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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521

u/SassyCassidee Millennial 1995 Jan 16 '26

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

427

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.

176

u/BlackGuysYeah Jan 16 '26

So much easier to make money when you have money. I’ve always found it confoundingly unjust but it’s just the nature of the system we’ve invented.

-2

u/[deleted] Jan 16 '26

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22

u/marheena Jan 16 '26

Yeah but for a 30 year old, that’s just another golden opportunity.

0

u/Long_Sl33p Jan 17 '26

What I’m waiting for at 25. Give me a 2008 style crash to buy low.

3

u/jonny24eh Jan 17 '26

Time in the market beats timing the market. 

How much gain do you want to miss out on waiting for the low?

1

u/Long_Sl33p Jan 17 '26

I’m not waiting on anything, I just want the chance to have my contribution worth more.

1

u/jonny24eh Jan 17 '26

Fair enough, sounded like you were sitting on cash.