evestor1 said:

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35 years old

Just under 180,000 in Retirement (IRA/401k)

Makes me sad looking at everyone else!

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I didn't have that much at 35. I might have had $100k. Spent 6 years in higher ed and didn't feel comfortable contributing the max. Was putting 5% in a 403b to get a 5% match and another 5% in a state retirement system that I wasn't vested in when I left. My savings didn't earn much at all from about 2007-2010, during the recession

I've more than doubled my retirement savings (even excluding the pension) in the last 5 years. You'll get there, and there is still time to catch up.

92k 25 years old.

Could have more but I've chosen the flexibility of taxable brokerage accounts over more in 401k. Maxed out employer match and that's it. No IRA - which I know I'll get criticized for, but again, I'm choosing flexibility and taxation over it. I'm still investing that money.

Is their a standard or perhaps a suggestion on how to value a pension in todays dollars?

And if counting a pension whats the appropriate way to count? Quote the value if you left today esimate to retirement in todays dollars?

xMusashix said:

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Is their a standard or perhaps a suggestion on how to value a pension in todays dollars?

And if counting a pension whats the appropriate way to count? Quote the value if you left today esimate to retirement in todays dollars?

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My account tells me the current value (I know not all companies do that), and the account has an online calculator that estimates the cash value if I were to leave on any specific date. That's probably not very helpful if yours isn't that transparent.

Our program has a calculator. Takes all of your existing data, then you can input your own assumptions on your expected future salary growth, when you plan to retire, and when you plan to start collecting. And on collecting, it gives you the value all of the various options (lump sum, no survivor annuity, 50/70/90% survivor annuity levels, etc). The only way to do it is based on the terms of your specific plan.

30 years old
398k

36. $460k

While I was initially surprised to see all of the high balances for those under 30, it's not that surprising under further inspection. If you are under 30, you started work after the stock market correction in 2009. The last 10 years have been a great time to invest. Those in their mid to late 30s likely took a pretty good haircut in 2008 that those in their 20s have never experienced.

At age 27, I only had around 50K in my 401K when I changed jobs and rolled funds over. 6 months prior, that 50K was worth closer to 90K. Different times...

Aggiesincebirth said:

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You must make a boat load to have only contributed enough to get employer match and still have $92k in your account...

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The company was very generous about their contributions more than anything else.

One other item for everyone to consider... there are a variety of ways people add to their 401Ks

- Individual Contributions (duh) - Limited to $18K per year
- Matching
- Investment appreciation
- Additional employee contributions (likely not seen by your average big company W-2 employee)

The IRS allows employers to contribute up to ~$53K to an employees 401K. While any matching is a part of that $53K, most will never sniff that cap with just a % match. I wouldn't be surprised if there is some of that in many of the numbers everyone is posting. I know I have some of that in mine!

Start early and save what you can. My son is an intern and they offered him a 401K - we discussed the pros and cons. He will invest his savings into the stock market for a few years.

For me, maxed out early in life and rode the boom/bust/boom with luck on timing. Now using my SEP to max out everything. Retirement should not be the issue, but how to retire earlier.

$238,249.56 in 401k
If I include the wife's, we're at $353,701.92.
If I include our IRA money, and the wife's "pension", our total retirement account value is $398,025.90

I'm 29, wife is 32.
I started working at 21, she started working at 25 (both bachelor degrees).
I contributed the max amount right away, and have since.
She started contributing 6% to get company match at 25.
I increased her contribution year over year until she was contributing the max at 29.

We have one kid. With plans to have at least 1 more. Max 3 total.

I'm 34 and have $320K in 401k right now, mix of Roth 401k and Regular. I feel like I'm ahead of where I need to be, but will keep contributing at max for now. Non retirement funds needs some more work but are in decent shape right now. Would really like to grow them further to aid in funds for a potential early retirement.

My wife is 32 and a teacher. She pays into the Texas TRS system, which is a pension basically. Right now, at 8 years experience, it would be worth about $10k at retirement. It will build a 2.3% per year of experience and also build based on salary. If she works till retirement age (62), then it would approach 95% of her last 5 years average. All that is dependent on the system not changing of course.

DI2K

Gordo14 said:

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92k 25 years old.

Could have more but I've chosen the flexibility of taxable brokerage accounts over more in 401k. Maxed out employer match and that's it. No IRA - which I know I'll get criticized for, but again, I'm choosing flexibility and taxation over it. I'm still investing that money.

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Why do you think you have less flexibility in an IRA?
Are you investing in something other than the stock market (real estate, private equity, etc)?

DannyDuberstein said:

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Our program has a calculator. Takes all of your existing data, then you can input your own assumptions on your expected future salary growth, when you plan to retire, and when you plan to start collecting. And on collecting, it gives you the value all of the various options (lump sum, no survivor annuity, 50/70/90% survivor annuity levels, etc). The only way to do it is based on the terms of your specific plan.

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Ours only provides future values.

If i got laid off next year, the value in 16 years would be the follwoing:

$26k lump sum + $1183 monthly annuity

If (big IF- place suits me, but who knows) managed to work here till retirement in 16 years the value in 16 years would be the following:

$850k lump sum, $7400 monthly annuity.

We also have lots of options to look at barious outcomes, but the everything is in future dollars.

I hesitate to include mine because with wife ours is in the top percentile for our age group. I'm 44 and she is 42. We are comfortably into 7 figures.

However, I will say what has helped us most (frankly) is being DINKS. To offset that, I personally did not make a great salary until I was into my mid-30's after I got my MBA and got into leadership levels. I also did not meet my current wife until my mid-30's. If I had come out of college making what some of you are making now and what I see some of my Employees at work are making I can't imagine what my nest egg would be. Hell, I would probably walk away from corporate right now at 44 if I had a better start on the front end.

For perspective, my first year at current company I was making about $26k per year and this was in 2000 so it took me a long while to get to a point where I could max all investment vehicles let alone just my 401k.

Lesson here is you may start with little room to maneuver on investments but if you stick with it and just keep plugging away you can get there. I also continued to invest aggressively all through the Great Recession. You just had to close your eyes and ignore it all. We came out of that with a massive return on the upswing like a lot of people did if you just stuck with it.

edit: I'm also factoring all investment accounts and not just 401k.

TamuKid said:

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Gordo14 said:

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92k 25 years old.

Could have more but I've chosen the flexibility of taxable brokerage accounts over more in 401k. Maxed out employer match and that's it. No IRA - which I know I'll get criticized for, but again, I'm choosing flexibility and taxation over it. I'm still investing that money.

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Why do you think you have less flexibility in an IRA?
Are you investing in something other than the stock market (real estate, private equity, etc)?

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I think he is talking about being able to withdraw and use at will with no penalties.

37 years old
$559k
Been selling puts

31, 398k in 401k working since 21

The Anchor said:

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1.2 mil
13 years old

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This thread isn't about trust funds.

I'm on pace to hit half my income by 30 which is a goal by lots of places. I'd already have that if I woudn't have gone to grad school for a year and switch jobs a few times where either the amount was miniscule (job 1) and just took the taxes since it had under 1k and i was poor at the time. job 2 did enough for employer match for 3 years. then year of grad school. job 3 I was only at for 6 months and didn't get bennies for 3 months. Job 4 has been great so far. Really nice employer match doesn't have to vest like everywhere else i've worked. Once loans are paid off from schooling, life will be good considering i nearly doubled my salary by doing it. I'm also jealous of you who live in cheaper cost of living areas. Denver's awesome, but rent/one day getting a house, it's a lot harder.

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/010616/whats-average-401k-balance-age.asp

bmks270 said:

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DannyDuberstein said:

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SquareOne07 said:

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A big congrats to those doing well.

To those discouraged by being behind, keep in mind the unlikelihood of those with lower balances from posting.

From personal experience, the vast majority of folks I visit with (young professionals, many times married, a kid or two, a mortgage) are considerably behind or haven't even really started their work towards retirement.

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Exactly. I always hesitate to participate in these threads because they seem to be a bit of a D measuring contest and give an incredibly skewed perspective since most in a crappy situation don't respond. But I also think they serve as good motivation for people to save, which is the main reason I typically decide to go ahead and participate.

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No kidding this must be the top 1% of 401k savings vs age in this thread.

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this observation isn't terribly far off based on the survey given a while back. the thread on it is here:
https://texags.com/forums/57/topics/2949636

here is what the distribution for reported income on that survey looks like compared to the national population


that survey indicates that 76% of people on this board (at least those who did the survey) are in the top 12% ish of earners in the country. so it would make sense that savings are skewed high as well.

Brad06ag said:

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TamuKid said:

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Gordo14 said:

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92k 25 years old.

Could have more but I've chosen the flexibility of taxable brokerage accounts over more in 401k. Maxed out employer match and that's it. No IRA - which I know I'll get criticized for, but again, I'm choosing flexibility and taxation over it. I'm still investing that money.

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Why do you think you have less flexibility in an IRA?
Are you investing in something other than the stock market (real estate, private equity, etc)?

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I think he is talking about being able to withdraw and use at will with no penalties.

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You can always pull your contributions out of a Roth st any time though. Assuming he qualifies for a Roth.

AeroAg2003 said:

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One other item for everyone to consider... there are a variety of ways people add to their 401Ks

- Individual Contributions (duh) - Limited to $18K per year
- Matching
- Investment appreciation
- Additional employee contributions (likely not seen by your average big company W-2 employee)

The IRS allows employers to contribute up to ~$53K to an employees 401K. While any matching is a part of that $53K, most will never sniff that cap with just a % match. I wouldn't be surprised if there is some of that in many of the numbers everyone is posting. I know I have some of that in mine!

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And if SEP qualified $55k this year up another $1k from 2017.

Kudos to those in such great positions.

36. I started investing after the crash in spring 2009. Became debt free first. $230k in investments/RothIRA. Half of that in Roth 401k. Only contributed company match to 401kand rest went into a Roth IRA/investments. Typically was low (3 to 4.5% in my field).

Grew up poor to middle class, so thankful for every opportunity. My dad and mom started in their late 40s/early 50s after I left for school in 2000 and are retired comfortably. Don't let the age scare you; just get a plan going!

Sold $35k in investments for down payment on first home (another thread on here). Thank you to those who gave advice.

Now helping the GF come up with a debt free plan. Get that figured out and then I like it, so gotta put a ring on it

Edit for numbers...

38 yrs old, ~$300k in retirement. Growing fast though, only had $100k in 2012 without much contribution on my part since then.

I personally could not contribute another dime, and based on 7-8% annual market growth and my company's profit sharing contribution, I'll have $2mm at age 60, plus wife's pension, so I feel pretty good even though we got a late start.

Okay, I'll play...

39 yrs, old. DI2Ks.

My 401k sits at $478k. Have been lucky to get a company match everywhere I've been. Started maxing out in my early 30s. Still wish I had been more aggressive from the get-go.

Wife's SEP + 401k is at $135k. She took a work break for a few years for baby #1.

Guessing 100% of the people on this board/thread have, at minimum, a bachelors degree. About 68% of the adult population in this country does NOT. So makes sense that incomes, net worth, and savings of people on this board are much higher than national averages.