When Should You Have $500K or $1M Saved for Retirement?

[ArchietheDragon]

Jul 31, 2015 10:00:16 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

#1: According to my Phil Script, a lump sum investment of $135,000.00 bearing an annual return of 8% could grow to $1,358,458.68 in 30 years!

#2: According to my Phil Script, a yearly investment of $18,500.00 bearing an annual return of 8% could grow to $2,077,239.41 in 29 years!


So if I take what I have now... (don't judge I've only been maxing out for 2 years after a late start) and add what I plan to contribute over the next 29 years.   I should have 3,435,698.09  and that's just my own savings it does not take into account MrSroo's pension and his 403c account. 


What am I missing here... It can't be that easy. 

You are missing nothing.   It is simple, but not necessarily easy. 

[Deleted]

Jul 31, 2015 10:00:16 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

What am I missing here... It can't be that easy. 

Life can sometimes throw you curveballs and you may not always be able to max your retirement savings.  There might even be years you can't put anything in.  Who knows? 

My philosophy is to do what I can, when I can and don't ever raid it.    

[swamp]

DH and I are both 45. We don't have a million in retirement. We suck.

[Plain Old Petunia]

Jul 31, 2015 10:21:22 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Jul 31, 2015 10:00:16 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

What am I missing here... It can't be that easy. 

Life can sometimes throw you curveballs and you may not always be able to max your retirement savings.  There might even be years you can't put anything in.  Who knows? 

My philosophy is to do what I can, when I can and don't ever raid it.    

My philosophy is sock away 15% consistently and then don't fret about it. What will be, will be.

Could I cut back on living expenses and sock away more? Yes. Am I going to?  No. There is more to life than living for "someday". I want to live today, too.

[Tiny]

I'm single... and I did hit the 500K in retirement accounts by 50 (which is more than 5X my salary by 55 will be)...  

I'm hoping that by the time I truly 'retire' I'll have the proverbial Million dollars in my retirement accounts.  

I've got a pension and then whatever SS will be available - and whatever money I manage to get into my after tax accounts (I'm lite in this area and am working a 5 year plan to get some money into them). 

I think the best advice is to start saving EARLY - even if it's just a piddly 1-3% of the 'little income' you have when you start out.   

My current Self is truly thankful that my Distant Past Self did set up savings at 8% to a 401(k) - even if I did then ignore it for the first decade.  My current Self is also very thankful my More Recent Past Self (10 years or so ago)  bit the bullet and increased my savings/investing dramatically  (based on a 3/5/10 plan).    

Even if Distant Past Self had only saved 3% - it still would have made a big difference to my Future Self.   



ADDED:  just for fun - if I won 1 million (after tax) in a Lottery - I'd retire tomorrow.    If I won 500K after tax I'd definitely be 'retired' by 55.       

[lund]

I don't like the "how much when" rules of thumb, since a lot depends on what you started from, and the conditions since.
A person who has paid for his/her own education, has special needs children, has been unemployed, has been divorced, has worked lower-paying jobs, has had health problems in the family, started late due to no financial knowledge,..... is not likely to have been able to put away as much as somebody who has had easier circumstances.



I like the "rules" about what percentage to save/invest though. I think that they get many started, which for many probably is one of the worst hurdles to get over.

[The Captain]

Jul 31, 2015 11:36:04 GMT -5 Tiny said:

I'm single... and I did hit the 500K in retirement accounts by 50 (which is more than 5X my salary by 55 will be)...  

I'm hoping that by the time I truly 'retire' I'll have the proverbial Million dollars in my retirement accounts.  

I've got a pension and then whatever SS will be available - and whatever money I manage to get into my after tax accounts (I'm lite in this area and am working a 5 year plan to get some money into them). 

I think the best advice is to start saving EARLY - even if it's just a piddly 1-3% of the 'little income' you have when you start out.   

My current Self is truly thankful that my Distant Past Self did set up savings at 8% to a 401(k) - even if I did then ignore it for the first decade.  My current Self is also very thankful my More Recent Past Self (10 years or so ago)  bit the bullet and increased my savings/investing dramatically  (based on a 3/5/10 plan).    

Even if Distant Past Self had only saved 3% - it still would have made a big difference to my Future Self.   



ADDED:  just for fun - if I won 1 million (after tax) in a Lottery - I'd retire tomorrow.    If I won 500K after tax I'd definitely be 'retired' by 55.       

Haven't heard this one before - will you please elaborate?

[Tiny]

Jul 31, 2015 12:34:25 GMT -5 The Captain said:

Jul 31, 2015 11:36:04 GMT -5 Tiny said:

 
My current Self is truly thankful that my Distant Past Self did set up savings at 8% to a 401(k) - even if I did then ignore it for the first decade.  My current Self is also very thankful my More Recent Past Self (10 years or so ago)  bit the bullet and increased my savings/investing dramatically  (based on a 3/5/10 plan).    
 

Haven't heard this one before - will you please elaborate?

Those were just milestone dates for increasing my 'savings'... the old I'll bump up my 401(k) contribution by 2% until I reach a 20% contribution rate over the course of 5 years.  I'll set up an auto transfer of X dollars to my Roth and then every year I'll bump up the amount by $50.00 (or $100) until I manage to hit the max for the year (estimated 3 years to accomplish hitting the max).   After year 5 I'll start working on getting finances in order, so I can purchase a rental property... 

That's what I meant by the "3/5/10 year plan"  --  guess i left out the word "year" in my original post. 

[mamasita99]

I'm already past 35 and no, I do not have $500,000 in my retirement accounts. I didn't really start my career until I was 31, prior to that I was home with my babies, completing grad school, and working full-time here and there but not consistently year after year, it just depended on what was going on with our lives at the time. I do get a small portion of ex's pension as we were married during these years.

I'm contributing 10% of my gross salary monthly to a 403b, and I will also have 2 pensions eventually, one state and one county. If that still isn't enough, I will turn to Plan B. I can live in my tiny condo on the beach in a "gentrified" part of town and live off of whatever I end up with.  I can think of worse fates . 

[thyme4change]

I'm 46, my husband is 43, and we don't have a million for retirement, but we do have more than 3x our household income saved.  I am aiming for a million in investable assets by 50.  I am already at a million if I get to count my home equity.  

[msventoux]

I'm not 40 yet and there's no way I'll have $500K by the time I am.  I try to console myself that I do have over 3x my salary saved.  It depends on which calculator I look at as to how I feel about my retirement savings.  Some say I'll be lucky to be eating cat food in retirement, some say I'm way overfunded.    I'll just keep maxing out everything since I'm used to it now and see what happens when the time comes.