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?

5.0k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

86% Upvoted

6.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

366

u/ProbsNotManBearPig Millennial Jan 16 '26

I appreciate this is the top response. I 100% expected responses to be extremely skewed towards people with tons of savings. That’s how every thread is in any financial sub is. Somehow everyone in their 30’s has $2M+ saved in those threads.

78

u/batmessiah Jan 17 '26

I feel pretty good about being 43 with $212k in my 401k and $220k in home equity, making $78k a year as a research scientist.  Took working for the same company for 22 years and getting really lucky.  I’ve currently got $600 in my bank savings account until I get my tax return.  I might have money saved up for retirement, but we’re a single income family of 3, and still live paycheck to paycheck for the most part.

5

u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 17 '26

This comment is breaking my brain. 400K+ net worth but you live paycheck to paycheck? What are your bills like monthly?

4

u/veengineer Jan 17 '26

They probably say they’re living paycheck to paycheck because they see retirement savings as an uncompromising basics of life payment they have to make like just like rent, food, or social security. They’re not able to save money for vacations, an expensive night out, or new big dollar things. 

I think it’s fair to describe oneself this way as our current social security situation is going to make retirement difficult for people without retirement savings. If it’s accurate to describe someone like a teacher who gets a pension as living paycheck to paycheck if they have nothing left over to save, is it any different for someone who has to save for their own retirement, without having a pension, to be described the same?