8 ms·

Ask HN: How old are you and how much do you have saved for retirement?

theandrewbailey 5y ago
Early 30s, low 6 figures in 401k. On track for a few million by 65-70.
- throw_this_one 5y ago
  What's your job and how much liquid assets?
eigengrau5150 5y ago
Early 40s. I could retire now if I wanted to, but I keep working because if I'm going to dick around with computers all day I might as well get paid for it.
- random8787 5y ago
  You and me both.
the__alchemist 5y ago
35. $800K USD
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
dyingkneepad 5y ago
34. My net worth is negative. I don't even know in which country I'll be retiring. Moving from a "currency challenged" country to the US in my 30s meant all the money I saved during all my life became pretty much worthless, I could use to all to buy maybe a car in the US. I don't know how much coming back to it will be a possibility due to my kids starting to develop roots here. They may not want to go back once I'm in retirement age, and I probably won't want to stay away from them and grandkids.
- throwaway158497 5y ago
  don't think too much about kids staying with you after you retire. As a parent, you won't want to stay away from them but their jobs may very easily take them away from you. Source. 40 and I am staying on other side of earth from my dad.
brailsafe 5y ago
Nearing 30, nothing.
giantg2 5y ago
If you feel like your behind when looking at these other comments (like I did), this tells you the (woefully low) averages as well as how much you should have saved at each age. https://www.sofi.com/learn/content/average-retirement-savings-by-age/ https://www.sofi.com/learn/content/average-retirement-saving...
admissionsguy 5y ago
Early 30s, nothing at all and I plan to live the next 4 years off <strike>basic</strike> student assistance. The whole notion of retirement has never made sense to me. I remember when I was 15-ish people said I would understand once I grew up, but nope, it still doesn’t make any sense. I have spent maybe 48 months working so far. I can bill about 20k a month when I do work. But it’s such a waste of lifetime to do it, I never work more than absolutely necessary.
- giantg2 5y ago
  $20k per month? What do you do?
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - admissionsguy 5y ago
    Run-of-the-mill full-stack + mobile web development + a tiny bit of DevOps. I am decent at understanding and solving business problems, and very efficient (and all around brilliant, let's be honest), but otherwise I don't feel like I'm doing anything special, technically. For the most part. Note 20k is $125/hour at 100% utilization, which I find rather easy to achieve. I had spent years at $40/h, then upped to $60-70 after joining Toptal, but clients were paying $100+. Knowing who the clients willing to pay that much were, I found it possible to reach similar clients directly, and here I am. I rather frequently take over really abysmally done work from previous developers. I don't think those developers are generally paid less than myself. So the takeaway appears to be that technical prowess is a minor factor in the whole picture.
    - giantg2 5y ago
      I guess I'm just in the wrong part of the industry then. It seems $250k per year work is rare, at least outside of a few specific markets.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
ixacto 5y ago
220k in Roth, early 30s. Should be about 5-15MM USD in the late 2050s with an inflation adjusted rate of return of ~8% and an annual contribution of about $6000, also increasing annually (math works). This should take me way beyond the point at which the marginal utility of money tapers off. It's really not that difficult to get wealthy(ish) in this country if you think ahead a few decades, but most people are not going to be able to do this. The secret was getting a decent employer match, and living with my parents for a few years to save >100% of my income.
- randomopining 5y ago
  How much was your employer's match? I do the minimum to get the match, which is 6%. How did you save >100% of your income at your parents?
  - ixacto 5y ago
    It was either 5 or 6 match into vanguard, which is ok but not great. I saved 105% of my income for a couple years as they paid for all my living expenses including food, although I went shopping to get groceries and cooked for them. Also this was not the tech industry… I carpooled to work so that was also free. The only thing I spent money on was a couple new iphones and alcohol/dates/entertainment, which was paid with through churning maaaany credit cards. I’m very grateful for that, and would show them my retirement account every once in awhile to prove that I wasn’t blowing my paycheck on stupid stuff. The only real problem is that it didn’t really work because housing prices have increased much faster than the market so now I need like 1-1.5MM if I ever want to buy a decent house by Seattle and don’t really have that.
    - throw_this_one 5y ago
      seriously 1-1.5 mil for a decent house there? Is that even for real?
      - ixacto 5y ago
        Yes. You can get cheaper further out, but traffic can make commuting pretty bad. https://www.redfin.com/city/1387/WA/Bellevue/housing-market https://www.redfin.com/city/1387/WA/Bellevue/housing-market Basically FIRE approach doesn't work in the really expensive parts of the country. You need to be putting a large portion of $$$ income into housing which is not a diversified asset. We are getting 18% YOY growth now, but will not get it for the next 30 years.
max_hammer 5y ago
35. Total saving of approx €20,000 I won't be able to retire. :)
retirement32 5y ago
Age:32 Networth: $3.5m USD —— Most of my networth came from investing inheritance and gifts from family. I didn’t separate their contributions from my person ones unfortunately, but I suspect on my own, I’d be at around $800k NW. I have received about $1M in gifts/inheritance that has appreciated. I also add about $100k/yr to my savings from my employment. This situation has made me pro-“Tax the rich”.
VirusNewbie 5y ago
I'm 39, and have about ~700k in equity on my primary residence (conservative estimate), and my wife and I have about 700k in various investments/savings accounts, split evenly between retirement accounts and non retirement accounts. Most of my money came from saving. Never worked for a FAANG or had startup equity hit, but I was doing software professionally at 17 and have saved a chunk almost every year since then. While I could have afforded an apartment in my early/mid twenties, I ended up living with roommates and saving, then later buying a condo in early 2009. Then I rented a room out. Always bought used furniture, found deals on cars (I did drive entry level luxury cars), was very careful about splurging on technology or entertainment. I did probably spend too much at bars and whatnot though. So some of my net worth is due to good timing in RE, but a lot was due to working hard (enough) in my early-mid twenties that I was able to get a decent war chest and then invest it.
randomopining 5y ago
29. 401k - about 60k. Don't really care about the 401k much, can't touch it for a long time, but ill take the match. Debt - none HSA - 9k Investments - nearly 300k total. mostly crypto, stocks, and about 20% is cash (should probably throw that in too). No car. No house. No family.
deanmoriarty 5y ago
35. $3.5M liquid and $4M illiquid pre IPO stock from a previous employer. Started from $0 and got it by working in tech/finance as a software engineer and investing in VTSAX.
- rory_isAdonk 5y ago
  how does anyone get that much pre IPO stock? were you ever working as a director or VP?
  - deanmoriarty 5y ago
    Joined as senior software engineer when the company was under 10 employees and got about 1% (took almost no salary). To be fair I did a massive amount of contributions, so the company got a really good deal in my opinion. I was paid $60k a year for a while, when my market rate could have been easily $300k. I shaped the product and execution in a much more significant way than the founders. These guys are now sitting on mid 9 figures, crazy. Stayed with that employer for the entire grant and left after about 5 years. The company today is worth a few billion dollars, and that value is based on the latest preferred share price, so obviously it assumes everything goes well and it will sell high enough that the liquidation preferences won’t be exercised and everything will convert to common. It could easily still all go to $0, I don’t count on it much. The liquid portfolio is instead through boring saving, investing and fairly frugal lifestyle.
retirementhway 5y ago
24 years old, NW is ~300K. That's about 30k in cash, 200k invested into VTI and VT, and 70k in 401k. I achieved this by becoming a FAANG software engineer right out of college. By my projections, and assuming no major world events occur to knock my plans off course, I should be a millionaire by 28/29 and will be able to retire by my mid/late 30s. However, the more and more I work, the more I realize that I really enjoy what I do, so we will see what happens.
- throw_this_one 5y ago
  What do you like about what you do? The problem/puzzle solving aspect? Most jobs at a faang are just building some internal tool or something right.
  - retirementhway 5y ago
    I was somewhat lucky to land on a user facing product team in an important area. But overall I just like computers, I like talking about them, and I like working towards goals with people. My upbringing was also the opposite of techy, so being in a tech-focused environment is honestly like a breath of fresh air. The financial benefit just makes it that much more addictive. Of course, I am still entry level and my job will shift as I age, so take it all with a grain of salt.
endisneigh 5y ago
what's the point of this question other than dick measuring? age isn't really a relevant variable as people have had different opportunities, born in different situations, etc.
pelagicAustral 5y ago
I'm like 34 and I think I'm worth like £12k. No kids, no waifu, no gf. I started really late in life but I hope to build a house next year, already got the land and I think its going to be brilliant, after that I'll just continue to work, pay my mortgage, have a nice holiday every few years, drink a few beers and then expect to die alone, just like everyone else, since the beginning of time. I do care to have that cushion-fund to allow me to get over hard times, other than that I think having death insurance is wise so you can pay for your own gravestone and maybe have an Elvis impersonator sing Amazing Grace. Which is kind of like an odd idea since I tell people they're 'not invited to my funeral' as much as I can. In the end, it doesn't matter... as long as you've got enough for the odd BBQ with friends, the staycation, the nice steak dinner, laughs and help a friend or family here and there... Enjoy life folks, remember, you can end up in a grave with a million bucks in your bank account any single day of the lord...
- rory_isAdonk 5y ago
  love this mindset
steve_taylor 5y ago
Mid-40s. Married with 2 kids. 240K AUD in forced retirement savings. No house.
culopatin 5y ago
Wow everyone that’s posted has some very unique situation going on. Only a few are the normal grind. Late 20s, about 90k NW. 7 years ago I had about $70 of my own. About 50k of that is my 401k. 5 figure salary in IT but great benefits +pension. However I think I’d kill myself staying here so I might not get to enjoy that. I plan to retire in South America or Eastern Europe since their food and culture match what I like the most. The US is definitely not the place to retire for me. I rent, I have a dog, a girlfriend in grad school and I race cars. I build everything myself so the most I’ve spent in one shot is 2K in a turbo and 600 on a welder. Overall I’d say I spent 10k on the car, so not bad (trying to justify myself lol). I think I’m pretty frugal but I end up spending money on a lot of little things for racing and such. But I don’t have an 80in tv or the latest MacBook. I run Mac on a $300 Thinkpad X1. We cook every night and we buy at Costco or Aldi. We lowered our beef consumption and we drink Kirkland Malbec for $7 (but to me it’s on par with a $20 wine). Anyway, that’s how I’ve been doing it, low risk, low return, no gifts, no inheritance, no company stock.
xpWr7r1ZeX 5y ago
Early 40s - dual income household with 2 kids - $3.5M-$4M USD living in an urban suburb. includes investments, house (paid off) and retirement - Started as a software engineer and slowly moved up seniority - no crazy high salaries, no Faang, no startup equity, cash outs or anything like that. Significant Other does not work in tech and has slowly moved up the ladder job wise as well. In our 30's we made sure to live a comfortable lifestyle and not work like crazy. In general, we have always spent less that others who make the same, and save / invest pragmatically IMO. Presently, while we do have periods of hard work, we believe in enjoying life as you go vs. waiting to retire - we take time off often and make sure we spend quality time together and with family / siblings / parents. Who knows how long we'll be around and who knows how long kids, siblings and parents will be around - and from experience and observation, you never know when personal tragedy may strike.

Early 30s, low 6 figures in 401k. On track for a few million by 65-70.

throw_this_one 5y ago
What's your job and how much liquid assets?

Early 40s. I could retire now if I wanted to, but I keep working because if I'm going to dick around with computers all day I might as well get paid for it.

random8787 5y ago
You and me both.

the__alchemist 5y ago

35. $800K USD

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

dyingkneepad 5y ago

34. My net worth is negative. I don't even know in which country I'll be retiring. Moving from a "currency challenged" country to the US in my 30s meant all the money I saved during all my life became pretty much worthless, I could use to all to buy maybe a car in the US. I don't know how much coming back to it will be a possibility due to my kids starting to develop roots here. They may not want to go back once I'm in retirement age, and I probably won't want to stay away from them and grandkids.

throwaway158497 5y ago
don't think too much about kids staying with you after you retire. As a parent, you won't want to stay away from them but their jobs may very easily take them away from you. Source. 40 and I am staying on other side of earth from my dad.

brailsafe 5y ago

Nearing 30, nothing.

giantg2 5y ago

If you feel like your behind when looking at these other comments (like I did), this tells you the (woefully low) averages as well as how much you should have saved at each age. https://www.sofi.com/learn/content/average-retirement-savings-by-age/ https://www.sofi.com/learn/content/average-retirement-saving...

admissionsguy 5y ago

Early 30s, nothing at all and I plan to live the next 4 years off <strike>basic</strike> student assistance. The whole notion of retirement has never made sense to me. I remember when I was 15-ish people said I would understand once I grew up, but nope, it still doesn’t make any sense. I have spent maybe 48 months working so far. I can bill about 20k a month when I do work. But it’s such a waste of lifetime to do it, I never work more than absolutely necessary.

giantg2 5y ago
$20k per month? What do you do?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- admissionsguy 5y ago
  Run-of-the-mill full-stack + mobile web development + a tiny bit of DevOps. I am decent at understanding and solving business problems, and very efficient (and all around brilliant, let's be honest), but otherwise I don't feel like I'm doing anything special, technically. For the most part. Note 20k is $125/hour at 100% utilization, which I find rather easy to achieve. I had spent years at $40/h, then upped to $60-70 after joining Toptal, but clients were paying $100+. Knowing who the clients willing to pay that much were, I found it possible to reach similar clients directly, and here I am. I rather frequently take over really abysmally done work from previous developers. I don't think those developers are generally paid less than myself. So the takeaway appears to be that technical prowess is a minor factor in the whole picture.
  - giantg2 5y ago
    I guess I'm just in the wrong part of the industry then. It seems $250k per year work is rare, at least outside of a few specific markets.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]

ixacto 5y ago

220k in Roth, early 30s. Should be about 5-15MM USD in the late 2050s with an inflation adjusted rate of return of ~8% and an annual contribution of about $6000, also increasing annually (math works). This should take me way beyond the point at which the marginal utility of money tapers off. It's really not that difficult to get wealthy(ish) in this country if you think ahead a few decades, but most people are not going to be able to do this. The secret was getting a decent employer match, and living with my parents for a few years to save >100% of my income.

randomopining 5y ago
How much was your employer's match? I do the minimum to get the match, which is 6%. How did you save >100% of your income at your parents?
- ixacto 5y ago
  It was either 5 or 6 match into vanguard, which is ok but not great. I saved 105% of my income for a couple years as they paid for all my living expenses including food, although I went shopping to get groceries and cooked for them. Also this was not the tech industry… I carpooled to work so that was also free. The only thing I spent money on was a couple new iphones and alcohol/dates/entertainment, which was paid with through churning maaaany credit cards. I’m very grateful for that, and would show them my retirement account every once in awhile to prove that I wasn’t blowing my paycheck on stupid stuff. The only real problem is that it didn’t really work because housing prices have increased much faster than the market so now I need like 1-1.5MM if I ever want to buy a decent house by Seattle and don’t really have that.
  - throw_this_one 5y ago
    seriously 1-1.5 mil for a decent house there? Is that even for real?
    - ixacto 5y ago
      Yes. You can get cheaper further out, but traffic can make commuting pretty bad. https://www.redfin.com/city/1387/WA/Bellevue/housing-market https://www.redfin.com/city/1387/WA/Bellevue/housing-market Basically FIRE approach doesn't work in the really expensive parts of the country. You need to be putting a large portion of $$$ income into housing which is not a diversified asset. We are getting 18% YOY growth now, but will not get it for the next 30 years.

max_hammer 5y ago

35. Total saving of approx €20,000 I won't be able to retire. :)

retirement32 5y ago

Age:32 Networth: $3.5m USD —— Most of my networth came from investing inheritance and gifts from family. I didn’t separate their contributions from my person ones unfortunately, but I suspect on my own, I’d be at around $800k NW. I have received about $1M in gifts/inheritance that has appreciated. I also add about $100k/yr to my savings from my employment. This situation has made me pro-“Tax the rich”.

VirusNewbie 5y ago

I'm 39, and have about ~700k in equity on my primary residence (conservative estimate), and my wife and I have about 700k in various investments/savings accounts, split evenly between retirement accounts and non retirement accounts. Most of my money came from saving. Never worked for a FAANG or had startup equity hit, but I was doing software professionally at 17 and have saved a chunk almost every year since then. While I could have afforded an apartment in my early/mid twenties, I ended up living with roommates and saving, then later buying a condo in early 2009. Then I rented a room out. Always bought used furniture, found deals on cars (I did drive entry level luxury cars), was very careful about splurging on technology or entertainment. I did probably spend too much at bars and whatnot though. So some of my net worth is due to good timing in RE, but a lot was due to working hard (enough) in my early-mid twenties that I was able to get a decent war chest and then invest it.

randomopining 5y ago

29. 401k - about 60k. Don't really care about the 401k much, can't touch it for a long time, but ill take the match. Debt - none HSA - 9k Investments - nearly 300k total. mostly crypto, stocks, and about 20% is cash (should probably throw that in too). No car. No house. No family.

deanmoriarty 5y ago

35. $3.5M liquid and $4M illiquid pre IPO stock from a previous employer. Started from $0 and got it by working in tech/finance as a software engineer and investing in VTSAX.

rory_isAdonk 5y ago
how does anyone get that much pre IPO stock? were you ever working as a director or VP?
- deanmoriarty 5y ago
  Joined as senior software engineer when the company was under 10 employees and got about 1% (took almost no salary). To be fair I did a massive amount of contributions, so the company got a really good deal in my opinion. I was paid $60k a year for a while, when my market rate could have been easily $300k. I shaped the product and execution in a much more significant way than the founders. These guys are now sitting on mid 9 figures, crazy. Stayed with that employer for the entire grant and left after about 5 years. The company today is worth a few billion dollars, and that value is based on the latest preferred share price, so obviously it assumes everything goes well and it will sell high enough that the liquidation preferences won’t be exercised and everything will convert to common. It could easily still all go to $0, I don’t count on it much. The liquid portfolio is instead through boring saving, investing and fairly frugal lifestyle.

retirementhway 5y ago

24 years old, NW is ~300K. That's about 30k in cash, 200k invested into VTI and VT, and 70k in 401k. I achieved this by becoming a FAANG software engineer right out of college. By my projections, and assuming no major world events occur to knock my plans off course, I should be a millionaire by 28/29 and will be able to retire by my mid/late 30s. However, the more and more I work, the more I realize that I really enjoy what I do, so we will see what happens.

throw_this_one 5y ago
What do you like about what you do? The problem/puzzle solving aspect? Most jobs at a faang are just building some internal tool or something right.
- retirementhway 5y ago
  I was somewhat lucky to land on a user facing product team in an important area. But overall I just like computers, I like talking about them, and I like working towards goals with people. My upbringing was also the opposite of techy, so being in a tech-focused environment is honestly like a breath of fresh air. The financial benefit just makes it that much more addictive. Of course, I am still entry level and my job will shift as I age, so take it all with a grain of salt.

endisneigh 5y ago

what's the point of this question other than dick measuring? age isn't really a relevant variable as people have had different opportunities, born in different situations, etc.

pelagicAustral 5y ago

I'm like 34 and I think I'm worth like £12k. No kids, no waifu, no gf. I started really late in life but I hope to build a house next year, already got the land and I think its going to be brilliant, after that I'll just continue to work, pay my mortgage, have a nice holiday every few years, drink a few beers and then expect to die alone, just like everyone else, since the beginning of time. I do care to have that cushion-fund to allow me to get over hard times, other than that I think having death insurance is wise so you can pay for your own gravestone and maybe have an Elvis impersonator sing Amazing Grace. Which is kind of like an odd idea since I tell people they're 'not invited to my funeral' as much as I can. In the end, it doesn't matter... as long as you've got enough for the odd BBQ with friends, the staycation, the nice steak dinner, laughs and help a friend or family here and there... Enjoy life folks, remember, you can end up in a grave with a million bucks in your bank account any single day of the lord...

rory_isAdonk 5y ago
love this mindset

steve_taylor 5y ago

Mid-40s. Married with 2 kids. 240K AUD in forced retirement savings. No house.

culopatin 5y ago

Wow everyone that’s posted has some very unique situation going on. Only a few are the normal grind. Late 20s, about 90k NW. 7 years ago I had about $70 of my own. About 50k of that is my 401k. 5 figure salary in IT but great benefits +pension. However I think I’d kill myself staying here so I might not get to enjoy that. I plan to retire in South America or Eastern Europe since their food and culture match what I like the most. The US is definitely not the place to retire for me. I rent, I have a dog, a girlfriend in grad school and I race cars. I build everything myself so the most I’ve spent in one shot is 2K in a turbo and 600 on a welder. Overall I’d say I spent 10k on the car, so not bad (trying to justify myself lol). I think I’m pretty frugal but I end up spending money on a lot of little things for racing and such. But I don’t have an 80in tv or the latest MacBook. I run Mac on a $300 Thinkpad X1. We cook every night and we buy at Costco or Aldi. We lowered our beef consumption and we drink Kirkland Malbec for $7 (but to me it’s on par with a $20 wine). Anyway, that’s how I’ve been doing it, low risk, low return, no gifts, no inheritance, no company stock.

xpWr7r1ZeX 5y ago

Early 40s - dual income household with 2 kids - $3.5M-$4M USD living in an urban suburb. includes investments, house (paid off) and retirement - Started as a software engineer and slowly moved up seniority - no crazy high salaries, no Faang, no startup equity, cash outs or anything like that. Significant Other does not work in tech and has slowly moved up the ladder job wise as well. In our 30's we made sure to live a comfortable lifestyle and not work like crazy. In general, we have always spent less that others who make the same, and save / invest pragmatically IMO. Presently, while we do have periods of hard work, we believe in enjoying life as you go vs. waiting to retire - we take time off often and make sure we spend quality time together and with family / siblings / parents. Who knows how long we'll be around and who knows how long kids, siblings and parents will be around - and from experience and observation, you never know when personal tragedy may strike.