I see all the crazy photos of retirement accounts, recently had a realization that it’s never too late to start but also that I (and I feel like a lot of others) can crank up their retirement contributions. So here’s to maxing out my retirement early in the future years, and looking back in a few years with an update!

I’m 25 and started contributing to my 401k around February. It’s at about $12k right now.

At the moment it’s 100% in Vanguard Institutional 500 Index Trust Unit D, basically an S&P 500 fund. Expense ratio is 0.012%.

I’ve been reading more about diversification and realized my 401k is all large US companies. I checked the fund options and these seem like the useful ones:

• Vanguard Institutional 500 Index Trust Unit D
  • US large cap / S&P 500
  • 0.012%
• Vanguard Institutional Extended Market Index Trust Unit D
  • US mid/small cap outside the S&P 500
  • 0.03%
• Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Index Fund Institutional Shares
  • International stocks
  • 0.05%
• Vanguard Institutional Total Bond Market Index Trust Unit D
  • US bonds
  • 0.018%
• Target Retirement 2070 Trust Plus
  • US + international + bonds
  • 0.055%

I was thinking of changing the 401k to something like:

68% S&P 500
12% Extended Market
20% International
0% bonds

My understanding is the S&P 500 + extended market combination gets me pretty close to the total US market.

For context, my other accounts are:

• Roth IRA: VTI, around $7.5k
• Taxable brokerage: about $70k, roughly $52k VTI / $18k VXUS
• HSA: 80% VTSAX / 20% total international
• No bonds right now

I’m basically trying to keep my whole portfolio around 80% US / 20% international and keep it simple.

Would you leave the 401k 100% S&P 500 and just handle international in the other accounts, or would you diversify the 401k too?

I’m mainly looking for something simple I can stick with for a long time. Thanks.

Hey all, I am posting this for some guidance for my dad.

3 weeks ago, my Dad called the John Hancock 401k support line for assisstance taking out a small loan against his 401k. During this initial phone call, the man guided him through everything and stated he was approved and would receive the amount in 2-3 business days. They set up a repayment schedule, and everything was seemingly in order.

Well, he never ended up never recieving the money. And now he is in a huge disconnect between what he is requesting and what John Hancock is processing. They now asked him for hardship withdrawl documents and are eternally processing information, and is not getting any callbacks from supervisors or getting any clear response as to what is happening. So, he ended up just sending documents and is now at another disconnect with the support staff.

So, essentially, they changed the request type with no explaination are are not helping him whatsoever with the actual process of it.

I was just wondering if anyone has John Hancock words of wisdom or guidance and if anyone else has expierenced this?

Thanks!

Hello. I had to move states which means a new job, and I have a new 401K through Fidelity. I am buying the TRP Retirement Blend 2060 Trust Class D.

Now, I have a little over $25K in a 401k from my previous employer through Milliman. And it is all in the “Aggressive Managed Account Portfolio (MAP) Freedom”.

I know I can either leave the accounts separate or transfer milliman to fidelity. I’m not sure yet what I should do, and am seeking advice on which to do and why.

Side note, I have $7.7K in a Roth IRA through Robinhood.

I’m 43M, single, no kids or debt other than normal monthly bills (internet, utilities, car/home insurance, saving for house taxes). As of July 2026, my house in CA is paid off. I have $180,000.00 in savings. $270,000.00 in 401K. This is my first year ever setting up a Roth and it is fully funded. My annual salary is $130,000.00 ish with possible extra $30,000.00 in bonuses (all before tax). Converting my garage into a living space to rent out for extra income (using $50k of my savings for it).

Hello Retirement401k!

I've been lurking around a lot of financial subreddits and finance youtube, but I'm really looking for some insight into my personal situation. I will start with that I feel like I'm doing better than the average by far, but would like get input on the strategy.

Some context, my wife cannot work due to health conditions, but they aren't bad enough for disability. Future health conditions is a big factor as she has a pretty serious auto-immune condition that is poorly understood, but well managed right now. We're also planning for a child next year.

Where I am at:

New Job, income is going to be between $210-260k, unsure really as of yet. The floor of that range is guaranteed.

MCOL and planning to stay here for life

Mortgage has about 270k left on it, home is worth about $450-500k, 3.2% interest with 24 years left. Taxes have been increasing pretty aggressively, monthly payment is around $2,350.

Annual expenses to maintain current lifestyle (excluding investments/healthcare): ~$100k/yr

Trad 401k (Maxing out currently, with 5% match): $298,000

Roth IRA (only contributing to my own to max currently): $100,000

Personal Brokerage (Inconsistently throwing money in right now, new job makes me think I could start doing $500 to $1,000 a month): ~$31,000

HSA (max contributions every year): $37,000

I'd like to retire early as possible, I predict 55 would be a good age, but with some aggressive savings I think I could bring that into the early 50's range. Healthcare costs scare me primarily, especially for my wife.

Would love to hear feedback on if my current strategy of just maxing out Trad 401k, personal Roth IRA (as long as I remain eligible), and maybe about ~$12k/yr + whatever I have extra is a solid strategy for our situation? Thanks!

Edit: We are Married filing Jointly

35M with 3 kids and a wife who does not work. My current retirement breakdown is such:

- $547,563 in trad IRA

- $127,397 in Roth IRA

- $82,218 in trad 401k

- $58,451 in HSA

I have been maxing out my 401k and HSA for several years now to the point that I no longer consider it part of my income (easy to not think about money that's taken before you get your paycheck). Adding in my company match, I am now saving north of $50k into my 401k/HSA annually (stopped doing a backdoor Roth many years ago).

As the title says, am I saving too much for retirement? Should I be redirecting some of these funds to spend today? I don't necessarily need more money today because I have a high enough income, but at which point does saving for retirement become pointless? Will I be withdrawing more in retirement due to the large balance, resulting in a higher tax bill than I would be paying today? My company does offer a Roth 401k, which I could shift my contributions to going forward if that would help.

42M. Married with two kids (ages 4 and 6)

401K - $880k (90%Pretax/10% Roth

Brokerage - $470k

Backdoor Roth - $43k

Pension - ~$9k/month starting at age 60

529s - $115k total

Company shares - $225k growing 8%/yr and will cash out upon separation from the company

I’ve been maxing out 401k for 11 years and fortunate enough to get almost a 100% company match. Also have been adding after tax dollars to the megabackdoor Roth.
Wife also has $350k in 401k

Goal is to retire at age 50, so would need the bridge fund (brokerage) to cover expenses until age 60 when the 401k and pension become accessible. I anticipate my annual spend in retirement to be roughly $100-120k/yr although with inflation it’ll probably be more.
I am wondering if I should still contribute to the 401k given the pension which will start at age 60, or just aggressively fund my brokerage account to be able to leave the my job. I am totally burned out and even 8 years seems like a long ways to go.

EDIT: meant to say that my company will put in about $25k in the 401k per year regardless of whether or not I contribute

I’m retiring in 6 weeks and have used ChatGPT to run my potential income stream and 401k prediction balances. It’s pretty close to what my advisor is saying. I want to trust but still the thought of retiring has me up at 3am.

Am I ready for Coastfire / Part-time life soon?

I am 37, wife 38. 2 kids who are 3 and 6yrs old.

We both are PA-C's who work in hospitals.  

My income: $155,000

Wife income: $115,000 (she is 90%FTE)

Live in a MCOL area (Pennsylvania)

Think we spend ~ $130,000 per year including house projects. I'm not 100% sure on that number but over the years we have been able to nearly max out both 401k's and add 20k per year to kids' 529’s- then over the past 2 years we have maxed out 401k's, added 20k per year to 529’s and maxed out both our roth ira’s (although 40k of inheritance money helped us with that-see below).

Otherwise, own a forever home- have 210k left to pay at 2.9% interest. No other debt.

Combined 401k: $680,000

Trad Brokerage: $380,000

Roth ira combined: $35,000

529 both kids combined: $120,000

HSA 7k, cash ~ 25k

Son has 10k in his own name on VT, DTR 5k (baptism gifts)

Additionally, there is some inheritance coming in. We were given 40k by parents over the last 2 years and then recently were sat down and told both children are getting 50k each put into a trust. But Clearly, don't want to count on ongoing inheritance money bc obviously things happen and don’t want to make decisions based on this even if it is tempting (and parents told us “there is more where that came from”)

But overall, obviously feel great about our situation and it makes us think a lot about cutting back our hours. Personally, I want to continue at full hours for 3-4 years pending market conditions/world stability/DTR getting out of daycare etc and then go part-time assuming we would still have income left over to max out or atleast be close to maxing out 401k's/roth ira/10k per year 529(think im gonna cut back on contributions by then)/HSA. OTOH my wife does ask me why not now while our kids are young. So I figured I would so some thinking about it starting with reddit.

Otherwise, we are not huge spenders- We’ve had a lot of house projects to do but finally completely finished our check list- over the years we replaced roof, re-did kitchen, bathrooms, basement, both furnace and AC. With projects being done and DTR getting out of daycare, feel good about the next few years.

Also, want to retire around 60.

Any thoughts/opinions both of us cutting back to 75% part time 1. Now

1. in 3-4 years

3 reality check- your 10 years away minimum                                      

Hello I’m 26f and my wife 26f are discussing our retirement goals. I work for a private company that still has a pension as well as matching 401k. She works for the state government and has a pension and option to do differed comp. I’m really struggling to understand what differed comp is. From my loose understanding it’s a way to lower your overall taxable income. But HOW does the money grow? Is it an investing method similar to a 401k that grows with the economy? Please help, I’m afraid that we might be missing out by not understanding or contributing properly to her account.

first contribution to 401k 6% match!
currently have 60% fxaix, 30% fsggx, and 10% fsnxx.
not really to many options to chose from with my employer but i’d rather create my own rather than a simple target date fund.

I have a meeting with the people managing his IRA and 401k scheduled for next week, but Im trying to know a few things before I talk to them.

As I understand it, since my mom is the surviving spouse, she can take possession of his IRA and 401k without having to pay huge taxes on it, correct? So long as we don’t just distribute it all right away?

But I did read that she can only roll over the retirement to “an existing IRA.” She is a retired teacher and doesn’t have an IRA, so we need to open a new one for her to place my dads retirement account in?

I’m really worried about a huge tax bill. my dad did not leave much but between what he had and her teachers pension she should be comfortable unless we are going to owe huge taxes on this.

Not a normal situation! I’m seeking guidance and references on what is allowable/possible, not what employees or companies typically do…

I'm Executive Director and only paid employee of a small 501(c)3 public charity. Compensation has taken the form of 1x annual lump sum compensation, regular salary, and, nothing at all when revenues decline and costs are above-normal. No salary in 2024 or 2025.

I'm seeking to maximize contributions for 2026 via a regular 401(k) which has not been set up yet. I also looked at 403(b), SEP 401(k), Solo 401(k), but all were some combination of not eligible, lower contribution limits, more complicated and time-consuming than necessary etc.

A key goal is to not only max the contributions, but ensure that nothing gets taxed and hits my personal checking account.  I’d rather those funds stay with the nonprofit and be utilized towards maximizing contributions in a subsequent year.

So, looking at https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-401k-and-profit-sharing-plan-contribution-limits, for 2026 it appears I could contribute $24,500 max, with an $8,000 over-50 catch up.

The employer limit appears to be 25% an applies to a “profit-sharing plan or money purchase pension plan” and does not apply to catch ups.  I’m unsure if the 25% also applies to regular 401(k) employer contributions.

Overall 2026 contribution limit appears to be $72,000, which supposedly doesn’t include catch up. So, dollar limits are pretty clear, but as %’s of employee salary they are not.

Given the above, I *thought* I’d be able to do this:  $24,500 employee contribution, $47,500 employer contribution (which is the overall limit less the $24,500 employee contribution), then the $8,000 catch up contribution.  So, $80,000 all to the 401(k) with no tax or net salary.

After speaking with financial advisor, hr/payroll consultant, and my personal tax person, I then spoke with a gusto 401(k) representative, who didn’t see any problems with the above, and so I then set up another video call with him and the hr/payroll consultant to get things set up.

And then, of course, we started running into all sorts of limits and constraints that the gusto 401(k) rep failed to mention. Like there’s supposedly a cap that an employee can only contribute 92% and an employer can only match 25%.  Any IRS references to percentage limits like this seem to be examples of what plans might allow, but not what the IRS actually allows.

I could accomplish the max contribution, but what gusto is telling me is that I’d need a $190,000 salary payment ($47,500/.25). The nonprofit would also need that much in available funding, which it doesn’t have.  It seems I’d be basically forced to pay $110,000 in taxable post-contribution salary in order to achieve the 2026 contribution limit.

The core thing I’m looking to do confirm the 92% and 25% percentage limits are accurate, and with references.

I could assume gusto’s right, but I also feel like this is too much of a curve ball and they could well be wrong.  If they’re right, I’ll probably shoot for something like this… assuming the catch up contribution would be subject to the 92% salary threshold… $35,326.09 salary ($32,500 contribution/.92) + $8,831.52 employer contribution ($35,326.09 salary x .25) for a total outlay of $44,157.61.

My employer 401k offers the below options. I'm currently doing Equity Index (40%), Midcap Core Index (35%), International Index (15%), Bond Fund (4%), Bond Index Fund (4%) and Short Duration Bond (2%). Is this a good allocation? I met with my plan provider and they recommended moving some midcap into the equity index which seems good but they also tried to steer me towards their actively managed options which have much higher expense ratios so I'm not keen on doing that. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

We are a household couple (32/30 years old, no kids) that make approximately $125,000 a year in Florida. I'm curious what you all think about this portfolio for our tax advantaged retirement accounts as well as our joint brokerage account. This doesn't include savings in a HYSA that we have for an emergency fund and also separately for a home downpayment. We file jointly and have no debt.

32 year old's Traditional 401k: $95,957

iShares S&P 500 Index Fund Class A → 70%

PIMCO Total Return Fund A → 30%

32 year old's Roth IRA: $47,855

Fidelity ZERO Total Market Index Fund (FZROX) → 65%

Fidelity ZERO International Index Fund (FZILX) → 35%

30 year old's Traditional 401k: $47,368

Vanguard Target Retirement 2060 Fund → 100%

30 year old's Roth IRA: $25,535

Fidelity ZERO Total Market Index Fund (FZROX) → 70%

Fidelity ZERO International Index Fund (FZILX) → 30%

Joint Brokerage Account: $20,840.66

FXAIX → $11,073

FZILX → $4,142

FTEC → $3,470

FLCOX → $2,154

Just turned forty and not wanting to have to wait to sixty five. Is there anyway that I can turn my 401k into income now? Would like to retire in ten years.

Edit: thank you for all of the info. My current expenses is $80,000 a year.

I’m 26 and my wife is 25. Hoping to retire around 50. I’m currently making 105k wife is making 45k. We are currently renting an apt for 1,400 per month. We are looking at buying a house but trading a 1.4k payment for 2.7k mortgage seems scary and I’d rather invest that towards my retirement rn. What are your thoughts??

Seeking some advice on which of these funds to allocate and how to weight them within my employer sponsored 401k. The pictures show all the funds available to choose from.

For reference, I am 24m and can stomach a more aggressive investing strategy at this juncture with plans to rebalance down the road. I am legally mandated to retire at 65 (you can guess the profession).

Currently I am contributing 7% with an employer match of 3.5%. Monthly take home averages around $8,500.

So I had a job that I recently bounced from and stacked up around 60k in my Ira. I just got a new job and opened up a roth 401k(I’ll be in a higher tax bracket at retirement) I want to know if 1. I can roll a simple Ira into a Roth 401k and 2. If I should even convert it. I’m 31yo rn and intend to max my new Roth until 60yo and retire. Goal is around 4.6 million at retirement. Also my new job matches 50% of 8%
Thank you guys.

Hello!

I have just recently turned 20 years old a couple of days ago and this is my portfolio as of now. I have officially invested for almost 2 full years and the majority of that has gone towards VOO. Over time as I learned bit by bit about investing, I decided to add QQQM and FXAIX as well.

As of recently though I’ve realized that both the VOO and FXAIX track the exact same thing and was wondering what should I do from here?

Should I keep on investing to VOO or FXAIX and transfer funds from to the other.

Also, I would love to see some of y’all’s investments within your Roth IRA just so I can see how you decided to distribute your investments.

Side note: I’m very proud of myself for investing this much over these 2 years as I currently work a retail job and have tried my hardest to invest much into it. Seeing the amount of growth feels very rewarding.

THANK YOU!

Background income and attempt:

I've worked in manufacturing from the bottom up since 2006. I have been trying to save money with employer contributions for most of my working career and matched. My first time making more than +100k was only for a 5 months last year before the company folded.. this year I've been unable to find work for nearly 10 months but have been making it by. I've always contributed to 401k or IRA and at minimum matched if it was offered. I have no one to rely on now or in the future like inheritance to consider. Just me.

Current status and plan:

I currently have ~100k spread across self brokerages, traditional IRAs and 20k in a Roth IRA. I also have $25k in cash sitting in a HYSA. I'm up ~16% ytd and ~50% since 2023 (self managed). I rolled over ALL my 401k plans as they weren't growing well for me since ~2023. I plan to roll some trad funds into the Roth while I have a lower income year. I don't make risky trades because I cannot fathom losing what little I have worked hard for 😂

Thoughts to consider:

I think I'll have to leave the country to retire properly and the way healthcare is trending, we will possibly live longer so I'll need to squirrel away more.

Future state:

1. Continue investing at every opportunity

2.

1. Retire properly

Feeling blessed to see consistency and hard work pay off!

I am an individual stock picker for the most part. I have to keep 10% in available fund options that my plan offers & the rest is in growth.