About 8 percent into my 457 plan, plus my pension that the county gives if I stay here til I am 56.

I’ve always had low expenses, so it’s easier for me. One divorce to someone who made more than me (and no kids) so that did not hurt me.

Currently maxing out my 401(k) plus catchup contributions. I should be hitting the IRS limit in August. Company contributes 9% of every paycheck to a separate tax-deferred account all year.

When my 401(k) contributions stop getting withheld I shift it to a money market so the money goes somewhere until I can figure out what I want to do with it. I’ll allocate funds from that every couple of months.

I’m fortunate that I still have a traditional pension plan waiting for me. That means that I’m still living like I want to (no beanie weenies!) and maxing out everything so I figure I’m covering all the bases.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

I am doubtful about medical insurance because Medicare is going to be insolvent. Health insurance is the big ? for me.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I rather doubt that Congress will allow Medicare to go broke. The program will be funded by increasing contributions from those still working.

Agreed. Politicians have been completely unwilling to make even minimal adjustments to the program due to certain electoral defeat. They sure as heck won’t let it fold. Hell, our whole country is running on borrowed money anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:
I'm putting away only 3%. It was a lot less, like 0-1 when I was married to a spender. So at 50 years old I only have about $240K.

But then again I'm not eating right and don't get enough exercise, so I got that going for me.

Asset allocation is incredibly important! If you mix the correct amount of small cap stocks, T-notes, and bacon, it can lead to the perfect convergence of running out of money and life at the same time.

I've been investing a little too much in Miller Light and Pork Bellies recently in an effort to try and catch up for my lack of savings.

13% goes to pension
5% goes to 457 used to be about 15% but when I got married and had kids the extra medical insurance cost took a bunch.

Wife does 10-15% dependent upon employer and their match. So it falls about 13%

All continues at this rate I will retire in 10 years and bring home what I bring home now with medical for myself covered and just pay a not too unreasonable rate for the wife and kids.
I’ll be 46 and work part time after that.

Shooting for my wife to retire in 15 to 20 years if she stays part time. Will be less if she ever goes back full time (which I doubt will ever happen). She has worked part time for the last 6 years to be home more with the kiddos and she quite enjoys that.

quote:

Originally posted by KevinCW:
About 8 percent into my 457 plan, plus my pension that the county gives if I stay here til I am 56.

If you stay till 56.
Is that the number for everyone or based upon years of service?

I came in at 20 and out start drawing 50% at 20 if you left. Adding 3% a year past 20 max out at 75%
Few years back they changed the rules for new hires 25 and out can’t draw until 55. Still 50% at 25 plus 3% a year top out at 75%.
We used to only contribute 11% but with the new hire change they bumped everyone to 13% contribution.

I voted 16-20% Both me and my wife.

She has some employer contributions, I don't since I own my own business.

quote:

Originally posted by AKSuperDually
I may never retire...but at least I've transitioned to a place where I make money with my mind and my computer, and not from my hands, knees, and back.

This is my goal right now... retirement is too far off and too uncertain to worry about. I'm just trying to get to a place I can go back to school and never have to own another hardhat. Best of luck to you.

I've maxed out my 401K contributions every year + added more after tax funds into the account.

I'm a millennial, we don't have money to put away.

5% goes into the 401k every month and the company matches 80%. I have invested in 2 rental properties that will be paid off when I am retired and will really help.

If you are reading this and you have not enrolled in your company's 401k sign up today. If you are not contributing enough to get all the matching funds they offer, bump it up today!

Bit surprising how many are at 20% or more. I'd be there with a mortgage and kid.

I'm 72 and started maxing out my company's 401K when they first became available. Somewhere back in the early 80's, if memory serves, that was around 7%. They offered matching as well. The big thing is to not touch it until you retire. I had many friends who contributed but got into it so much it was gone by the time they hit their 60s.

I also got into real estate a little and always had rental property during my working years. That paid off for me better than just about anything.

My wife and I retired in the late 90's and moved back to her home state of Missouri. We were only in our 50's and decided we were too young to sit around so we bought a small restaurant and ran that for 6-7 years. That helped a bunch as well. We both fully retired at 62.

Overall I would say we both put about 10-12% towards retirement. Living in Missouri was a real eye opener for me as almost all of our family here never figured they would live past the next weekend. I have an 82 year old BIL who has been working swing shift at walmart for a year now stocking shelves. Just last month, another BIL who is a year younger than me, had to go to work at a local nursing home. It's crazy. They all had good jobs but never saved a penny.

My goal is to save / invest / pay off debt of 25%+ of our gross income per year. It really helps to be married to a reasonable woman who has similar financial goals.

I started saving around 12. I was hit by a car while riding my bike and received $6,000. This was the early 90s and CD's payed around 6%. Around 10 years later, that turned into $10k-ish. That's when I turned that into a Roth IRA. I make sure to pay myself first and max that Roth out every year, which now is around 7.5%. I have a 401K at work that 10% goes into with a 3.5% match. I also put a couple percent into a taxable account. So in total, 22-25% goes into investing. I would like to put more but I decided to put the extra towards the mortgage. My plan is to pay that off at the 10-12 year mark, and then hyper save. I'll be around 40.

I wouldn't say Dave Ramsey considers himself a guru. He preaches basic math and sound financial behaviors that really add up. It's quite simple. I live well below my means and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I put down 16 to 20 percent, but the last 12 years or so of our working lives we put nearly all of my wife's net earnings into paying off the mortgage or retirement funding. We both took early retirement at 50 (LEO), but I continued to work and fully fund the Roth IRAs for both of us. Haven't touched it yet, 12 years in, so we shall see. Turns out I can't really stop "working," there's always something I enjoy doing part-time.

quote:

Originally posted by FenderBender:
I'm a millennial, we don't have money to put away.

That may (or may not) be true... but it's the wrong attitude.
The key to beginning to save for retirement is having the discipline to learn to live within your means. Too many millennials use credit cards as if they have the cash, when they don't. They become debt slaves.
If you can avoid debt you are living within your means. From that point forward, you can take it a step further, and live a little below your means. That gives you a cushion. From there you begin to save, slowly at first, but if you start young the magic of compounding can really help you.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
You don't want to live on beanie weanies to be rich at retirement.

Awe c'mon Rhino... I live on Ribeye steaks and get a 6 pack of good beer every weekend. I just don't waste my money on dumb stuff and I stay far away from consumer debt.

I put the maximum $19,500 per year tax deferred into my TSP every year, so that is between 10% and 15% of my salary according to the poll parameters. I also have a pension that will pay out between 40%-45% of my salary depending upon when I retire. My wife has a somewhat better pension than I do but only puts away about $5,000 per year into her NYS Deferred Comp (like a 401k) which is less than 5% of her salary. We also have a rental property that pretty much breaks even every year after the mortgage and expenses but will be a nice income stream at retirement. We are in pretty good shape for retirement, in large part because we started planning from the beginning of our careers and I’m still only 39 and she’s 37. So while we both only put away about 10-15% of our salaries (that doesn’t include my 1% pension contribution and my wife doesn’t have to contribute to her pension any longer) we should be in pretty good shape for retirement between our savings and pensions. I tell new hires all the time that they need to start out putting at least 10% of their salary into the TSP and increase it 1% per year as they get their promotions to journeyman rate, so they never miss the extra contribution. If they do that then they’ll be maxing out the TSP when they get to their journeyman rate in 4 to 5 years and will be set up nicely in retirement. The trick really is to think about retirement as early as possible.

My wife & I both retired at age 65 & we were in the 5-7% category. My wife rolled her 401k into an investment account through our credit union & we haven't had to touch it. I set up my state pension to get a partial lump sum payout in addition a getting monthly payment. I put the lump sum in a separate investment account & haven't touched mine either. We each also get small monthly payments from previous employers of a couple hundred each.

Our investment accounts were either flat or loosing money for a couple years. Since Trump got in office they've recovered & increased by 25% over the original amount. I think we need to invest some of that money somewhere else, before the next market downturn, but we haven't decided where.

With our combined SS, and my state pension we make out just fine & are somehow able to put more money in the savings account at the bank than when we were working.

My wife and I have been at the max 401k contributions with company matches for many years and now that I'm over 50 I've been making the catch up contributions as well. Debt will be settled before retirement. So far so good.