Posted on 04/26/2021 8:03:49 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Early in your career, start by saving what you can, with the ultimate goal of putting away 15% of your salary. That 15% will put you on track to have the equivalent of your salary saved by 30, which is the milestone retirement-plan provider Fidelity recommends aiming for in order to retire comfortably.
And if your employer offers a 401(k) match, try to contribute enough to qualify for the full amount, which is essentially free money.
That means if you earn $50,000 a year, you should aim to have $50,000 in retirement savings by the time you are 30. If your annual salary is $100,000 a year, you should aim to have $100,000 saved.
But how much do people in their 20s actually have in their 401(k)s? The average 401(k) balance for Americans between the ages of 20 and 29 was $15,000 as of the fourth quarter of 2020, according to data from Fidelity’s retirement platform.
The average employee contribution rate for people in this age group was 7.4%.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
...
In the 20’s I have zip diddly in a 401k. Oh, kids in their 20’s. Thought you meant the decade of the 20’s. Never mind.
I began regularly putting away money to my RRSP in my mid 30s. When you are in your 20s, you are typically paid a pittance and have to worry more about immediate expenses such as shelter, food, clothing, car, tuition (at least in my case), etc.
It’s next to impossible for people at those ages to have that kind of savings at that point.
They’re saving to buy an absurdly overpriced house, one that their grand parents were able to buy with a couple of months worth of savings.
Fidelity lives in a dream world where mountains of cash wash over them every day.
The real world is occupied by people dealing with resurgent inflation that makes their earnings meaningless, since prices escalate at a far higher rate then their paychecks ever will.
Ha! I didn’t even get a job until I was nearly 30. Those were the days....
I had a pair of brothers that were both EITs that worked for me. They were 3 years out of college and still lived at home with their parents. They were making in the low $60’s. They had the same thing for lunch every day, 2 hot dogs and they drove an old beater car.
I know they were socking away every spare dime they made.
I had zip in any savings prior to age 30. Low salary, student loans, car payment... Started retirement savings about age 35-ish.
If you’re a kid just entering the workforce if you matched your FICA contributions in a IRA you’d be a wealthy individual when you retired.
Compound Interest is The Eighth Wonder of the World.
Which is why I am not opposed to parents helping their kids out if it maximizes the overall wealth of the Clan. This is what Asian families do.
https://dqydj.com/net-worth/
How much people have saved by state, who are the 1% etc.
Really? This is news? I literally had to be “talked to” numerous times before putting money into some sort of savings. Luckily I listened and started at 25 years old....but I didn’t have much in a 401K until my mid-30’s when I realized “I have to have a nest egg for my family”.
Before my husband and I married we did a kind of financial inventory I kept the list, came across it recently)...this article is stupid. We were hard working, in early 30s...having what this article prescribes is a laugh...but over the years with prudent savings (401K, etc.) @37 years later we’re doing fine...the unfortunate problem now is...hard work gets penalized more
When I left the Air Force I got my First Job in 1980 at the pay rate of $6.00 per hour. After working my butt off of a 40 hour week and seeing how much I lost do to tax with-holding I didn’t have the money to save in a 401K or anything else.
Not that I was living extravagantly but the cost of living at that time was outrageous.
I was not able to start a 401K until 1990 or so when I started getting slightly ahead financially.
Since that time through all of the economic ups and downs my 401K appreciated quite a bit and I haven’t touched it yet.
My only worry is with the Communist Biden administration I fear that all of my wealth appreciation will be destroyed by the devaluing of the dollar.
That gives me nightmares since I’m retiring soon.
Does make you wonder where these people come from. Given, I made certain life choices, like being a husband and dad at 19, which made things very difficult financially - especially while racking up school debt and paying the rent at the same time. What did frustrate me, with the little I was able to save each month, was that the house down payment that I was able to come up with was never enough. Houses were skyrocketing and every time I thought I had enough home prices had gone up. I eventually was able to get into a home at 30, only then was I able to consider my retirement plan. Food came first.
These “goals” don’t seem to ever match reality or the course of peoples lives. I now have the opposite situation from my younger life. Once my son was done with schooling and started work, several years ago, my income was more than enough - maxing out 401k, Roth IRA, saving into other funds, etc.. I should be fine but how many people actually follow this prescribed model? I doubt very many.
Whenever I hear the word "Nest Egg", you know the first thing that comes to mind....
“Please do me a favor, don’t use the word. You may not use that word--it’s off-limits to you. Only those in this house who understand nest egg may use it. And don’t use any part of it either. Don’t use ‘nest,’ don’t use ‘egg.’ If you’re out in the forest you can point. The bird lives in a round stick. And you have things over easy with toast.”
My friends this is a big opening for us. We can get the 20-somethings to take their mind off getting laid when election time comes.
My solution: Allow 100% of their salaries to go into tax free accounts. ALLOW parents to contribute to their kids accounts. Get them to that $500k as fast as possible and then they’re on their own. They’re YOUNG. 40+ years of growth ahead.
Start off every newborn with $1k in the S & P. Watch them(both0 grow.
Not to worry. The ‘ants’ will take care of the ‘grasshoppers’ and so will Mother Government. *SMIRK*
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