Friday, July 28, 2017

Retirement Update- How much to Save????

I tried to draft this from my kindle, but gave up because the text displays oddly when you are typing.  Anyways, I wanted to give you all an update on my retirement savings for the year.

Early in 2017 I contributed $2,000 to my 2016 Roth in order to max out my 2016 contributions.  

So far this year, I have contributed $4,382 to my Roth.  I should be able to max out my 2017 contributions next month ($1,118 left to go!).  My contributions for my 2017 Roth are below:

4/14/17- $1,004
5/15/17- $1000
6/15/17- $1,000
7/15/17-$1,378

I plan to add $2,000 into a taxable account after I max out my Roth. 

My Roth as of today is valued at about $16,931.  A few days ago it was worth over $17,000! I hope today is a great day in the market, it would be a nice psychological boost going into the weekend.  

Also, I have been those using those silly retirement calculators a lot and reading about how much money you should have saved for retirement by each age.  I am supposed to have $171,000 saved for retirement by now.  I have less than $17,000.  Five years from now I am supposed to have $257,550 saved. I am already worried about making sure I have enough for retirement, but there is no way that I will reach those numbers.  How much did you have saved for retirement at 35? 40?  Are you worried that you won't have enough?

15 comments:

  1. I wouldn't pay too close attention to the market daily, and especially not those calculators. If they scare you into action that's one thing, but I think they can scare you into paralysis and you just throw your hands up. Seems like they expect you to need more money than you really need. You're doing great right now so just keep it up. One contribution at a time!

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    1. I try to only check my retirement account at the end of the week. It helps keep me motivated, I think. I've seen some real life horror stories of people in their 50s with little to no money saved for retirement and I just want to do everything possible to make sure that doesn't happen to me. Thanks for the support! I will just keep plugging along. It's just so hard to plan for an unknown future.

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  2. We started very late like around 36, now in our mid 40s with just under $100K - all in 401(k). We need to diversify and will when our debt in gone. Even though getting out of debt, we keep contributing to the 401(k) to the match - which is 100% up to 6%. It will start compounding as it grows, we definitely get bigger leaps now. Those calculators scare the heck out of you though! Our parents are living quite nicely in retirement on a lot less than what those calculators say.

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    1. That's an awesome 401(k) plan! My firm has no retirement options available. I think that contributes to my worries because there is no match or anything for me. I also want to be able to have fun in retirement for as long as possible so I want to have enough money saved to do that.

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  3. I'm 35 and I have $300K in my retirement. My husband is 31 and he has about $40K. He started way later than me.

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    1. I wondered what happened to you! Are you blogging at all?

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    2. Not in awhile but I've been thinking about starting up again.

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    3. Wow you are doing amazing!! Way to go! I aspire to have a retirement account like yours one day. Do you have any tips to share on how much to save or how to increase retirement savings?

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  4. I have a love/hate relationship with those types of calculators. For the most part, I don't pay a lot of attention to them. Keep in mind that how much you need for retirement most likely won't align with how much they think you should have...unless you plan on going on endless cruises, etc! Keep on doing what you are doing and you'll be just fine!

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    1. I know the calculators are unrealistic, but it's shocking to see how far off I am from their suggested savings! I plan to keep chugging along and I hope it's enough. Thanks for your support!

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  5. We never looked at the calculators or really did much juggling of the retirement monies until we hit our 40's(late 40's). We made retirement account infusions automatic from the paychecks by the employer and just handled the bonuses Hubs got when we got them and tucked what we wanted to away. But we did start saving for retirement when Hubs got his first "real" job at 26.

    Don't obsess over tracking retirement gains/losses, it will drive you nuts. Find a plan for your money, automate as much of it as you can and just leave it be. Compounding over the fullness of time is a wonderful thing! '-)

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    1. Wow, you guys started saving for retirement early, by today's standards! I wish I had been saving at 26. Last year and this year I have made retirement savings a priority. My Roth gets funded before anything else and I have a plan to raise my contributions each year (regardless of raises. I try to only check my retirement account once a week (however- I just realized I do check for blog purposes as needed. I do watch the indexes daily though). Thank you for your advice and support!

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  6. Do you have access to the Prudential website? They have a great tool for what you currently have saved, what your saving rate is and what your retirement goals are. It lets you input what you plan to spend (we live on much less than we make so I don't calculate on the traditional X times your income by age X rules.

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  7. We're 34, DH has about $55k in retirement right now (started at 20), give or take $2k with fluctuations. I, on the other hand, have no retirement accounts at all. I'm actively job hunting and hope to change that. The company I worked for, for 12 years, offered no benefits, and I was clueless on retirements and investments. The calculator DH has through work shows he'll have $1.2mil by retirement age (67), but that seems so...out of reach!

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  8. we did start saving for retirement when Hubs got his first "real" job at 26.


    เกย์ไทย

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