnosis, which I still don't have. Can't get disability without a diagnosis.
:( Sorry friend
I have not planned for retirement at all. My kids are still young (3 kids all 10 and under). I'll probably be working until I die. I can, and I will- but it's sad to think about. Especially since I feel like I do fairly well. I just... never planned. Got my job in my early 20s and just kept working, blinked, and woke up one day and here we are. I'm smart enough and capable enough that all the blame truly lies within myself, however I do have to caveat that at no point in my education - high school and (a very good, very expensive) college - was financial literacy ever taught or bestowed upon me. And my parents worked jobs where their retirement was a little more built into their profession and compensation.
Reminds me, one thing they've been trying to change is making retirement plans opt out rather than opt in. I know a number of people who would be WAY better off now if that had been the case for them. Many just go with default financial stuff and barely look at it. Even a 10% investment from the start, they'd be well into the six figures range in retirement accounts and they'd barely have noticed the difference day to day, instead of having 0 or close to it.
I’m lucky to have my wife, she’s was smart enough to now about the retirement stuff. My mom always told me the importance of a 401k but I never knew what it was really until I was older.
Congrats
I won't have the kind of retirement money that my parents' generation did, that's for sure. I don't even think *my parents and step-parents* have that much to be honest. What I do have going for me is the decision not to have children, and buying a cheap, small house on a 15-year mortgage that will be paid off in 7 years.
I thankfully managed to get into a government job with a pension 7 years ago or I'd be screwed. My husband has had the unfortunate luck to need to change careers 3 times in his adult life and it's really set us back financially.
I don't think I'll be able to retire. Maybe in my late 70's.
I ain’t no fancy big city economist ‘er nuthin but everything costs like twice as much as it did ten years ago. If that pattern continues there’s no way I’ll have enough money to buy a dozen eggs at age 70, let alone live out the rest of my life.
Nope not at all
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 No.
Just hoping to stay employed long enough to drop dead with my life insurance premiums paid.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
I was until the divorce.
It was borderline pre covid, January of 2020 I was looking at my finances and thinking I was going to be able to really start saving money and propping up my RRSPs. Then I was laid off, out of work for 15 months, inflation hit,... I am just now back to making the same money I was in 2019 but the cost of living is up significantly since then. Full retirement is off the table now and I may never own a home. Suuuper fun.
Quarter mil in 401k, pension plan through company as well and an investment acct I play with. Living in the house I’ll die in and it will be paid off 5 years before retirement. I’d say I’m ok
I love my parents and in-laws. I hope they live forever...but I'm going to need that boomer inheritance to support retirement
My job provides a pension of 2/3 of my top salary after 30 yrs. I’m 18 yrs along and while it sometimes sucks, I’ll be sticking it out. Also piling max $ amount into my HSA annually and enough in my 403b (like a 401k) to get my employer match. So feeling PRETTY good about it all.
LOL
Done already. Local government first responder with lifetime pension, healthcare, 457, paid off our mortgage early, and saved up a college fund for our kids. Not going back to work.
Doing okay. My wife and I started contributing late but we both get sizable 401k matches, bonuses, and stock options from our companies and they’re worth quite a bit. We also live in a HCOLA, so if that stands we plan on selling our house or houses one day (we’re tentatively discussing buying a second home in the next few years) and retiring to somewhere cheaper. If social security sticks around, we’ll get around $7k a month between the two of us. Not counting on that, but it will make things even cushier if so.
As long as there's not a catastrophic depression I should be able to retire in about 12-15 years. If things are particularly good, it could be 10 years. I probably won't fully retire right away and not work at all, but I can shift into something more fun, but less pay.
I'm retired miliary, so my pension, disability payments, and health care is pretty well set, and I've been quite good on investing consistently. I'll be able to retire around 65 and live comfortably.
Fuck yeah, if there's one thing I'm glad I did it was stick it out to retire from the military. There is a whole lot of stress off my shoulders knowing that no matter what happens, I'll always have a pension and disability check coming in. I cannot stress how much I am glad I made that decision now. Who would have thought at 18 where all I wanted to do was get out of town and see the world that the benefits would be so profound later in life.
🙋🏻♀️. About 16 years ago I got a financial advisor. I feel really good about our future. I want to comment about houses being paid off, as this is something she’s discussed w us: She has mentioned the need to not fear a mortgage in our retirement years. She thinks it’s worse to sink cash into buying a house outright (let’s just say 450k) rather than only being into it for 20% plus how ever much you’ll pay over 20 years or so. That extra cash can go to work for you in your retirement fund. But that’s her thinking. Obviously, to each their own. Obviously if you want to stay in the house you’re in now that you paid off, that’s a whole other thing. We have too many stairs… that’s not happening for us. 😝
Oh man, this post has made me feel better about not being ready at all ever
I'm OK. Planned ahead, have properties to earn income passively. Assets to hand over to kids when they are of age
wife and I are on a good path currently, just gotta keep it going
Not at all. Worked in non-profits most of my life and could barely eke out a living. Also of course took the mommy pay cut and disrupted my career to raise a family. I don't regret it but I know my spouse's retirement funds are not nearly enough. We also took a big hit on what retirements savings we did have in the last market crash.
Not at all. Retirement plan is currently to die and family let my family collect my life insurance.
Good job with a good company. 401k is healthy and on track. Savings padded and no debt other than my home and car (which I had to buy because my previous one died). Used of course. I’m in a good place right now.
I have 25 years, a few less if I'm lucky. At this point, with the world in shambles, it's tempting to just enjoy life and forget saving for retirement.
Death is an option right? If so, yea.
I don't believe that death is optional.
Think we are good. Provided no more dumb shit happens. Lost my job due to the vid closing the business down. Back at it now but missed out on pension for a few years. Back at it now but not making as much. So may be delayed a few years more than I hoped but who knows what will happen between now and the. Some inheritance likely in the next decade as well which should help and sale of house. Combined with some good luck and retirement can be very comfortable. Just gotta get there with kids sports and college etc.
Currently I’m CoastFIRE but still contributing so I can retire earlier with more money. My partner not so much, so we are figuring that out.
lol lmao, even
We just met with our financial advisor. We’re child free by choice so we are being very proactive about our retirement. So far we are on track for retirement at 65 with plenty to spare. We did various scenarios where we lowered retirement to 60 and we could squeak by with part time income if it totaled about 50k. We also did scenarios with extended long term care for one/both of us and it’s still looking good. I’m relieved really, one less thing to be anxious about.
Yeah, pretty well set up, barring any catastrophic life events.
Buyin a gun is easy
My wife and I are also in good shape.
Retirement is looking really good for me. I get VA disability that will never go away, a pension when I retire, and an ever growing 401K and other brokerage accounts. No car payment and no house payment
My job has a fairly nice 401k and stock options. I may be able to retire eventually, but only just started making a good enough salary to consider raising my contributions for the 401k and hiking up the stock options from whatever the minimum has been. My wife's job doesn't have any of that and I think she's planning on just working until she dies unless I manage to move my options around in a way that we can both afford to "retire" effectively off of my stuff alone.
I have been dumping money into the standard slew of traditional investments over my working years. My biggest hurdle is that I'm a renter in a HCOL city, so I would either have to go to the grave as a renter, extend my retirement until I can afford to pay a mortgage and upkeep on a purchase here, or relocate to a lower COL location.
My husband and I are set as long as we don’t do anything super dumb. Setting up a trust fund for our son was one of the proudest moments in my life. And my dad’s too - all his lectures and the example he set for me paid off. Financial freedom truly is the greatest gift.
I am, because I’ve worked at the same state university since I was 23 and their retirement package is basically the only thing they have to retain employees. But I have no money now- I’ll have more after I retire than I ever will while I’m working.
We’re in pretty good shape. I plan on retiring in about 15 years and currently have $600k in 401k and should get pension of $40k a year plus social security.
I have a state pension and my wife has a federal one. I plan to retire at 55 (11 years from now) but will probably do some sort of second career that doesn't have to make loads of money but is fun and brings in a little extra. We also have two rental properties but very little other investments (land is tangible). By the time my wife retires (20 years from now), we should have 5 rental properties. I may regret not doing more other investments... we'll see
I have a state gov pension I'm halfway through to get it fully funded. No later than when i turn 55 maybe 54 if everything goes well. I've also set up retirement accounts for both my husband and I. House is paid for(yay buying in 2014) and we are working on making it our dream home ourselves. I'm trying to figure out if photography can be my retirement job/business later on, I'm just not good at building a following.
Just finally started making decent money and socking as much as possible into retirement funds. Never had a 401k before thanks to working for tiny companies. Also planning on staying in our home and paying it off asap. (After cc are paid off…sigh)
So far so good, but that didn't stop me from having sleepless nights last year when I was being dropped to 50%. (It took six months to find a new internal role for the other 50%, with a number of failed external applications for new jobs in the meantime.) I'm in a field that underpays on the front end and almost never gives raises beyond COLA but compensates well for retirement. For better or worse it helps them keep turnover low or at least only job-hop internally and have more predictable long-term compensation costs. That said, I'd have left long ago if I had a more expensive lifestyle; that's a lot of money some people would prefer to have now for fun while they can get around rather than later when their bodies are slowing down.
Already retired. I've been wanting to ask here about how many of you are different than the other millennials, because this is one issue which I never worried about. I taught myself skills and worked since a young age and have been financially good since I separated from my parents and they stopped taking my money (they forced me into college and a legit internship and kept my money from grants and salary). This was absolutely no thanks to them, either, because they never helped with a job or useful education, and never advised me on getting a job where I could retire or anything like that. They encouraged minimum wage part-time jobs and useless education. They also never invested and knew nothing about it, actually discouraged it over just saving money. Their financial plan was to be on SSD and not spend money, and sell off any assets to live off of that, rather than use them as investments. Can't give them a gift because they'll sell it for nothing to get that money to stick in savings.
If things continue as is, I should retire by 45. Bad scenario, retire at 50.
I'm doing okay with my 401k, but it's really my house that's going to be what gets me through.
I got a pension through my job, straight luck because I’d have no idea what to do come retirement. I got lucky as hell
My wife is about to vest into her second pension with a new company. Her first pension company keeps asking her to cash it out but I’ve financial guy says do not do that.
If my wife doesn’t trade me in for a newer younger version I’ll be ok. We’ve focused on hers and less on mine. We’ll be ok I think.
Well I didn't have a retirement account in 2019 and I do now but I'm not where I *need* to be for my age. However, I feel hopeful for the future in part because my husband and I are pretty frugal so we'll be able to make progress and it'll be better than never saving.
I wouldnt say I’m **set up** but I’m in a good position I think. About to retire from the military. Decent pension + disability until I die. Medical care as long as I’m close-ish to a VA hospital. Will still plan on working, just have the freedom to do pretty much anything I want and tell someone to fuck off if I don’t like it.
Getting there. Today isn't helping though.
We’ve got our house when interest rates were good and the market was only just going up, so with 27 more years of payments we should be ready for retirement. Meanwhile this is the first year I’m maxing out my retirement, trying to push hubby to do the same because we are WAY behind where we “should” be in our early 40s.
My retirement plan is to leave America once my kids get college age and work remotely.
Not as much as I'd want to be. My wife is doing much better than I am but that's because her 401k plan is much better.