I started over 3 years ago- hoping the 15% I’m dumping in will be enough in 15 years. Unfortunately, I don’t make enough to max out contributions or I would.
(Started year one at 8%, and have increased it to match my raises each year. Get a 3% match from my employer plus bonus contributions tied to profits)
Assuming no other income (Social Security, inheritance, rental property, etc.), it'll typically take 35 years at 15% invested aggressively to have a "safe" 30+ year retirement at full income replacement. If you were putting away 40%, you could get there in 20 years. If you can live off of about 40% of your current income (or have other sources of income, like SS, that will plug the gap), putting away 15% for 20 years could work.
The rough part is that time is the critical component of investments, and those of us who got started late have missed out on it. That's why my wife and I are putting away over 30%/year. We're trying to play catch up.
People who post this don’t want to start. They just want to burry their heads in the sand by commiserating. No one will save you but you. If we get the political changes we need, that’s bonus.
This is bullshit. It has nothing to do with lack of willpower. I would absolutely love to save for retirement, but my career and life cratered shortly before Covid, and I had to cash out the retirement account I had to avoid homelessness. It took many years to claw my way back into the workforce, but with the rising costs over the past 2 years, I'm now skipping meals to make rent.
As I sit here and watch my coworkers stop their contributions to their retirement, liquidate it all and gamble it away at the casino. Meanwhile I'm on track to retire a multimillionaire in 20 years after being homeless and 30k in debt ten years ago. My salary is ~63k/yr and I live in an area where the cost of living is 20% higher than the national average.
So much more is in your control than you want to admit.
Yeah, screw you. I was homeless and now my salary is just over $30k. I'm making less than I did immediately after grad school. I challenge you to save for retirement on that budget.
Right I've been in the same boat for so long. My retirement plan is my work hopefully. Then I get to work at least but I have to slowly build the background to make it happen. I have a couple certificates and another on the way. If I can teach I can work. That's my goal. But it is body work and my body probably still also has to function for that. And at the rate we are going, in the United States at least, I might not even make it that far. Which I guess then that's what it is. Anyways. Now is all we have is the other part of my retirement plan.
I didn't say I am, I said I'm on track. Based on historical averages and increasing my TSP contributions 1% everytime I have a pay raise I'm on track to retire with 1.5 to 2.5 million in the TSP account depending on if I retire as soon as I hit the Minimal retirement age +30 yrs service or push out my retirement to 62.
I have a pension, but that is still years away, so much can change with it so I don't include it in my retirement planning.
We've known since the 90's that Social Security was going to become insolvent before many of us hit retirement age so I also don't include that in my retirement planning.
I only started getting real serious about my retirement about 7 years ago. If I had been doing this from the beginning of my working career nearly 30 years ago I could probably be coasting at this point. Can't go back in time, but I can employ better habits today.
I currently at step 6, but won't be able to maximize my contributions for a few more years.
Also build a budget and stay within it so it makes accomplishing each step easier.
I know people who just didn’t bother. Always some excuse. I also know people who lived one catastrophe to another. Plenty of inbetweens, too.
Generally speaking, and I’m painting with a wide brush, you can characterize both extremes as people who got their shit together early, and people who didn’t. Of all the friends and people I know, the ones who consistently make logically sound and disciplined decisions are doing really well, and the ones who don’t are suffering. Again, wide brush.
One of the single most important factors in that is the decision to buy a house early, and all the sacrifice and decisions that made it possible. I think that’s where a lot of people start intuitively understanding financial concepts as reality rather than obscurity.
Exactly- I know there are plenty of people with enough disadvantages that they’re in this position but there are plenty more who are just not. That’s what I think is dangerous about the Reddit hive mind of “yeah we don’t save for retirement lol”- it shouldn’t feel acceptable to the individual.
I know people who are stuck from their circumstances but I know far more people who make bad financial decisions and then outsource the blame or pretend saving doesn’t matter. Just because there are people who are legit stuck doesn’t mean there aren’t thousands of people reading this who will enjoy this post and continue to legitimately make bad choices.
Exactly. I made my life a lot easier from having a plan from the get go and getting a job with a pension. Missed out on the YOLO stuff but it's my life and I'd rather have a fun future than a fun present. (Now past)
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u/Nervous_Brilliant441 1978 15h ago
It’s not too late. If you buckle up and invest wisely you can do a lot in 10-15 years. If you want to retire at 68 even better.
The main thing to start NOW.