# How much do you put away into your 401(k) account? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 15, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-put-away-into-your-401-k-account/274866 "2004-11-15T15:44:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-put-away-into-your-401-k-account/274866/61 "2004-11-17T00:47:45Z")
I can’t remember the max I _could_ put in, but I contribute the 6% that my employer will match - that’s a no-brainer. I give myself a 6% raise and wind up putting 11.3% of the result in the 401(K) portfolio. And, I’m 51. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-put-away-into-your-401-k-account/274866/62 "2004-11-17T00:53:40Z")
And, as long as y’all are contemplating one’s relationship with their 401(K) plan, I’ll add that I cashed out the 401(K) plan I had with the company for whom I went to work when I graduated from college in my twenties to help capitalize a business I started in my mid-thirties. Would I do it again? Perhaps. But that’s a risky course that I’d hesitate to counsel to anyone. ---
**Author:** ![tsarina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@tsarina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsarina)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-put-away-into-your-401-k-account/274866/63 "2004-11-17T01:02:11Z")
I contribute 6% of my pretax income, and the State of Michigan matches 4%. I also started a Roth IRA as a birthday gift to myself in April and put $150 into that each month. I’m 22 years old. Most of you contribute more than me, but you’re older and don’t have as much time to save. Would you guys recommend I contibute more, like 9 or 10 percent? ---
**Author:** ![Velma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/85e7bf/32.png) [@Velma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velma)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-put-away-into-your-401-k-account/274866/64 "2004-11-17T01:52:54Z")
> [@tsarina](#): > > Most of you contribute more than me, but you’re older and don’t have as much time to save. Would you guys recommend I contibute more, like 9 or 10 percent? I would say it’s a good idea if you can do it. You’ll get used to not having that money while you’re young so you won’t miss it. Plus money that gets invested while you are young has that much longer to get interest, which means a thousand dollars invested when you are 22 is worth a whole lot more than that same thousand when you are 50. Someone can come along and tell you the difference who is better at figuring out compound interest than I am, but my financial advisor told me that you are better off investing for ten years from age 20-30 than investing for 30 years from 30-60. The only reason I would say to hold off is if you have tons of other bad debt (like high-interest credit cards, not things like student loans) that you should put that money towards first. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-put-away-into-your-401-k-account/274866/65 "2004-11-17T02:19:39Z")
3% of pretax income, just enough to get the full company match. I was at 6% till summer this year, but I have credit card debt I’m paying down, plus despite my working there since 2001, the outfit I work for hasn’t even done a COLA in all that time. That reminds me, I need to talk to my bosses about that… ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-put-away-into-your-401-k-account/274866/66 "2004-11-17T02:46:45Z")
My employer offers a 457 plan, no matching, but really good funds. I’m close to the max; I think it works out to about 15% of my gross income. Wish I’d deducted the max all along. For those of you who aren’t saving a lot or aren’t sure about how to save, plan, etc. check out the [retirement savings thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=286904) that is running concurrent to this one. GT ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-put-away-into-your-401-k-account/274866/67 "2004-11-17T03:26:51Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > There is a book I read called [retire on less than you think](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0805073744/104-8457748-8663902?v=glance) which seems to imply that the idea that you need 15-20x your annual income to retire is there to scare people. If you have your home paid off, move to a new part of the country with lower living standards, get a reverse mortgage, collect SS and medicaid/medicare then you don’t need 15-20x your income. When I retired I even looked into moving to Mexico. You can live cheap and their medical care is just a fraction of ours (the doctors are trained here). There are areas where the weather is great all year long and real estate is cheap (laws have been changed so you can get a legit title). Anyway, you are right about the 15 to 20x being high, but that is better than doing it the other way, which too many people seem to be doing. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-put-away-into-your-401-k-account/274866/68 "2004-11-17T04:36:32Z")
> [@psycat90](#): > > I’m currently doing 12% of my income, with 100% employee match, though last year I was doing 8%, and the year before 15%. I expect to bump it back up to 15% in the next few months. You get 100% matching on your 12% of contributions? That’s really generous. I want to work where you do. ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-put-away-into-your-401-k-account/274866/69 "2004-11-17T14:21:32Z")
> [@Velma](#): > > …but my financial advisor told me that you are better off investing for ten years from age 20-30 than investing for 30 years from 30-60. This is true. For example… Kelly invests $100 per month, from age 25 - 35. Total contribution is $12,000. John invests $100 per month, from age 35 - 65. Total contribution is $36,000. At 8 percent annual rate of return, at age 65… … Kelly has $201,400, a return on investment of 16.78 … John has $150,030, a return on investment of 4.17 Obviously, the even better course of action is to start young and _continue to contribute until retirement_ to get the biggest nest egg. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-put-away-into-your-401-k-account/274866/70 "2004-11-17T16:00:34Z")
> [@Algernon](#): > > This is true. For example… > Kelly invests $100 per month, from age 25 - 35. Total contribution is $12,000. > John invests $100 per month, from age 35 - 65. Total contribution is $36,000. > > At 8 percent annual rate of return, at age 65… > … Kelly has $201,400, a return on investment of 16.78 > … John has $150,030, a return on investment of 4.17 > > Obviously, the even better course of action is to start young and _continue to contribute until retirement_ to get the biggest nest egg. It’s also efficacious to have an aggressive growth portfolio when you are young and gradually lower it to a conservative growth portfolio as you near retirement. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-put-away-into-your-401-k-account/274866/71 "2004-11-17T16:51:25Z")
34 yo. I contribute 10% of my income to my TIAA-CREF account. My employer contributes 9% of my salary to the same TIAA-CREF account, though it is technically not a match. They will contribute 9% even if I contribute nothing. A VERY nice benefit. So combined I am squirrelling away 19% of my income, but I only have to give up 10% out of my pocket. ---
**Author:** ![fervour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@fervour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fervour)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-put-away-into-your-401-k-account/274866/72 "2004-11-17T17:19:02Z")
I don’t have a 401K. As a state of Alabama employee, I make a mandatory 5% contribution to the state’s pension plan. I put an additional 27% into a section 457 plan. I intend to bump that up to 29% next year. I’m 38 yo. (It is my intention to quit my job at 40 and live out a midlife crisis until the money runs out, and I have to get another job). ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Girl)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-put-away-into-your-401-k-account/274866/73 "2004-11-18T05:28:52Z")
19% - 50% of first 4% employer match. In the nearly 3 years I’ve been contributing, the value of my 401(k) is over half of what my husband has in the last 10 years. Despite the heavy losses I had in the first year. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-put-away-into-your-401-k-account/274866/74 "2004-11-18T05:57:52Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > You get 100% matching on your 12% of contributions? That’s really generous. I want to work where you do. I do, but there is a dollar limit to what they match, which probably only affects high salary employees, which I’m not. (I don’t have any info on hand, but I want to guess and say $50K??) It is very generous, and since they offer it, it’s one of the reasons I like to try and keep my contribution as high as possible. I have always been so impressed with the company’s benefits package. It is absolutely incredible. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-put-away-into-your-401-k-account/274866.md?page=3)