Board 8 > how much money do you have saved in your 401k?

(+) Yeah! (+)

you could include HSA I suppose if you had a sizable enough amount in there to influence your standing in this poll

but i was curious since b8 is largely a collection of late 20s and older professionals to see how well we're doing on our journeys to retirement :P
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I think I typically put in about 10k a year. I did do a withdrawal last year to put towards a deposit on a house though

what about IRAs?
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i'm just barely staving off mental illness and just barely stomaching my work as it is. however, if i can hold it together i think i'll be able to retire between 20 and 30 years from now. this is based on my current rate of saving. of course, assuming I don't decide to have kids or quit my career or something like that.

how much net worth do you need to never work again? counting property and stuff. i think it completely depends on your target lifestyle.

they say it's like 2 million dollars, right? at least, that will probably be the conservative estimate in 2050. i bet it would be lower if we actually planned things out.
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The general rule of thumb (4% rule) is you want to be able to live off of 4% of your wealth annually. So take your annual living expenses and multiply by 25, and that is the amount you need in today's dollars.
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i dont plan for the future i dont even understand the present
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Bartzyx posted...

The general rule of thumb (4% rule) is you want to be able to live off of 4% of your wealth annually. So take your annual living expenses and multiply by 25, and that is the amount you need in today's dollars.

yep. Comparing numbers with other people doesn't matter that much unless you know you both want comparable lifestyles, but this is exactly the answer @banananor is looking for. However, it's also worth noting that the study and math behind the 4% rule assumes a 30 year retirement, so if you're shooting to retire early/live longer than that there is a case to be made for shooting for 3.5 or 3% instead to reduce risk.

Also, do keep in mind that the expenses figure that you should use to calculate 4%/25x includes taxes which a ton of people don't think about much as an expense because it's a payroll deduction for most people. On the flip side though, contributions to things like 401(k) and IRAs are not expenses unless you're doing things like Roth Conversions to reduce future taxes.

ShatteredElysium posted...

I think I typically put in about 10k a year. I did do a withdrawal last year to put towards a deposit on a house though

Do you get a tax penalty for doing this? I could probably Google it but here I am
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If your employer allows hardship withdrawals then it's taxed as income but no 10% penalty
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KingButz posted...

If your employer allows hardship withdrawals then it's taxed as income but no 10% penalty

Oh I wasn't sure if there's some loophole for first time home buyers using their 401k toward a down payment without it counting as an earning
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Lol

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Two votes for 2 million plus.

#doubt

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Bartzyx posted...

what about IRAs?

Oh crap, I confused these. The correct answer should have been zero since I work independently.
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I had to restart some years ago, and I recently stopped contributing so I could attack my debt.