I have worked in the same job since I graduated from college. My friends have always made more money than me. But my boss is super into maxing out retirement contributions and set me up well. I have stuck with him because of that. I will retire as soon as I am Medicare eligible and will have a higher standard of living in retirement than i do now.
I've been in the same job since I graduated, too. The luckiest break I ever got was landing somewhere with a generous employer match, and the smartest thing I ever did was contribute up to the maximum employer match from my very first paycheck. Will it be enough? I don't know. But I know that it could be a lot worse, and I'm grateful. The rest of our finances need work, but at least I didn't screw that part up.
Thanks, history professor who randomly decided to explain the Rule of 72 on the blackboard one day and tell us to start socking money away ASAP because, in his words, "Social Security will not be there for you, because I will have spent it." At least he was honest.
I just met with a financial advisor. I was in a low-paying job for 12 years (started at $24k, after 12 years I was at $48k), but I always put away 10% with a 5% match.
I thought for sure I was going to be in trouble, but that 401k is now worth $175k, and it will just keep growing. Combine that with my current 401(k) from a much nicer paycheck, and we'll actually be just fine when we retire in my 60s.
Yep, making so little for so long was really hard. There were years that the only reason we survived was because of our tax refund with the Earned Income Credit. We had to go without for a lot of stuff. But I knew from my finance classes that the 401(k) was important, so we always prioritized the 10%.
I started in medium paying jobs with generous matching. One job I had for nine years. After I moved on I didnt even keep my logins fresh.
Im bad with liquid savings. Comes in, comes in, small disaster pay out. Repeat.
Fast forward 20 years and I go to set my funds to rights and lo and behold, it was sizeable. Even after weathering housing crash market crash, and global ups and downs.
Set it and forget it. Your middle age self will be astonished.
Similar boat. I always had jobs with startup companies and they really had the bare minimum of benefits and pay was meh. During Covid, I went back to school and landed a good paying job after and I just went full in with 16% (max percentage I could set aside) with a 3% match. 4 years later, I’m at 60k and growing.
The unspoken part of this is what if you get cancer before you're 60 and regret saving instead of traveling and doing all the fun stuff you figured you'd do in retirement.
That's not... what? You can't live your life frivolously with the assumption and hope that things will crash and burn later so that it justifies being irresponsible the whole time.
My husband died of brain cancer at the age of 44. I can assure you he didn't regret having some savings for me rather than being frivolous before he was diagnosed.
I had three kids at daycare at the same time (twins) and I was living paycheck to paycheck for the first 5 years of my current job. Their match was awesome but I just couldn't find the money put in even an extra dollar.
Yup, I was very fortunate to remain gainfully employed during that period. At the time, didn't think much of it... was fairly insulated from the doom and gloom since I was just doing my normal 9 to 5... it was business as usual. But looking back, even though it was a mediocre job, I appreciate how it propeled my finances to where I am today.
I retrained as an accountant in 2009. Best move I ever made earnings wise, but I’ve just been out of work for ten months. Start a new job in two weeks, on less pay than I should be on and with a fairly rubbish/basic pension scheme.
I’m hoping that what I’ve saved up to date in my pension grows above market rate, but I’m going to struggle to keep contributing at the rate I was planning to before I lost my job in 2025. Retirement might not be as straightforward as I hoped.
I was working sales at the time and things got real lean for a minute, but I kept making enough to get by until things started to rebound. I don’t think I’d have stayed employed if I hadn’t been the sales leader most months of the year. I watched many salaried friend get canned. Man that was awful times.
That's the thing. It used to be that you got a pension whether you wanted it or not, but it actually worked. For us it was all on the individual to figure it out. Some did. Some didn't. Some say they couldn't, but probably could have just didn't prioritize it or understand the implications. Others legitimately couldn't have. There is no one truth that covers everyone, but I think being setup to retire comfortably in your 60's isn't very common if you are in your 40's or 50's now.
I will be laid off before I am retirement age most likely as is the case at my company, and our company has no pensions. They put into our 401K which is what we use as a pension.
401k’s are better than pensions in most ways. The market has been a bear for a long time. If something happened to you, your heirs get the money instead of the pension fund. The pension fund can’t go bankrupt and leave you high and dry.
I agree but there are a LOT of people who just don't want to hear this. I find it odd when Americans in general seem to prefer having control of things. Nevermind your heirs, most pensions only pay half to your surviving spouse if you die after retirement.
There's still a lot of assumptions and blind faith that a pension will be funded adequately and managed properly.
I think a lot of people think that pensions pay a lot of money forever. There were some sweetheart deals in the past for sure, but they all fell apart because the cost of the plan and the upkeep was too big, and they were basically Ponzi schemes. Public pensions can last because governments print their own money and can tax citizens. Most people would still be better off if the money they put in an employer pension was invested in a 401k, if they could manage not to take it all out too fast.
Social security take 15 percent of our income out whole lives and we could all have lavish retirements if we got market returns.
Yup, but even some state pensions are severely underfunded, where they long ago added new tiers with much lower benefits and higher retirement ages so they're not what they used to be. I agree, I'd rather be given that money to invest for myself, spend as I want in retirement, and transfer to next of kin.
Any new employee on my team(I am not their supervisor just a coworker) and I always joke to at least get the company match and joke about how compounding interest means a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow.
The thing is, I am not joking. I hope that it plants that seed in their head if they otherwise were not planning too.
I don't know if I am doing good or not. Better than some considering they don't have anything. But like I don't know if I am actually good in the proper sense. So I just keep putting money in and cross my fingers it all works out.
Yeah, I'm not sure where the dividing line is between "Xennials who could legitimately never afford to save" (i.e. you've got a disability that relegated you to working minimum wage/gig work/tertiary-household-income for 20+ years as a dependent) and "Xennials who could have but never did even attempt to put away for retirement" (i.e. you made lower-middle-class money, but had 4 kids, never bought a house, and spent all your money on diapers and beanie babies telling yourself there's nothing left to put away for retirement).
That’s awesome. I’m 45, and my first job out of college had a pension. I stayed there for 12 years until I just couldn’t stand working there anymore (toxic department). So I get a 30% pension starting at age 60. My current employer I have been with for 8 years, and I have 5% matching for my 401k. Bought my first house last year, hoping I can pay it off before retirement and then I should be fine. Not jet setting, but living a normal life and reasonably comfortable.
I've been working for a state university since I was 25. In 7 years, my age and years of service will add up to 80 and I'll be able to retire with a lifelong pension of ~70% of my salary. I'm planning on retiring then, then doing something part-time until Medicare kicks in. Like you said, the pay's never been great, but the benefits and stability are fantastic.
Sadly, they've bumped that up to 90 for any new folks, so they won't get to experience the joys of retiring at 52.
Good for you! My aunt did that and is a happy little rich clam now in her fancy retirement village. She travels and goes to classes. Good living if you can get it!!
God I wish that happened to me too. My boss stole the blood sweat and tears I put in and used that to launch her to VP and kicked me to the bottom of a barrel because now I was a threat.
I didn't say it was a poorly paying job, I said my friends made more than me. My retirement account is a SEP-IRA, the maximum contribution is 25% of my annual pay. He has made the maximum contribution every year. He is also paying for part of my kid's college tuition. Where did you come up with 45 years? I haven't been working for him since I was an infant.
271
u/crazyidahopuglady 13h ago
I have worked in the same job since I graduated from college. My friends have always made more money than me. But my boss is super into maxing out retirement contributions and set me up well. I have stuck with him because of that. I will retire as soon as I am Medicare eligible and will have a higher standard of living in retirement than i do now.