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Your children can always borrow for college. You can't borrow for retirement, so it makes sense to prioritize retirement savings. I agree, though, that the pur

Your children can always borrow for college. You can't borrow for retirement, so it makes sense to prioritize retirement savings. I agree, though, that the purchasing power is nowhere near 1987 and that the plateau comes earlier. I suppose it's what makes saving earlier and saving more ever pertinent for the younger generation. If I can get to 200k before I plateau, I'd be happy. If I have a working spouse that makes at least 100k, I'd say we could probably keep the American dream alive for us. At least via my 401k, there are few poor options to choose, thankfully. The worst you could probably do is pick a fixed income class (and get no growth) or go too risky with international funds (if you for some reason went 100% international). But the target-date funds and index funds provided (SP500, etc) are diversified and generally considered good investments.

pm90 9y ago
If you're making that good already and working in tech, I doubt it will be hard for you to reach that target income. Keeping up with the latest technology, learning skills and delivering on projects has got me very far in my professional career, and I've worked with Senior Engineers who continue to do engineering and switch jobs (although perhaps less frequently since it means changing a lot of things). I guess what I'm trying to say is: financially, you are likely to be OK, if you manage to have a spouse that will be a good partner and you both stay together while bringing up the kids (and that is a BIG IF). It get VERY dicey if you do split, in which case you have to pay for spousal and child support (I've seen this happen wayy too many times). Which brings me to what has been my most important realization perhaps: be VERY VERY careful when you choose your spouse and how you combine your finances. I'm not saying that you spouse will be bad; but statistically it seems like there is a 50% chance that it won't work out, for whatever reason. This can ruin your finances. So spend some significant time and effort to try to make the right decision there. This is kinda hard when society emphasizes getting married and having kids ASAP.

pm90 9y ago

If you're making that good already and working in tech, I doubt it will be hard for you to reach that target income. Keeping up with the latest technology, learning skills and delivering on projects has got me very far in my professional career, and I've worked with Senior Engineers who continue to do engineering and switch jobs (although perhaps less frequently since it means changing a lot of things). I guess what I'm trying to say is: financially, you are likely to be OK, if you manage to have a spouse that will be a good partner and you both stay together while bringing up the kids (and that is a BIG IF). It get VERY dicey if you do split, in which case you have to pay for spousal and child support (I've seen this happen wayy too many times). Which brings me to what has been my most important realization perhaps: be VERY VERY careful when you choose your spouse and how you combine your finances. I'm not saying that you spouse will be bad; but statistically it seems like there is a 50% chance that it won't work out, for whatever reason. This can ruin your finances. So spend some significant time and effort to try to make the right decision there. This is kinda hard when society emphasizes getting married and having kids ASAP.