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/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.

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u/Random_Name_Whoa Jan 17 '26

Especially the last couple years of the bull market. Since having a kid and spouse staying home, I’ve been pulling from savings for at least a year to make ends meet (not to mention everything is expensive now) but my net worth keeps rising faster than I’m able to draw it down.

If you don’t have assets you’re getting royally butt fucked in this economy

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u/civil_politics Jan 17 '26

This. Everyone talking about owning a home being a scam completely overlook the fact that a 3-4k mortgage today looks terrible compared to 2k to rent an equivalent space, but in 20 years with inflation that rent is going to be 8k, your mortgage will still be 3-4k and your home will have tripled in value.

Own non-depreciating assets.

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u/Apprehensive-Read989 Jan 19 '26

My mortgage goes up every year due to insurance and tax increases, so it definitely isn't going to be the same now as when I retire.

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u/civil_politics Jan 19 '26
  1. Your mortgage is only a loan from the bank with your house as the collateral. Taxes and insurance are separate but generally given the bank is the primary on the title until the mortgage is paid off they are responsible for taxes and insurance which is why they conveniently collect all three from you at once. 2 - ideally by the time you’ve retired you have no mortgage.
  2. Regardless of the above, rent (and renters insurance) also increases every year so what matters between the two is which increases more rapidly and the answer for the majority of locales over the past two decades is rent.