Silly question - does it matter at what point in the year you max them out? We both have our contributions set high enough (from back in the days that we need it that high to reach the max) that we max out mid-year and then it feels like a "raise" at the end of the year. I'm not sure if this is a bad idea to let it continue or something we should correct.
It depends if your company matches and how they do the match. My company only matches 3% of my pay per paycheck, so I need to contribute at least that much each paycheck. If I maxed mid-year, I'd be leaving the match behind the second half of the year.
When you say max, do you literally mean you are each putting in 18k into a 401k and $5500 into a Roth? Because damn. I'm surprised so many people are able to do that, especially x2.
We do not max, because that would be like 60% of our combined pre-tax salaries. I put 5% into my 403b and my work puts in 10%, so I'm saving 15% of my salary. H is a grad student so we've thrown a little bit into a Roth here and there for him, but he's way behind on retirement. Once he gets a regular job, I am hoping he can put away 20-25% of his salary (including whatever employer match he's getting) and I can continue at about the same pace I am now. According to retirement calculators, I'm pretty close to being on track at my current rate. My long term plan is to eventually put what we're paying in SLs into retirement when we are both done paying them off, which I'd assume would get us fully caught up in time to retire. I just don't see us reasonably being able to do more than that any time in the next 20+ years unless we stop spending money on anything else, which I have no intention of doing.
When you say max, do you literally mean you are each putting in 18k into a 401k and $5500 into a Roth? Because damn. I'm surprised so many people are able to do that, especially x2.
We do not max, because that would be like 60% of our combined pre-tax salaries. I put 5% into my 403b and my work puts in 10%, so I'm saving 15% of my salary. H is a grad student so we've thrown a little bit into a Roth here and there for him, but he's way behind on retirement. Once he gets a regular job, I am hoping he can put away 20-25% of his salary (including whatever employer match he's getting) and I can continue at about the same pace I am now. According to retirement calculators, I'm pretty close to being on track at my current rate. My long term plan is to eventually put what we're paying in SLs into retirement when we are both done paying them off, which I'd assume would get us fully caught up in time to retire. I just don't see us reasonably being able to do more than that any time in the next 20+ years unless we stop spending money on anything else, which I have no intention of doing.
I asked a question about this a while ago, and someone pointed out that most people maxing are making much more money than I was at the time.
When you say max, do you literally mean you are each putting in 18k into a 401k and $5500 into a Roth? Because damn. I'm surprised so many people are able to do that, especially x2.
We do not max, because that would be like 60% of our combined pre-tax salaries. I put 5% into my 403b and my work puts in 10%, so I'm saving 15% of my salary. H is a grad student so we've thrown a little bit into a Roth here and there for him, but he's way behind on retirement. Once he gets a regular job, I am hoping he can put away 20-25% of his salary (including whatever employer match he's getting) and I can continue at about the same pace I am now. According to retirement calculators, I'm pretty close to being on track at my current rate. My long term plan is to eventually put what we're paying in SLs into retirement when we are both done paying them off, which I'd assume would get us fully caught up in time to retire. I just don't see us reasonably being able to do more than that any time in the next 20+ years unless we stop spending money on anything else, which I have no intention of doing.
We max out our 401k's, but aren't contributing to a Roth. We probably should be. (ETA: I just looked it up and remembered.. we don't contribute to a Roth because we don't meet the salary limits.)
My company starting offering a Roth 401k about two years ago. I split my contributions in half, 50% in regular 401k and 50% in Roth. I think I did this because I was not really sure what the right decision was at the time and I stuck with it :-)
When you say max, do you literally mean you are each putting in 18k into a 401k and $5500 into a Roth? Because damn. I'm surprised so many people are able to do that, especially x2.
I think this board has always included a higher-than-average amount of high-earners or "big dogs" or whatever people used to call it back in the day. I wouldn't use this board as a statistical microcosm of real life, lol.
I think that is true. Many ladies here have a HHI. I don't think most people can max out their 401Ks/etc. I put in up to my company match because that is like leaving money on the table.
I'm a very low wage earner when compared to the overall on this board (and good for them for being in careers and jobs they enjoy and can make that much money in! No issues with it! It's just the reality of my chosen career path.).
I'm curious as to what everyone puts into their 401K/403b/TSP. From some other discussions it seems like we have a lot of people that are able to max theirs out.
As a single income I would love to max out my 401K, but I still have to eat. I do up to my company match, and I contribute a little to my ROTH IRA when I can.
So this thread is depressing the fuck out of me so I wanted to commiserate. I do NOT max, I can't even imagine being able to do so. But I do maximize my employers max (which is generous), try to squirrel away to roth when I can, and then usually plan my tax return to top my Roth up.
I'll be working long after many people on this board, but I do love my job so that helps.
“With sorrow—for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection—we dissent,”
When you say max, do you literally mean you are each putting in 18k into a 401k and $5500 into a Roth? Because damn. I'm surprised so many people are able to do that, especially x2.
We do not max, because that would be like 60% of our combined pre-tax salaries. I put 5% into my 403b and my work puts in 10%, so I'm saving 15% of my salary. H is a grad student so we've thrown a little bit into a Roth here and there for him, but he's way behind on retirement. Once he gets a regular job, I am hoping he can put away 20-25% of his salary (including whatever employer match he's getting) and I can continue at about the same pace I am now. According to retirement calculators, I'm pretty close to being on track at my current rate. My long term plan is to eventually put what we're paying in SLs into retirement when we are both done paying them off, which I'd assume would get us fully caught up in time to retire. I just don't see us reasonably being able to do more than that any time in the next 20+ years unless we stop spending money on anything else, which I have no intention of doing.
I put max but we only max out DH's 401k, I'm not offered anything at the moment. I usually try and fund a Roth IRA as well for me.
When we were DINKS we maxed. Those days are long gone. Increasing any time you get a raise is great advice. Another thing I've done the last couple of years when I didn't know if we could swing even a 1% increase is to set aside 1% in a separate savings so it's there if we need it but then I put it in my IRA when I do our taxes if we haven't had to use it.
ETA: I work only very part time now. My husband has a pension at work and has a 403B. He got a great raise last year and a small one this year. We'll be upping it from 4-5% now and I'll keep holding 1% so hopefully it will be a total of 6%. Hopefully these numbers make someone feel better!
I do 6%, which my financial planner says is about half of what I need to be saving. I simply cannot afford to increase it. I do what I can. I receive no employer match which really sucks!
wildrice we have a HHI and are very fortunate (and economically privileged) to max 401k and back door a Roth contribution for both of us. When I was single, I did was others have said and if/when I got any sort of salary increase, I would increase my contribution so I never actually realized the salary gain in full. That did help a lot.
I'd say that as long as you are contributing something towards retirement, every little bit helps.
I do want to put it up but this is an expensive time of life for us because of the kids being young (daycare costs). hopefully once they are both in school we can start bumping it up.
Post by geppiegirl on Nov 16, 2017 14:37:57 GMT -5
We currently both max our 401ks and then contribute a separate amount to a long term investment account (we don't qualify for any ROTH options). We are fortunate to be able to do this, but we did get started "late" and different calculators give me different results as to whether we are on track . . I know its all crystal-bally to a degree but I wish I could get a consistent answer.
We max ours and Are looking into backdoor Roths but haven’t done it yet.
This exactly. I also have a small pension that is being phased out for newer employees. H's employer does a significant match. Mine gives 1% up to a certain amount of what I donate to my 403b.
I've been meaning to look into backdoor Roths but haven't gotten around to it.
Post by sarapocalypse on Nov 16, 2017 19:26:58 GMT -5
I have to contribute 6% to the state pension fund. I also do 5% into a 401K. I probably should look into doing an IRA since I do not get a match. DH contributes 6% to his 401K with a 3% employer match.
we both max ours. my employer matches 4.75% and H's matches 50%. H also has access to a post-tax 401k that we are contributing to (albeit not a whole lot; we'd rather prioritize that money for other things). we don't qualify for Roths.
I contribute 15% to retirement. Currently 12% to my 401k and 4% to an IRA, but those numbers will change with the new year.
I think asking who maxes their 401k is a skewed measurement. For someone with a high income, maxing a 401k might not even be enough retirement savings. For someone making 50k per year it would be 36% of their gross. I think the % of gross income is generally more important than the $ amount.
Post by sillygoosegirl on Nov 18, 2017 13:20:51 GMT -5
We nominally still max 401(k)s and IRAs, but we aren't really "saving" that much. We are selling off pre-kid non-advantaged investments each year to do so.