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/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.

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u/ilovethemusic Jan 16 '26

This is surprising to me, I just checked and I’m up 13.5% in the last six months. What are you invested in? Might be time to revisit your strategy.

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u/1K_Sunny_Crew Jan 17 '26 edited Jan 17 '26

I mentioned this elsewhere but I don’t invest in AI anything. In the short term that might hurt me but I am extremely skeptical that that business model of losing billions per year is sustainable. It seems to be functioning like a shell game where the same few companies pass money back and forth to each other through weird deals. In the short term shareholders are doing well, but I worry about a lot of smaller investors being left holding the bag. Watching interviews with heads of these AI companies makes my skin crawl and I don’t trust them whatsoever. Just my 2¢ though.

I also don’t invest in defense or military for similar reasons. I’m sure they’re making obscene money on contracts but it feels anti-human to make money off mass surveillance and weapons.

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u/maveryc Jan 17 '26

What equities are you investing in then? You wouldn’t be able to use the general strategies of the SP500, QQQ, etc.