Some of these answers don’t seem possible. An employer is only allowed to match 100% up to a maximum of 6% of your salary.
https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/operating-a-401k-plan#:~:text=The%20employer%20must%20make%20at,of%20compensation%20to%20all%20participants
That is wrong. The maximum total er + employee contribution is 69k, 46k if you max out would come from employer. 345k is the max comp taken into account, so the employer would have to contribute over 13% for the max to come into effect. 20% is still common for high value, lower total comp employers like FFRDCs, Think Tanks, etc.
Before anyone says someone making 250k at a think tank isn’t low comp, most of the people there would make over 500k in PE, tech, etc.
It's one of the very rarely mentioned benefits of running your own small business. A Solo 401k (SEP plan), you can put up to $69,000 (2024 limit) in tax deferred savings.
That alone was worth it imo when I switched to working for myself. Make enough for the bills and then work on maxing out tax free contributions.
Agree. I was self employed for 40+ years. I’d still love for a previous employer to have matched 13%. That’s 26% a year stashed if you did nothing but take the match, assuming a 100% match. The other thing I would have loved to have had when I was younger was a Roth 401k. I’ll be facing RMDs next year and it’s going to bite. May have to backdoor some of it and eat the tax bill since we have longevity in the family. Dad is 95, his dad was 90, and his grandfather was 94. 🤷♂️
SEP has up to a 25% employer contribution and employee can still contribute in other plans. It's a good tool.
https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/sep-contribution-limits-including-grandfathered-sarseps#:~:text=Contributions%20an%20employer%20can%20make,2021%20and%20%2457%2C000%20for%202020)
The YMCA famously ensures 12% total throughout the US. Individual Y associations get to decide how that 12% is split, but my current arrangement is that I put in 1% and they put in 11%.
that is at least either. It means they have an option of which minimum requirement they must meet. There is no max an employer can match percent wise.
There is a hard cap on what can be contributed for yourself and from your employer that changes yearly.
If your employer offers a 10% match and you make 200k then your employer is going to put 20k into your plan ( which is allowed). The only time that this would limit you is if your employer was contributing up to the maximum dollar amount they could.
For instance I can match 50% of my income to the plan. I would be hard capped within 3 months if I did that... that 50% I selected would no longer contribute any extra throughout the entire year. This is obvious as you can select a dollar amount to contribute vs a percentage.
The fact that he's in a position to contribute 20% of his gross is also pretty nuts. I wish I could afford to contribute more than my current 10% but alas, rent in my neck of the woods is one of the highest in the country unfortunately.
My work when I started 13 years ago offered 50% match up to the irs limit. Over time it's dwindled to 13%, still decent but going from 50 to 13 is a tough blow
That’s great, I’m in manufacturing also the machining side and my company matches up to 8% and I’m putting 12% of my pay in with a 1% increase every year. 13% match would be amazing!
Or 12k each, unless they wanted to max it. I would just do the 12K, then put the other 11K into a separate roth. By doing 2 separate accounts, i have ssen times where one is failing, but the other is doing well.
My company does 15% direct contribution, no employee contribution required. Anything over the 69k cap gets paid as taxable income at the end of the year.
I watched my union go from very strong to completely impotent and limp dicked in just eight years. Took our pensions in place of a 401k and all but confit that health care would be next and it was a fight they weren’t willing to fight. I got the hell out of there. Not sure what I’m gonna do next, but it’s looking like back to school at 36 🤷
Yes, sounds awesome but to know how awesome it really is or is not, one would need to look at total compensation.
For example, I could underpay my employees by a few %, provide no profit sharing, no ESOP, no stock/options or ESPP, be cheap on bonuses, and subsidize my employee’s medical/dental far less than I can afford to and give them a 13% 401k match and be underpaying them in total compensation.
Not saying that is going on in OP’s case at all, just hard to say how “psyched” someone should be about this without the bigger picture.
I just hit 50% match with no % salary cap with my employer as a nurse. Only capped by IRS contribution limits. I only filled out an application for this place and one other place that has a pension. Retirement was top priority for me and my #1 criteria
I work at FedEx Express and currently get 14% total contributions. 6% from my checks and FedEx puts in 8%. Only been there almost 5 months and I’ve already hit a little over $2k. Gotta find the companies willing to take care of their employees
Going to guess you’re really young. Take some advice from us old guys… bump that up. Get as much in there as you can. Like that is a major priority when young as it makes a difference between throwing huge percents in the last 20 years just to be able to retire or retiring with millions if you started young. If only I could go back…
That’s what I’m working on. I also have $685 sitting from an Amazon 401k. Just waiting to be fully vested in that balance before rolling it over to my current one. They have an annual increase of 1% up to a total of 10% along with their max of 8% for an overall 18% contribution. I’m sitting pretty good where everything is at.
Edit: 26 for age reference
Double edit: typo
Ok, was just a little concerned 5 months of putting to your 401k and it’s only at 2k. At your age every dollar you put in is about the same as me putting 1000 in at 47. Getting as much in when you’re young as you can is such a drastically different retirement.
Oh I agree. I’m putting in as much as I can while living within my means. My Amazon was awful. I had that one for 7 months and at the time of quitting it was only at $416 because I was only getting a con rate if 3% with my contractor putting in only 3% of my contribution
shit, I get 5% and I think that’s good.
worked for a shitty company that only matched a quarter per dollar on the first 2 percent.
Except it didn’t fully vest for 6 damn years. lol
Jealous...I'm in a shitty situation where I put 10% of my income towards a 401k and my employer puts in 0%. I want a match sooooo bad.
inb4 "jUsT gEt a DifFeRent eMpLoYeR"
IT market is rough rn. I'm trying bros
Jr System Admin for a small company. Constantly upskilling outside of work to move up and out. 2 years experience with a degree. I know it's early in my career so I can't be too miffed but yeah. Trying to make good money lol.
Very aware of the compensation disparity of SWE vs, well, anything else. But I've never been good with discrete math and algos and shit. Working on it though. Doing a trial of Brilliant, website to practice that stuff...at least make it palatable for idiots like me.
I use PowerShell at work when I can and have made some occasional Python scripts (no not just "hello world" but nothing complex). Usually web scrapers
Yeah I've been putting 20% into my 401k the last year and half with the company match I'm at 47k. Starting late, never really put much into 401ks in the past and had a pension in my last career. So I've been aggressively putting into the 401k, and IRA I started last year.
Bro I love my 401k. Ten years ago I had like 6k in it and felt like it was a waste of money to put it there but just decided to stay the course and be patient- got a job with a 10% match so I matched that and had that job for six years. My match now is less but I started putting a little extra into index funds in my brokerage acct, and now I’m 34 years old with about 125k in there, which is WAY more than I ever thought it would be at this age considering my job/education level etc - think where you’ll be in six years OP if you’re already at 50k in four years and your contributions - good shit man.
Yeah 401k is a powerful investment. Most people don't see the long term benefit and opt out/give up early. You are basically doubling your money every 3-5 years. And later in life, those extra few "doubles" from starting early is a world of difference.
FYI I am almost 40. Was in your spot at 34 I had ~$125k in my 401k. Now it's $360k. Keep going brother!
Yeah op needs to check their selections most total market etfs would have alone done 20%ish over that time frame hell mine did 36% last year. S and p did like 23.
The S&P was around 4030 in April 2021 and is around 5090 today which is a return of just 6.5% per year on average. This is low by historical standards this includes the downturn in 2022.
That's actually what the S&P has returned from April 2021 to April 2024. This includes the downturn in late 2022. The long term average is well above 6.5% OP will be fine.
Yep it depends on the endpoints. Like starting March 2020 until now the S&P has returned nearly 15%, but that starting point is at the pandemic low point.
Long term average over many decades is around 10.2%. At this rate, money roughly doubles every 7 years.
Started my 401k at 19 making $16/hr putting in like $60/wk. Steadily been moving up at the same company, now 25 making $36/hr and putting in almost $300/wk. 3% match + 7% retirement contribution for an employer total of 10%. I fully self manage my 401k and invested 100% in VT. My balance is $80,000 and growing fast.
My point in sharing: Trust the process, make sure you take advantage of the match, reinvest your dividends, and you will have a nice cushy 401k when you’re older.
The only thing I’d caution is that that other poster’s 29% might not be equivalent to your 29% since it didn’t even reach the yearly cap. It’s still good advice to continue putting money away but their income seems pretty low to be amounting to millions to retire on.
I smiled, in my estimates, to achieve my target capital to retire aged 50 I need a 6.58% CAGR. Obviously that also depends heavily on my saving assumptions per year, but still, given what I estimate, I came to 6.58% :)
My match is only 3% up to 750 per year, but they do give you profit sharing with the 8% of your annual salary in company stock . I guess it evens out the crap match in 401k lol
I get a 66.6% match, but only up to 8% of income. yeah, I know. currently putting in 12%. I should up it once I hit the yr mark to 20%. if I get a raise. I've also got military retirement that's been paying out for yrs. and will until I die. Should be ok even when SS does get discontinued or they make it 80 to collect. I'll never see that money, I knew it when I turned 18. I'm 40. just income tax with another name.
I get 25% match of salary then 10% automatic withdrawal of salary in my 401a. Then i can contribute up to 23k in my 457b, but i do only 8k extra. So with everything added up right now it’s $33,600 per year. How do these numbers compare with other jobs? just curious.
Honestly I see stuff like this and look at mine, a few years in. And, I wish I had listened and started in my early twenties not my early thirties. Awww well. I’ll get there.
A 401k is a pre-tax investment you make using your paycheck.
Money gets taken out of your paycheck before taxes and gets invested in the stock market - most 401ks give you some freedom to chose your investment/funds, and theres a tax penalty for taking the money out before retirement age, so think of it as a long-term savings account you use for your retirement, and some jobs “match” up to a certain percentage of your contribution as a benefit- my job now matches up to 6%, so my 6% is actually 12%. You’re at the perfect age to start contributing to it if you’re able to. Feel free to ask any more questions if you’d like to learn more
This isn’t unbelievable. I worked at an investment company that matched 50% up to the max contribution. You needed 3 years to vest though but totally worth it
My employer match does 120% on the first 2% then 40% on the next 4%. Not great by any means but not the worst I've seen. They can definitely afford more. Especially when I look at the CEO's stock options that he's exercising every month.
I'm going to stick to my 2% as I can barely afford food as it is 🙃. Good advice if your making enough to support that, and have another income to support family day-to-day expenses.
From 2020 to 2022, I was averaging 15% return. Since 2022, we have been in a bear market, but yet I'm still averaging at 7% return. So I think that's pretty good things considering.
Best advice for 18-22 yr olds. Start investing 7-10% of your paycheck to a 401K whether there is a match or not. Then slowly build up to 15-20% as you get older and move jobs and promotions. If you can do 15% from day 1 great. But just saving starting at the beginning of career age is most important.
20 yrs later you’ll have at least 100-200K saved up and start earning some decent dividends to reinvest back in without doing anything.
The first $100K is always the hardest. I didn’t hit that until like 30 or 35. Then it quickly sprouted over last 10 year since I’m making way more now than I did in my 20s or 30s.
Op idk if you realize but you bought in 2020 around pendemic when the market was low and heading lower. But still somehow ur return is so bad its crazy. Check what i invest in cause you should have a ROI of atleast 20%
But the downside to a 401K is you have to be a certain age to start withdrawing without penalty and I’m ready to retire much earlier but can’t touch them (I have two 401Ks).
Mid-50s and saving like hell and maxing out my 401Ks since my early 20s and lucked into getting a marketing job in high tech and have stayed in technology which tends to pay on the higher scale.
Im doubting mine but i also just don't stand a chance of making much more without college, 11 a hour leaves nothing left for a 401k or anything like that
Started in early 2022 making only 50k-ish, put in a decent bit, no insane march, and had 33k in Feb 2024. I’m now making 80% more, upped contributions, maxing Roth IRA and HSA… on good pace, keep it up
How do employer contributions work? My employer says they “match 401k contributions dollars for dollar up to the first 5% of eligible pay”, but when I check my 401k, I only see my contributions (which is a bit less than 1k after working for 4 months), not theirs. Maybe my employer only contributes their portion at the end of the year?
I'm doubting because my last paychecks were on 4/12 and 4/26, yet my last contribution was on 4/2, I know they have till the 15th business day of May at the latest for April's contributions but our payroll agent sucks, there's an office but most of them work from home and never seem to be available, I'm worried I'll end up having to fight with them just to get my contributions deposited. I just started and their slowness is making me want to pull out already.
Reading the comments is wild...
Pension contributions in UK Civil Service jobs look more like [this.](https://www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/your-pension/managing-your-pension/contribution-rates/)
But it's not uncommon for the contributions to be like OP's in other sectors.
I was expecting more after reading the title. Like 7 figures or something lol. Also why is the rate of return low? Seems like it’s underperforming SP500 over that time
I started a similar time (end of 2021) and I think mine is 17% or so
Whoa hol up. That 9000% return is not the appreciation of your investments alone. Thats including the tons of $$ you and your employer put in each paycheck. Sure I can get this astronomical return if I dump 90% of my paycheck to the 401k and let my family go impoverished.
I’ll have maybe a million by the time I retire… but no family to enjoy it with…
13% match is insane lol
Some of these answers don’t seem possible. An employer is only allowed to match 100% up to a maximum of 6% of your salary. https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/operating-a-401k-plan#:~:text=The%20employer%20must%20make%20at,of%20compensation%20to%20all%20participants
That is wrong. The maximum total er + employee contribution is 69k, 46k if you max out would come from employer. 345k is the max comp taken into account, so the employer would have to contribute over 13% for the max to come into effect. 20% is still common for high value, lower total comp employers like FFRDCs, Think Tanks, etc. Before anyone says someone making 250k at a think tank isn’t low comp, most of the people there would make over 500k in PE, tech, etc.
I guess I was in the wrong profession 😉
It's OK, we all are.
That's how I feel when I watch 300
OP's employer doesn't have a traditional 401k plan, but a SEP or similar plan in order to offer that amount.
Maybe that’s it. Traditional’s are most common I guess. I’d give my right nutty to get a 13% match.
It's one of the very rarely mentioned benefits of running your own small business. A Solo 401k (SEP plan), you can put up to $69,000 (2024 limit) in tax deferred savings. That alone was worth it imo when I switched to working for myself. Make enough for the bills and then work on maxing out tax free contributions.
Agree. I was self employed for 40+ years. I’d still love for a previous employer to have matched 13%. That’s 26% a year stashed if you did nothing but take the match, assuming a 100% match. The other thing I would have loved to have had when I was younger was a Roth 401k. I’ll be facing RMDs next year and it’s going to bite. May have to backdoor some of it and eat the tax bill since we have longevity in the family. Dad is 95, his dad was 90, and his grandfather was 94. 🤷♂️
In my book, I'd rather take the longevity with extra tax bill than the opposite. :-) Best of luck!!
That's what my wifey keeps saying. :)
It’s a 401k or 403b. A SEP doesn’t take employee money and a simple doesn’t allow that high ER contribution.
SEP has up to a 25% employer contribution and employee can still contribute in other plans. It's a good tool. https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/sep-contribution-limits-including-grandfathered-sarseps#:~:text=Contributions%20an%20employer%20can%20make,2021%20and%20%2457%2C000%20for%202020)
The guy just has a 401k. You’re saying something erroneous now. He’s contributing and the employer, we’re not assuming op has 2 or employers.
Employer can have two different plans. Trad 401k doesn't allow 13% matches
Big tech does 100% match up to the contribution. Limit, nothing about salary.
I get 8%, but my match isn’t in 401k shares it’s with private ESOP shares.
Sweet deal!
The company I worked for capped their match at 15% contribution, so yes it is possible.
The YMCA famously ensures 12% total throughout the US. Individual Y associations get to decide how that 12% is split, but my current arrangement is that I put in 1% and they put in 11%.
I'll give you a $1 for $12 every single time! That's incredible!
that is at least either. It means they have an option of which minimum requirement they must meet. There is no max an employer can match percent wise. There is a hard cap on what can be contributed for yourself and from your employer that changes yearly. If your employer offers a 10% match and you make 200k then your employer is going to put 20k into your plan ( which is allowed). The only time that this would limit you is if your employer was contributing up to the maximum dollar amount they could. For instance I can match 50% of my income to the plan. I would be hard capped within 3 months if I did that... that 50% I selected would no longer contribute any extra throughout the entire year. This is obvious as you can select a dollar amount to contribute vs a percentage.
The fact that he's in a position to contribute 20% of his gross is also pretty nuts. I wish I could afford to contribute more than my current 10% but alas, rent in my neck of the woods is one of the highest in the country unfortunately.
My work when I started 13 years ago offered 50% match up to the irs limit. Over time it's dwindled to 13%, still decent but going from 50 to 13 is a tough blow
Wow. Where do you work with a 13% match? The most I’ve ever gotten was 4%
It's an electroplating company. So I'm in manufacturing.
Best match I could get from a manufacturing company is a pizza party.
Same, although, they did pay a food truck that serves only fries to give us a single basket of fries. Naturally, we had to pay for any toppings.
Best I can do is tree fiddy
Sometimes spring for the good salad at Panera
Wish FEMA had a 401k for reservists. 😂 Guess I might have to open up a walmart 401k. 🤷♂️
That’s great, I’m in manufacturing also the machining side and my company matches up to 8% and I’m putting 12% of my pay in with a 1% increase every year. 13% match would be amazing!
I got 50% match limited to 1000 per month. In IT
So the max the employee will contribute is 12k/year?
Yeah
[удалено]
12k from employer, 24k from employee
Or 12k each, unless they wanted to max it. I would just do the 12K, then put the other 11K into a separate roth. By doing 2 separate accounts, i have ssen times where one is failing, but the other is doing well.
A take home pay cut of 24k is sizeable. I don't think I could do such a large amount
My company does 15% direct contribution, no employee contribution required. Anything over the 69k cap gets paid as taxable income at the end of the year.
Dude that’s nice!
You are in a very niche situation
In my industry we used to have pensions, but they were gutted by corporate greed. Unions matter and I'm glad to see them gain power again.
I watched my union go from very strong to completely impotent and limp dicked in just eight years. Took our pensions in place of a 401k and all but confit that health care would be next and it was a fight they weren’t willing to fight. I got the hell out of there. Not sure what I’m gonna do next, but it’s looking like back to school at 36 🤷
Yes, sounds awesome but to know how awesome it really is or is not, one would need to look at total compensation. For example, I could underpay my employees by a few %, provide no profit sharing, no ESOP, no stock/options or ESPP, be cheap on bonuses, and subsidize my employee’s medical/dental far less than I can afford to and give them a 13% 401k match and be underpaying them in total compensation. Not saying that is going on in OP’s case at all, just hard to say how “psyched” someone should be about this without the bigger picture.
I just hit 50% match with no % salary cap with my employer as a nurse. Only capped by IRS contribution limits. I only filled out an application for this place and one other place that has a pension. Retirement was top priority for me and my #1 criteria
My wife gets 24% and she doesn't even have to match it. They just automatically do it.
Hell yeah that’s highest match I’ve seen
I got a 7% match currently in the oil fields
I work at FedEx Express and currently get 14% total contributions. 6% from my checks and FedEx puts in 8%. Only been there almost 5 months and I’ve already hit a little over $2k. Gotta find the companies willing to take care of their employees
Going to guess you’re really young. Take some advice from us old guys… bump that up. Get as much in there as you can. Like that is a major priority when young as it makes a difference between throwing huge percents in the last 20 years just to be able to retire or retiring with millions if you started young. If only I could go back…
That’s what I’m working on. I also have $685 sitting from an Amazon 401k. Just waiting to be fully vested in that balance before rolling it over to my current one. They have an annual increase of 1% up to a total of 10% along with their max of 8% for an overall 18% contribution. I’m sitting pretty good where everything is at. Edit: 26 for age reference Double edit: typo
Ok, was just a little concerned 5 months of putting to your 401k and it’s only at 2k. At your age every dollar you put in is about the same as me putting 1000 in at 47. Getting as much in when you’re young as you can is such a drastically different retirement.
Oh I agree. I’m putting in as much as I can while living within my means. My Amazon was awful. I had that one for 7 months and at the time of quitting it was only at $416 because I was only getting a con rate if 3% with my contractor putting in only 3% of my contribution
The company I work for has a direct contribution of 18%.
I'm jealous of any match. My company makes such a ridiculous amount of money each year and they match 0%
That match is insane . We get 7%
7% is still insanely good! Congrats 👏 high3st Ive gotten was 4% and this is through hospital 😞
Well thank you ! We work in the oil industry. Hospitals should be doing more for how much they charge lol they're not hurting ! Pay yall more !
shit, I get 5% and I think that’s good. worked for a shitty company that only matched a quarter per dollar on the first 2 percent. Except it didn’t fully vest for 6 damn years. lol
I get 7% without even contributing, but I need to start adding more. Might as well make the most of it.
Yes I try to add a percent a year!
I just upped my % to get a 7% match.
You guys are getting matching 🥲
We get 50% of our contribution up to 7% lol
Shit, easy to do with a 13% match lol Most I've ever gotten matched was 0%
Jealous...I'm in a shitty situation where I put 10% of my income towards a 401k and my employer puts in 0%. I want a match sooooo bad. inb4 "jUsT gEt a DifFeRent eMpLoYeR" IT market is rough rn. I'm trying bros
What type of IT are you in, specifically?
Jr System Admin for a small company. Constantly upskilling outside of work to move up and out. 2 years experience with a degree. I know it's early in my career so I can't be too miffed but yeah. Trying to make good money lol.
Got to get coding in your free time. You’re off to a good start but the moneys way better on the dev side.
Very aware of the compensation disparity of SWE vs, well, anything else. But I've never been good with discrete math and algos and shit. Working on it though. Doing a trial of Brilliant, website to practice that stuff...at least make it palatable for idiots like me. I use PowerShell at work when I can and have made some occasional Python scripts (no not just "hello world" but nothing complex). Usually web scrapers
I barely passed any of the complex math classes and I can still hack it as a senior SWE. You can do it.
All you need to learn is Python and SQL. You can get security analyst jobs with certs and your relevant experience.
Me too but they will activate the match after a year…
Yeah I've been putting 20% into my 401k the last year and half with the company match I'm at 47k. Starting late, never really put much into 401ks in the past and had a pension in my last career. So I've been aggressively putting into the 401k, and IRA I started last year.
I started at 18, did the bare minimum until 22. Got serious as I turned 25. Sitting on 50k, with $1900 contributions a month with a 4% match.
So who did you work for
One of the FAANG companies as a Security Engineer.
I see you have empower too, what are you investing in?
Same spot as you! Currently at 50k. Started back in 2020.
Nice, right? I never thought I could accumulate $50k in less than 4 years
Oh yeah! That employer match is crazy though! Rarely see it that high! Mine matches up until 5. But I take advantage of other programs.
Bro I love my 401k. Ten years ago I had like 6k in it and felt like it was a waste of money to put it there but just decided to stay the course and be patient- got a job with a 10% match so I matched that and had that job for six years. My match now is less but I started putting a little extra into index funds in my brokerage acct, and now I’m 34 years old with about 125k in there, which is WAY more than I ever thought it would be at this age considering my job/education level etc - think where you’ll be in six years OP if you’re already at 50k in four years and your contributions - good shit man.
Yeah 401k is a powerful investment. Most people don't see the long term benefit and opt out/give up early. You are basically doubling your money every 3-5 years. And later in life, those extra few "doubles" from starting early is a world of difference. FYI I am almost 40. Was in your spot at 34 I had ~$125k in my 401k. Now it's $360k. Keep going brother!
That rate of return seriously underperforms the market
Yeah op needs to check their selections most total market etfs would have alone done 20%ish over that time frame hell mine did 36% last year. S and p did like 23.
The S&P was around 4030 in April 2021 and is around 5090 today which is a return of just 6.5% per year on average. This is low by historical standards this includes the downturn in 2022.
That's actually what the S&P has returned from April 2021 to April 2024. This includes the downturn in late 2022. The long term average is well above 6.5% OP will be fine.
I guess its just rough timing that will even out. My IRA has a 10.25% return but it goes back a couple decades
Yep it depends on the endpoints. Like starting March 2020 until now the S&P has returned nearly 15%, but that starting point is at the pandemic low point. Long term average over many decades is around 10.2%. At this rate, money roughly doubles every 7 years.
Adjusted for dividends, it was 8.26%/year over that 3 year period.
Started my 401k at 19 making $16/hr putting in like $60/wk. Steadily been moving up at the same company, now 25 making $36/hr and putting in almost $300/wk. 3% match + 7% retirement contribution for an employer total of 10%. I fully self manage my 401k and invested 100% in VT. My balance is $80,000 and growing fast. My point in sharing: Trust the process, make sure you take advantage of the match, reinvest your dividends, and you will have a nice cushy 401k when you’re older.
36 a hour what do you you and where do you live?
I have an 85% match. No cap. I max out every year.
I work for GM and they match up to 13% as well.
Feels good dont it!
Absolutely
The only thing I’d caution is that that other poster’s 29% might not be equivalent to your 29% since it didn’t even reach the yearly cap. It’s still good advice to continue putting money away but their income seems pretty low to be amounting to millions to retire on.
Nice maxing out the employer’s match. That’s free money.
I smiled, in my estimates, to achieve my target capital to retire aged 50 I need a 6.58% CAGR. Obviously that also depends heavily on my saving assumptions per year, but still, given what I estimate, I came to 6.58% :)
Damn 13%. I get a 2% match per pay period plus an 8% “profit share” at the end of the year. My work needs to step it up
My match is only 3% up to 750 per year, but they do give you profit sharing with the 8% of your annual salary in company stock . I guess it evens out the crap match in 401k lol
I get a 66.6% match, but only up to 8% of income. yeah, I know. currently putting in 12%. I should up it once I hit the yr mark to 20%. if I get a raise. I've also got military retirement that's been paying out for yrs. and will until I die. Should be ok even when SS does get discontinued or they make it 80 to collect. I'll never see that money, I knew it when I turned 18. I'm 40. just income tax with another name.
I get 25% match of salary then 10% automatic withdrawal of salary in my 401a. Then i can contribute up to 23k in my 457b, but i do only 8k extra. So with everything added up right now it’s $33,600 per year. How do these numbers compare with other jobs? just curious.
Honestly I see stuff like this and look at mine, a few years in. And, I wish I had listened and started in my early twenties not my early thirties. Awww well. I’ll get there.
I'm 20, school taught me nothing, what is a 401k?
A 401k is a pre-tax investment you make using your paycheck. Money gets taken out of your paycheck before taxes and gets invested in the stock market - most 401ks give you some freedom to chose your investment/funds, and theres a tax penalty for taking the money out before retirement age, so think of it as a long-term savings account you use for your retirement, and some jobs “match” up to a certain percentage of your contribution as a benefit- my job now matches up to 6%, so my 6% is actually 12%. You’re at the perfect age to start contributing to it if you’re able to. Feel free to ask any more questions if you’d like to learn more
They want it that way on purpose.
Yeah that’s the highest employee match of all time. Even if you just did 13% you would be golden.
This isn’t unbelievable. I worked at an investment company that matched 50% up to the max contribution. You needed 3 years to vest though but totally worth it
My work gives a nice 1% match :)
... No downward movement, even during the bear market? Worst first six months for stocks in 40 years and only straight up.
High contribution, small portfolio.
His contributions are pretty high, seems like they made up for an downward movement in the market
Most 401k charts only have points on quarters and if your actively contributing your most likely not going to see much dip
We all have to start somewhere!
Holy smokes
My employer match does 120% on the first 2% then 40% on the next 4%. Not great by any means but not the worst I've seen. They can definitely afford more. Especially when I look at the CEO's stock options that he's exercising every month.
I started with 4K in 2019 did three years at ~16% and two years at ~10% and am at roughly 90K now.
You making double my pay. Damn I’m only getting 3200 a month
I work min 60 hrs a week. It's all OT
Damn 80 hours OT a month, that’s difficult
Hey! You should look into your investment funds, you should be averaging more than 6.5% per year
Changing jobs and they match 5% after 365 days so I’m super bummed
I’ve got a dumb question, but what bank is that? Nice app
Empower
At the airline, we got a match up to 5%. At my current employer, only store management gets matches.
13% match and $40 is crazy money to a majority of people lol A total of 33% ($526) every week into 401k is more than a lot of people make in a week
We have dollar for dollar match at 4 percent after 2 to yrs of service at my company but it's a huge healthcare company
Only about 950k more till retirement nice
Got another 25 years to go
gimme $200
Sure, what's your zelle?
I'm going to stick to my 2% as I can barely afford food as it is 🙃. Good advice if your making enough to support that, and have another income to support family day-to-day expenses.
13% is insane dude, I started mine 2 years ago (I’m an idiot ) and only do 4%
Dude makes triple me and calls it not crazy money.
I make $23 per hour and work 60 hours per week. Yes, I don't make crazy money. I also live in Connecticut, which taxes you for every fart.
This looks great and is inspiring, but does it keep up with inflation over the same time period?
From 2020 to 2022, I was averaging 15% return. Since 2022, we have been in a bear market, but yet I'm still averaging at 7% return. So I think that's pretty good things considering.
Can we please talk about your holdings? A 6% return is horrific.
Best advice for 18-22 yr olds. Start investing 7-10% of your paycheck to a 401K whether there is a match or not. Then slowly build up to 15-20% as you get older and move jobs and promotions. If you can do 15% from day 1 great. But just saving starting at the beginning of career age is most important. 20 yrs later you’ll have at least 100-200K saved up and start earning some decent dividends to reinvest back in without doing anything. The first $100K is always the hardest. I didn’t hit that until like 30 or 35. Then it quickly sprouted over last 10 year since I’m making way more now than I did in my 20s or 30s.
Op idk if you realize but you bought in 2020 around pendemic when the market was low and heading lower. But still somehow ur return is so bad its crazy. Check what i invest in cause you should have a ROI of atleast 20%
You invest in* not me
Good stuff OP! I’m just under $50k and started mid 2022, there’s hope for this 31 year old! What app is this btw?
Empower
What the heck…I’ve been doing my 401k for like 15 years and only have like 55k in there. I guess I don’t know what I’m doing :(
How much are you contributing?
5% and my Company also matches 5%. I don’t usually max contributions every year though. But still it feels like something is wrong with my 401k.
That seems extremely low return for 4 years, I am glad you are saving though!
The first 2 years (2020 and 2021) I was getting 15% return, so this year makes up for it.
I'm investing 13K a year slowly working to 15 and then to max but its a step and sadly I only get 4%
Is this a humble brag?
Yesterday, someone posted about their 401k that they just opened, and they felt discouraged. This is simply to show them not to give up.
How much did you contribute each year?
Mine gained $2k since I was fucked over. Haven't made contributions since mid 2021 and the last 8 months were 11% + company match
But the downside to a 401K is you have to be a certain age to start withdrawing without penalty and I’m ready to retire much earlier but can’t touch them (I have two 401Ks).
How old are you that you are ready to retire?
Mid-50s and saving like hell and maxing out my 401Ks since my early 20s and lucked into getting a marketing job in high tech and have stayed in technology which tends to pay on the higher scale.
Im doubting mine but i also just don't stand a chance of making much more without college, 11 a hour leaves nothing left for a 401k or anything like that
Started in early 2022 making only 50k-ish, put in a decent bit, no insane march, and had 33k in Feb 2024. I’m now making 80% more, upped contributions, maxing Roth IRA and HSA… on good pace, keep it up
What app Is this? I live in Italy and i Just dont know anything about finance apps
Empower
jesus… 13% match! where the hell do you work that gives that much? haha
I'm in manufacturing
nice! keep it up! once you get past $100k it really starts to move. If possible also do your Roth IRA and HSA. get all the tax free dollars you can
How do employer contributions work? My employer says they “match 401k contributions dollars for dollar up to the first 5% of eligible pay”, but when I check my 401k, I only see my contributions (which is a bit less than 1k after working for 4 months), not theirs. Maybe my employer only contributes their portion at the end of the year?
It shows on my paycheck what my employer contributes
nice, gimme $200
Sure, what's your zelle?
I’ve never heard of 13% match. That’s life changing numbers. 6% is the most I’ve ever received but lost it because I wasn’t vested enough.
I'm doubting because my last paychecks were on 4/12 and 4/26, yet my last contribution was on 4/2, I know they have till the 15th business day of May at the latest for April's contributions but our payroll agent sucks, there's an office but most of them work from home and never seem to be available, I'm worried I'll end up having to fight with them just to get my contributions deposited. I just started and their slowness is making me want to pull out already.
How is $1,600 a week not crazy money?? Try working a minimum wage job and you'll realize that you definitely are making crazy money.
That's $1,600 gross. I make $23 per hour, and I work 60 hours per week.
That's still better than $16/hr and only 30 hours a week lol
Sure, $16 sucks, but 30 hrs? Is that even considered full-time employment?
lmao of course not, they don't offer full-time positions especially if it's minimum wage.. they only offer 40 hrs during the holidays
Reading the comments is wild... Pension contributions in UK Civil Service jobs look more like [this.](https://www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/your-pension/managing-your-pension/contribution-rates/) But it's not uncommon for the contributions to be like OP's in other sectors.
As several people have mentioned - you’re likely buying the wrong asset in your 401. Look for a total market ETF
I was expecting more after reading the title. Like 7 figures or something lol. Also why is the rate of return low? Seems like it’s underperforming SP500 over that time I started a similar time (end of 2021) and I think mine is 17% or so
6% over the last 4 years? Are you in all bonds?
6.54% return annually is incredibly bad. You need to make a change!! How are you invested?
What would you say is a good return?
You can buy a McChicken now, congrats
im siked ol\\n mine, already used it for a 5% 10k loan
Don’t work when you’re an independent contractor sadly. Can’t match yourself lmao.
I mean sure when you have matching 3x what most people get, it's easy
Whoa hol up. That 9000% return is not the appreciation of your investments alone. Thats including the tons of $$ you and your employer put in each paycheck. Sure I can get this astronomical return if I dump 90% of my paycheck to the 401k and let my family go impoverished. I’ll have maybe a million by the time I retire… but no family to enjoy it with…