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How much do you have in your retirement accounts? (Anonymous poll!)

  • poll: We will have/do have less than $59,000 at age 35
    We will have/do have less than 100,000 at age 35 : (59 votes)
    37 %
    We will have/do have 100,000-200,000 at age 35 : (39 votes)
    24 %
    We will have/do have 200,000-300,000 at age 35 : (27 votes)
    17 %
    We will have/do have 300,000-500,000 at age 35 : (17 votes)
    11 %
    We will have/do have more than $500,000 at age 35 : (12 votes)
    7 %
    We have not started saving for retirement yet, because of extenuating circumstances : (7 votes)
    4 %
  1. ShootingStar

    coconut / 8472 posts

    @Freckles: I think most people are talking about their work sponsored 401k accounts. Those belong to only one person.

  2. Freckles

    honeydew / 7444 posts

    @.twist.: @ShootingStar: I may have misread some comments (sorry, still waking up) as husbands saving separately from their wife (outside of employer plans), oops! I know a few friends who do it that way (i.e., they save separately, and don't know how much the other has saved) so i was curious to know if there were others who do the same.

  3. Anagram

    eggplant / 11716 posts

    @Freckles: Not totally sure what you mean, either. DH contributes through his work with his salary. Well, he also has some investments that he contributes to from his salary.

    I contribute to my pension from my salary.

    Ideally, we'll be 65 years old, still married and both still alive, and our combined retirements will be "ours". But I also like to plan for other realities: my own dad passed several years before retirement and I've seen my mom have to navigate retirement alone. I've also seen several parents of my friends divorce in later years (some after more than 30 years of marriage), and depending on what state they live in, the spouse with less retirement didn't always get half of their spouse's retirement.

    Those things encourage me to plan for myself as much as my husband (the major breadwinner) plans for us, if that makes sense.

  4. Mrs. High Heels

    blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts

    Timely thread! I just read an article in the NY Times yesterday that said the average FAMILY having $104,000 around retirement age. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/04/business/americans-arent-saving-enough-for-retirement-but-one-change-could-help.html?_r=0

    1) If you are not yet 35, will you have more than 59,000 in retirement accounts by the time you are 35? If you are 35, how much do you and your spouse have combined? Not 35 yet, but yes.

    2) Generally speaking, do you feel you are on track for retirement, or are there areas you'd like to improve? I always think there's room for improvement! I really don't want to burden my children or future children-in-laws during my retirement years, and am doing whatever I can to ensure that doesn't happen.

    3) I know HBers tend to skew a little better on these things than the "average" American. So from what you know, does it seem your circle of friends/coworkers are adequately planning for retirement? No.

    4) Have you ever had to use money from your retirement account for other purposes? (home downpayment, stop gap measures during unemployment, etc). No. I'd try to exhaust other resources before touching retirement money. Compounded interest!

  5. Anagram

    eggplant / 11716 posts

    @Freckles: oh, we also save separately, as in...we don't just have one joint account. We have a joint checking account, but we were 32 when we got married, so we both had established accounts and have felt to need to combine them all at this point.

  6. Mrs. Lemon-Lime

    wonderful pea / 17279 posts

    We'll be 35 in a couple years and are on pace to have just shy of $500K in retirement. This amount doesn't include our pension figures as we judge the health of retirement on our 401K and IRA.

    1) I'm comfortable with the progress we have made. We have started investing more "left over" money instead of putting it into retirement accounts. We could leave the investment alone for years, but if we need/ want it sooner then we don't have to worry about penalties.
    2) I don't generally discuss money with my friends. One friend is a huge saver, I imagine he & his wife have similar retirement accounts because he also boasts about a large liquid savings account.
    3) we have not used money from our retirement accounts. We have a game plan for alternative finding sources in case of an emergency.

  7. Freckles

    honeydew / 7444 posts

    @Anagram: Sorry, i clarified my question above. I have some friends who have separate bank accounts and the couple separately decides how much of their income they want to save. DH didn't like this concept since it was usually the guy who saved more (which will go towards joint retirement savings), while the girl spent her income on things for herself. I'm not familiar with US pension legislation, but in Canada you are entitled to 50% of your former spouse's pensions for the years you were married (while the spouse was working). What does "the spouse with less retirement didn't always get half of their spouse's retirement" mean?

    (ETA: we have separate accounts pre-marriage, and only established new accounts together because we moved to a new city)

  8. looch

    wonderful pear / 26210 posts

    @Freckles: I have my retirement accounts, my husband has his. I have never seen joint retirement accounts, they're always titled in the individual name but can be in the same household.

  9. Freckles

    honeydew / 7444 posts

    @looch: oh yes, i know that. I may actually have more than DH because for a while, we were buying RRSPs in my name for tax purposes. I was just wondering if there were couples with separate bank accounts, how their retirement savings strategy/plan worked?

  10. Adira

    wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts

    @Freckles: My husband and I have separate bank accounts as well as a joint account. We put a percentage of our income into the joint account to pay the bills and for any "us" stuff (going out to eat, vacations, etc). How much we save or spend from individual accounts is on us. I have no idea how much he has in his accounts. But those aren't really meant for our retirement. We each have our own 401(k) and IRA accounts, but plan to pool those funds in retirement just like we pool our normal income now.

  11. mrscobee

    clementine / 903 posts

    Reading all these answers, I have realized DH and I view saving differently than a lot of others...

    2)Generally speaking, do you feel you are on track for retirement, or are there areas you'd like to improve?
    Not technically, we haven't contributed that much at all through our 20s. We chose to put our funds to other endeavors. We have saved a little though, probably on pace to have more, but not much more, than $100,000 by 35, but we won't stress out if we have less. However, we do have a plan. Our plan is different in that we believe strongly in our future earning potential and intend to ratchet up our savings in our mid 30s / early 40s. I get that this is an optimistic, aggressive approach, and we are gambling a bit on our future earning potential, but with the normal progression in our fields, it seems realistic. We do have big life insurance and disability insurance for any major catastrophes.

    Our retirement savings approach mirrors our general savings approach in that we aren't stressing about it. I once read a counter argument to the whole David Ramsey approach that would describe our views - instead of saving every little bit for retirement and otherwise, we are more using this time to figure out how to maximize income. Doesn't work for everyone but is our approach.

    3)I know HBers tend to skew a little better on these things than the "average" American. So from what you know, does it seem your circle of friends/coworkers are adequately planning for retirement?
    Some I think have our approach. I know many whom have not saved at all, but don't seem concerned for reasons similar to ours. Some are way conservative and have saved more.

    3)Have you ever had to use money from your retirement account for other purposes? (home downpayment, stop gap measures during unemployment, etc).
    In the beginning, we used for a house, but wouldn't ever tap into it again.

    I think everyone at HB is way ahead of the curve. I can say there are a lot of middle to upper middle class individuals in my circle, and we are fairly open about finances. I am fairly confident that not one couple will have over $500,000 by age 35. No where close. So bravo to a lot of you!!

  12. looch

    wonderful pear / 26210 posts

    @Freckles: I guess I don't understand your question then...my husband and I save what we individually decide for our retirements. We both have the same financial sense/goals though, so we both max out what we can. I don't think that would be different if we had separate bank accounts. But maybe that's just us? I am not his financial watch dog.

  13. PrincessBaby

    cantaloupe / 6610 posts

    We contribute a lot to our 401ks as part of a strategy to not only save for retirement but also to decrease the total amount of taxable income. We are in a tax bracket that gets absolutely slaughtered (I LOVE tax season!!!! (Sarcasm)), so we try to move income into things like 401k and IRAs for example so that it's tax-free.

    We're on a good track, we don't have a choice mainly bc we look at it like we should put it in 401k or other tax-free places instead of forking it over to the government.

  14. mrsjyw

    GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts

    1)If you are not yet 35, will you have more than 59,000 in retirement accounts by the time you are 35? If you are 35, how much do you and your spouse have combined?

    I am 31 turning 32 later this year, DH is 33 turning 34 this year. We each have more than that today.

    Follow up questions:

    2)Generally speaking, do you feel you are on track for retirement, or are there areas you'd like to improve?

    I'd like to max out my contributions in the next year. But we are comfortably on pace to what our goal is for retirement.

    3)I know HBers tend to skew a little better on these things than the "average" American. So from what you know, does it seem your circle of friends/coworkers are adequately planning for retirement?

    We have friends who are right on track like us, others who have what they can, and a couple who can't afford a significant amount of savings for retirement.

    3)Have you ever had to use money from your retirement account for other purposes? (home downpayment, stop gap measures during unemployment, etc).

    I had a small 401k from my first job out of college that I used while looking for another job in my early 20s. We have not touched either of our current retirement funds.

  15. mrscobee

    clementine / 903 posts

    @PrincessBaby: That's a good point. For same reason, we are going to try to start doing a little better with our contributions. I don't even like seeing our tax returns any more - ouch!!

  16. Freckles

    honeydew / 7444 posts

    @looch: We have a monthly budget, so we already planned for $x to go into education savings, retirement savings, other savings, etc. I was mainly curious to know how it worked for those who do things separately - whether each spouse knows how much is in their respective accounts, and if not, how do you know you're on track to your retirement goals? I would hate to be in a situation where my spouse is my financial watch dog and nagging at me to save more, or where i'm stressed because DH isn't saving at all.

  17. Anagram

    eggplant / 11716 posts

    @Freckles: so we have seperate accounts, and we don't talk about it monthly or anything, but I know how much DH has, and he knows what I have. He gets paper statements and I see those, plus we do our taxes together every year. We both had certain assets prior to marriage, but we each know all about that, too.

    Maybe it wouldn't work if I ever had reason to believe I couldn't trust Dh to make good financial decisions or he couldn't trust me. But we don't have that issue.

    I know a couple of IRL couples where this wouldn't work at all, because one partner is much more...I guess you would say, financially immature...and tends to spend more than they can afford, to the point of lots of debt, never mind retirement savings.

  18. sunny

    coconut / 8430 posts

    Here's another good blog post about 401k balances which gives some ranges for stock market fluctations. This one assumes higher incomes and being able to afford maxing out the 401k each year -- something that many people are not actually able to afford.

    http://www.financialsamurai.com/how-much-should-one-have-in-their-401k-at-different-ages/

    @Freckles: For my husband and I, it does not matter who the account "owner" is--we view the money as "joint" even if it isn't legally registered to both names. We are each other's beneficiaries, and in the US we file taxes as "married filing jointly" which basically eliminates certain tax advantages that you can take advantage of as the "lower earning spouse" in Canada.

  19. psw27

    pomelo / 5220 posts

    1)If you are not yet 35, will you have more than 59,000 in retirement accounts by the time you are 35? If you are 35, how much do you and your spouse have combined?

    Not 35, neither is DH but we will have more than that amount.

    2)Generally speaking, do you feel you are on track for retirement, or are there areas you'd like to improve?

    I think so, I am a little behind because I didn't start working until 26 and my first job had crap retirement + I made no money. I could contribute more to my 403(b). I don't have a 401k because I am a pensioned employee so there isn't much I can do to control that except save on my own via IRAs.

    3)I know HBers tend to skew a little better on these things than the "average" American. So from what you know, does it seem your circle of friends/coworkers are adequately planning for retirement?

    Coworkers are in the same boat as me. Friends... I would say 50-50 but I'm assuming most are saving at least some money for retirement.

    3)Have you ever had to use money from your retirement account for other purposes? (home downpayment, stop gap measures during unemployment, etc).

    No.

  20. PrincessBaby

    cantaloupe / 6610 posts

    @mrscobee: Same here! I used to always get a return and love taxes but now I get a knot in my stomach when W-2s come in:(. I know the drill:(

  21. looch

    wonderful pear / 26210 posts

    @Freckles: gotcha!

  22. bunnylove08

    grapefruit / 4442 posts

    I'm not 35 yet but I do have a significant amount of retirement money. Once I started to work full time I contributed the full amount so I can be eligible to be matched by my employer. I should be able to hi the 59K + by the time I am 35.

    My DH on the other hand, started to contribute later in life so he does not have a large amount.

  23. Torchwood

    pomelo / 5607 posts

    DH handles all that stuff, but he keeps me up to date on it. We're currently maxing out what se can do yearly, and his company does some profit sharing too. Our financial guy said we look good, though we may look into doing a bit more. With me not working we need to do everything we can with DH's income. But I feel good about where we are, and so does DH (which is saying something, because he worries about money all the time).

  24. aegie

    clementine / 806 posts

    So my husband has no 401(k) or retirement accounts ... everything we have is contributed from me. with that said, my employer offers 401(k) matching up to 6% which I max out + a 401(k) IRA which I also max out. Plus I also get profit sharing so that helps.

  25. illumina

    pomelo / 5469 posts

    Looks like I'm in the minority here, I don't even have a retirement account and neither does DH!

  26. blackbird

    wonderful grape / 20453 posts

    1)If you are not yet 35, will you have more than 59,000 in retirement accounts by the time you are 35?
    -I'm 29 and have a little more than this in my 401K. I started at 23 and have continually maxed it out and my work has a nice match. Mine will take a freeze for probanly 3 years. I worry about that but I'll just have to go right back to depositing into it. I don't know what's in my husband's-he is a veteran and started a corporate job 3 years ago. So, different circumstances. But he's responsible so I know he's on top of it. But we also max out our Roth IRA accounts. I also have a pension that is going away, but it's still money!

    Follow up questions:

    2)Generally speaking, do you feel you are on track for retirement, or are there areas you'd like to improve?
    -yes but I worry about taking a couple years "off" to go back to school, then having loans and starting over.

    3)I know HBers tend to skew a little better on these things than the "average" American. So from what you know, does it seem your circle of friends/coworkers are adequately planning for retirement?
    -my friends all funnel into their 401K. I know we all worry about retiring and having enough, especially if there isn't enough because of the situation with social security.

    3)Have you ever had to use money from your retirement account for other purposes? (home downpayment, stop gap measures during unemployment, etc).
    -I actually just priced out the fees to borrow from mine early if I go back to school. I would lose over half. So not worth it. I have coworkers who have, though....

  27. turkeylurkey

    kiwi / 541 posts

    I offer my employees 401K with matching %. But none take it! They also don't take health care which I pay half. Before the 2009 recession I had 3 employees doing 401K. They got scared and pulled their money. They waited until it dropped a great bit before doing that. I tried to tell them to keep the money in there just stop the deductions and let it grow back-up but they didn't. My Dad taught me early on to take the money out of my check from Day 1 of employment. That way I never get use to having that money in my hand. We try to live that way and it has worked for the most part.

  28. DillonLion

    GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts

    I'm not really sure where our investments will be at 35! But we have them now and they are growing. We hope to really rachet up the retirement savings now that we are debt free and have some cash savings.

  29. linzeelou

    coffee bean / 33 posts

    Working in the financial industry and for a large firm that specializes in 401k's these numbers are so scary to me! Any sort of illness or ailment at an older age could wipe out your entire savings in a matter of a couple months.

    1) My spouse and I are both 32. While the amounts in our accounts are drastically different I can say that we are well over the $59,000 mark. We had goals of hitting $100,000 by the age of 30 and $225,000 by the age of 35. We're working hard on reaching the 35 yr goal!

    2) I feel like we are on track to retire. I also have a company paid pension that will be an added boost at retirement.

    3) I think we have friends that fall on both sides of the line. Some I can assume are great savers but I know there are others that have the nicest cars and newest houses and I wonder how they can afford that, much less be saving for the future.

    4) Unfortunately we did just borrow from a 401k for a home down payment. I felt comfortable doing this only because the loan was for about 20% of the account balance and we have made it a priority to pay it back much sooner than the allotted 5 year time line. It's not something I would advise/recommend but for us it was the best decision at the time.

  30. littlejoy

    pomegranate / 3375 posts

    My husband is saving for retirement via 401K. His company matches all contributions. He will have about 35,000 at 35.

    I run my own business. I've used the last 5 years to grow it, and next year, I will start saving for my retirement.

    I will probably not have a ton ... ever?

  31. chopstixwife

    cherry / 106 posts

    1) Yes, Enough for now.

    2) Yes, retirements, pension, real estate investments. We could put more in retirement and not fund the kids college education since you can't take out loans for retirement but overall, I think we will be okay.

    3) Co-workers are pretty much good for retirement. Friends who are comfortable discussing finances with me are pretty much on track or set.

    3)No, we don't touch retirement.

  32. Mrs. Lemon-Lime

    wonderful pea / 17279 posts

    @Freckles: @Torchwood: @Anagram: we recently started using an app called Personal Capital, which allows us to see all of our accounts at a quick glance.

  33. 2littlepumpkins

    grapefruit / 4455 posts

    I doubt I will because of my SAHM years delaying me from really getting into my career. BUT we can live off of dh's income (we have been!) so it's possible that I could save relatively quickly as long as we don't get caught up in having more income and spend it as quickly as I earn it.

  34. sunny

    coconut / 8430 posts

    @Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I love Personal Capital! It makes it so easy to understand your asset allocation across all accounts.

  35. farawayyama

    kiwi / 556 posts

    1) If things keep going as planned, we should have about that much saved. We have had a couple of very rough years financially, and so the fact that we still contribute at the momennt, even if it is a small amount, is something I'm proud of.
    2) Generally speaking, do you feel you are on track for retirement, or are there areas you'd like to improve? I don't know. We're putting me through grad school at the moment, and then DH, so realistically we have about 5 more years of being a single income family. We will then be more than doubling our contributions. On the one hand, I am glad we will be doing better, on the other, I know we'd do better in the long run if we could throw more at it now.

    3) I know HBers tend to skew a little better on these things than the "average" American. So from what you know, does it seem your circle of friends/coworkers are adequately planning for retirement?

    No. Honestly, a lot of us are still struggling to find our feet financially. Partially because a lot of us spent time as expats.

    4) Have you ever had to use money from your retirement account for other purposes? (home downpayment, stop gap measures during unemployment, etc). Nope.

  36. Bao

    GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22276 posts

    @illumina: we just started one two years ago and there's barely anything in it, you're not alone.

  37. Synchronicity

    grapefruit / 4089 posts

    My husband has retirement savings, but I don't know how much is in them. I am just getting started in my career, so I have zilch... I'm more concerned about paying down student debt right now. We are both 26. This has been a good reminder to open a RSP, though! Need to get on that.

  38. Mrs.KMM

    grapefruit / 4355 posts

    We are 27/28 and already have more than $100k in retirement savings. And honestly, we're behind many of our friends (aged 31 and under). I'd like to think we'd be at least past the $300k mark by the time we're 35.

  39. Kemma

    grapefruit / 4291 posts

    I'm not in the USA but our priority is to pay off our mortgage and be freehold before we really focus on our retirement savings. DH is lucky that he has been part of a generous retirement scheme since he joined the military and the idea is that it should clear almost all our mortgage when he leaves the military in five or so years. Having said that, we have dipped into it three times to either pay down our mortgage or purchase a car.

    I don't personally have retirement savings but plan to begin saving when I return to the workforce in five or so years (as a supplement to our main retirement savings).

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