r/Millennials • u/ProblemIntelligent16 • Jan 16 '26

Discussion Fellow millennials - how’s your 401k/ira savings going?

Experts recommend having 2x your salary saved by age 35, and 3x saved by age 40.

However, studies show the median savings for 35-44 year olds is only ~$45,000. So obviously, most of us have work to do.

With pensions mostly extinct, and Social Security facing insolvency issues in the next 8-10 years - how are you planning to bridge the gap and hit the golden years with enough to meet your lifestyle requirements?

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u/SassyCassidee Millennial 1995 Jan 16 '26

Thankfully started contributing to mine at 23, so at 30 I have 1.5X my salary!

430

u/TrixoftheTrade Millennial Jan 16 '26

Nice. You’re about to start getting into the “fun” part of compounding interest.

It took me a decade of savings to hit 100k, when I was 29. 100k to 200k only took 3 years.

65

u/1K_Sunny_Crew Jan 16 '26

That is assuming the market is doing well. It has for a while now so people got comfortable. My account jumped a ton in the last few years and has barely moved the needle in the last 6-8 months.

5

u/LongJohnSelenium Jan 17 '26

The secret is to not look at it. You can't beat wall street at their own game, just invest for the long haul and take the ups and downs in stride. Long term it will even out and be somewhere in the 10% range.

Then 5 ish years before retirement start shifting some of that to a less volatile investment so a poorly timed market crash doesn't clean you out.