401-K Account balances at Fidelity Investments

[Value Buy]

www.msn.com/en-us/money/retirement/the-average-401k-balance-by-age/ar-BBSHwRW?li=BBnbfcL

I know many here are monetarily savvy, and have taken care of yearly deductions for your 401-K's.
This article does not list IRA account levels.
These numbers are scary, imo.

[cronewitch]

One problem is jobs I had mostly didn't have 401K then when they did it was limited to 15%. Changing jobs I always converted but balances were only from a few months to a year since they didn't start when I started the job or allow any the first year. I wasn't offered a high contribution until fall of 2003. I maxed out every year until I retired but for the first few years my average balance wasn't much. How many people keep the same job with a 401K for more than a few years. The elders many have huge other investments. My 401K balance is zero.

[ken a.k.a OMK]

I'm always shocked at how little people have saved at the older age groups. We struggled to pay of CC when young then never carried a balance again.

Things I learned when young: money makes money, and compound interest.

[Tiny]

IDK. When you look at the MEDIAN amounts they don't seem that unreasonable AND when you consider that many employees do NOT have access to a 401(k) and do not have the wherewithall to open a tax advantaged account on their own.

Lets not forget that the median income for most areas is probably less than 50K per year. 3% of 50K is $1,500. I can totally see why this age range has a MEDIAN balance of 4K.


Ages 20-29
Average 401(k) balance: $11,600.

Median 401(k) balance: $4,000.


Then there's that thing that makes people look the other way - that there are alot of jobs that do have steady income but that cap out at or below the median income amount. Meaning someone earning 40K at 30yo MAY be at the top of their pay scale for their job/area. That 40K may provide a reasonable standard of living and as it goes up 2% every year it might continue to do so for the rest of the person's life. Unfortunately, even with consistent investment it might not provide a 1 million dollar nest egg at 65.

To be honest, what frightens me more is people with really big incomes who have little or no savings/investments (not much net worth).... they have the means to 'escape' the stress of having to work/worry about the future but don't bother to act on it.

[Apple]

I work with people who make very good livings, many who are my age and started the same day I did.  Everyone at my level makes the same wage.  There is another level I could get, but absolutely do not want to (it goes from field work to being stuck in one room all day long. There is one window, and it looks at a wall within the main building.  They cannot leave that room, while I have freedom to go anywhere within the outer security gates.  The money they make, about $10 more an hour, and gaining ground with every raise, is absolutely not worth it.)

Conversations sometimes make me wonder what they have in their retirement fund.  We have a pension that comes out to 1% times years of service.  There are people who have been working longer than I have, who are worried they cannot retire anytime soon (they are getting close to the minimum age, will have a lot of time in, but many also have a lot of debt).

These are smart people.  But, somehow, many still struggle with figuring out finances.

I was lucky to be pushed into saving from the time I got my first job in fifth grade.  My numbers for the age groups I've belonged to end at 10x that average.  I'm hoping I hit 10x the average for the next age group while I'm in early.

I started when you could only contribute 12% of your pay, and my wage was only part time, but I maxed it.  I maxed it (again, when max was going from 12% to 15%, not a dollar limit), when I was putting myself through school, raising a kid on my own, and could not afford to replace a dead refrigerator or washing machine.  So, putting something away, anything away, is possible on almost any income.  Knowing how to do it is the biggest obstacle for people to overcome, IMO.

Those numbers are scary.  

[tyfighter3]

I would like to see the Debt people have in these age ranges.  Being debt free really does free a persons income up to do a lot off different things you never thought possible.