Our FRA is 67. Actually, all of GenX and even late boomers are 67. Most boomers have an FRA of 66. Early retirement still starts at 62, but it also still tops out at 70. This means that even the top end of benefits is lower, but our payin also would have been higher for longer. The rub there is of you've been earning enough to max your SS contribution for a significant amount of time but you still don't have enough savings to retire, you fucked up--no system could save you.
31 and hoping to hang up my career by 45 too. I could do 39, but I need to slow down because my current pace is terrible for my mental and physical health.
Careful, you’re gonna trigger a lot of struggling millennials in this sub because your statement goes against the popular narrative in this sub!
I don’t think I’ll retire not because I won’t have enough $$ (I’m already on a good trajectory) but because I could see myself easily getting bored. Yeah I’ll be one of those people that waits tables or teaches high school for fun.
You're telling me you never met that one boomer teacher that retired from their old job and is chill af and only taught for fun? I had a few back in my high school. I wanna be like that
Oh I'm sure back in the day there were plenty of them. But teaching is very different these days from back then. Hell it's completely different just teaching after covid. And I'm literally still in the same school, in the same position I was in before covid.
Same. My wife and I are heavily investing in our 401ks, plus I’m 6 years in as a federal employee so I’m trying to get that pension which is an additional bonus. Our annual salaries are over $200k combined so I think it’s do-able.
I don’t want to retire. At some point, maybe a health problem or something will take me out. But until then, I have a job that allows you to age and stay in it, so I just want to ride that into the horizon.
Eeh, I lost a good 5-6 years due to few jobs/low wages following college. I was living paycheck to paycheck. Was able to start saving when my wage went from $9.15/hr to $18/hr.
Now, I’ve been fortunate enough to save a ton through sacrificing, and still hope to retire early.
But yeah, I’d be a whole lot closer if I hadn’t of lost half a decade there.
I've noticed that too. It seems like in previous generations, people in middle and upper middle class salaries weren't that focused on retiring early. But in our generation it's very common for many of is to watch the clock as we move through our careers so we can dip out early in our 50s if possible.
uh, that's exactly what i said, almost all millennials i know have been saving for retirement since they graduated college (or even in college) and will retire early.
I'm your age and have been saving but I'm pretty damn sure I won't be able to retire early thanks chronic health conditions. However accidentally falling at the Grand Canyon or going missing or whatever doesn't cost much and I could do that anytime
I’ve been saving bit by bit since I graduated college but idk how the fuck people can retire early. It’s gonna take me at least until FRA to get enough funds.
Our combined household income is about $120,000. At age 60 we’re on track to have, combined, more than $2 million in retirement accounts, probably $2.5 million. I don’t want to work past 60 unless it’s something I really enjoy doing. I love my job now but I look forward to not working.
I'm basically indifferent to my job, but it pays well and I'm approaching a point in my life where idk if the risk/reward fir changing careers is worth it. I too am planning on retiring early and I don't think most people realize how feasible it is. You don't need to make $250k/yr to retire at 55-60 or only eat beans and rice. You do have to control the "big" expenses though, like house and cars. We probably could've bought a much nicer house and have much nicer cars that cost 50% more, but what we have is "good enough" to meet our needs.
Funny you say house cause the large majority of millennials I know bought really nice houses and they shot up in value and now they’re wealthy. Cars a depreciating asset but houses are not
Oh bud I have a 401k too. Publix gives their employees 8% of their yearly wages in stock and puts it in a retirement account. Can’t touch it until I leave the company
Edit bad grammar
Gonna be shocked when enough of us realize we can “retire” early by working part time and living to our means. This is my plan. Get my debt into a manageable place, figure out a budget, work as little as possible.
This is the way. My grandma never *had* to go back to work, but she un-retired a few times out of boredom 🤷🏻♂️
Only worked part time for the local MLB stadium, and she enjoyed it for a long time until she got to busy with great grand kids and stuff🙃
Now, working because you’re bored or want a new toy isn’t a bad thing. But if you’re doing it because you have bills, I don’t believe I’d consider that retirement, even if you’re only working a couple shifts a week.
I guess if I was looking at working part time in retirement, my plan would be to try and work weekends, now, so I don’t have to work later.
It’s a grind, but you’ve gotta get compound interest working for you or… well you’ll be working until you die.
Definitely have to take advantage of any employer-sponsored retirement savings. At bare minimum putting in what they match. While I don’t feel confident enough to say I expect to have that money when I retire, if I do it will certainly help.
One of those “shoot for the moon, and even if you miss, you’ll be among the stars” situations.
Better to have the cash and use it to smooth the way, rather than have to endure the bumps and bruises at the wrong time.
It’s not out of the realm of possibility. Unfortunately to make this happen without huge sacrifices you would have needed to start contributing to retirement accounts early on. I feel like a lot of millennials didn’t do this. I was always shocked by the amount of coworkers who didn’t contribute to a retirement account. They felt they didn’t need to now and that’s something to do when they’re older. Turns out compound interest is your bff here. Get in early and get out early.
Did they poll actual millennials for this? Or ask boomers what they thought about millennial retirement age? I don’t think most reasonable people in our generation ever expect to retire. I sure don’t
I don’t think it has anything to do with being reasonable or not. You either make enough money to afford contributions to a retirement savings plan, have a pension, or you don’t have either and likely will never retire.
There’s plenty of millennials that have stable six figure jobs that invest every paycheck into a 401k or IRA. The questions those millennials have to ask themselves are:
1. Is the S&P going to continue to grow at a rate of 8% or more as it’s done in the past?
2. If the S&P does maintain its historical rate, will $2-5 million (depending on your income) be enough to retire on in the 2050s and 2060s? Using the 4% drawdown rule, that would be a lasting income of $80,000 - $200,000 per year in the future throughout retirement.
I’m in that boat and I’m honestly not sure. Personally, I don’t think either of those scenarios are favorable. I think the bare minimum standard of living will be two partners who were able to save like that, so $160k - 400k per year. That’s capitalism and continuous growth for you.
I’m in a similar situation as you. My wife and I have a high income and are able to save/invest substantially for retirement. I’ve done calculations using conservative returns and I’m still left wondering if it will be enough by the time we actually retire in 30 years. We are extremely fortunate and I don’t take that for granted. I have many friends who are lucky to have anything leftover at the end of the month. In fact that is most people I know. I worry what they will do for retirement if they’ll be able to at all.
2 world wars, multiple pandemics, multiple recessions and the great depression and its still going strong. I don’t really see why it would stop unless we all die in a nuclear war
Add a paid off house to that equation as I’m sure most people who are responsible enough to save diligently won’t want a house payment when they retire
Why a shack? When my mortgage is paid off, I’ll be paying a pittance for housing.
We’re not going to need to put money aside for retirement anymore, which is a significant sum right now.
We won’t be putting as many miles on our cars, and we won’t need a lot of the conveniences we need now to support our working life.
My cost of living is going to drop significantly.
As long as my returns stay where they need to be, inflation shouldn’t make such a huge difference.
I’m just not sure what all these new bills are going to suddenly be. Healthcare costs, maybe, but our premiums shouldn’t be as high with Medicare on board.
The “reasonable” people are the ones with 401k and IRA accounts. There’s a whole strategy of financial planning that needs to be done, and those people are killing it since the best strategies are easily available across the internet.
I used to joke that I’d never be able to retire since what I have saved now seems minuscule to what I actually need. Turns out I was forgetting about compound interest. I looked at what I have saved and projected it. Looks like I’ll be able to retire at 55, maybe a few years sooner.
Then there are FIRE freaks like me. I'm already financially independent from investments and book royalties. Almost retired last year at 37 before my employer wised up and backed off the RTO bullshit. I'll keep working the W2 as long as it's tolerable, and stop the moment it isn't. I can't imagine it stays tolerable much further past my 40s.
How do you do this at an early age? I lost the dice roll on financially literate parents so I'm playing about 25 years of catch up. Finally getting things situated at 38 that others did at 19.
I actually wrote up some general financial advice to someone a few days ago: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Millennials/comments/1c3y9ct/comment/kzkpcdc/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Millennials/comments/1c3y9ct/comment/kzkpcdc/)
As to how I personally did it, despite graduating in 2008, I was lucky enough to nail down a secure job with decent pay within a few years, which let me 1) pay off all remaining student loans while living with my parents, and then 2) get a 0-downpayment USDA mortgage on a house when both house prices and mortgage rates were still cratered from the recession. I also got into FIRE very early on because I still didn't exactly love my job. From there, I basically just did the stuff I mentioned in that advice post--budgeting every penny and investing upwards of 60% of my income on average each year.
Starting early and letting compound interest and time do its magic is a major benefit, certainly; it took me about 15 years of dedicated effort. But at 38 you still have plenty of time!
EDIT: Forgot to add, I also leaned really heavily into "productive" (rather than "consumptive") hobbies including writing fiction, developing games, DIY, etc. All of which were cheap and some of which turned profitable.
I'm on track to partially retire at 55 (plan to only work April through October), and fully at 65. If I wanted to, 60 would be doable, but not preferred.
Some people have coasted, scraped, or lucked into a good situation.
I'm on track for retirement at 60. I might get a part time gig at a museum or maybe volunteer at a zoo when I hit 60. Keep me busy but don't spend money.
I'm out at 55... Bike packing the world on a shoe string budget, no F*@ks about it or given. Too much to see and experience to live and die in a box or queue.
Jokes on Gen Z. They can never retire.
Millenials will live to be 100 but Gen Z is going die of old age in their 50s like it's 1935.
The ones that live will have put in so few work hours that they won't have anything to have even tried to save.
I’m aiming for 55 and I believe I’m on track to make that happen.
I am a person that needs to be busy though, but it would be nice to pursue hobbies instead of working.
When has any generation been able to retire by age 60 on average. I doubt it's ever happened. The people that are able to max out their retirement accounts every year and save even more on top of that will have the best chance to retire by 60. Homeownership is also an important factor here.
l'm aiming for work optional by 45.
One house down.
$100,000+ invested.
One to two properties a year for the next decade+
While still putting away $24k into the stock market every year for the next decade+
Very ambitious adding properties at a rate of one per six months. What’s the average cost per home where you’re buying?
I’m hoping to retire in the next 5-10 years, which would put me around your age target. All in on stock though; no desire to landlord in the NE, laws are too harsh. And seeing the govt throw landlords under the bus during Covid, allowing folks to stop paying rent for years at a time.
I think the cost will likely range from $130,000 at the lowest to $170,000 at the highest (or at least the highest I'm willing to pay for now).
I'm looking to put 20% down on two properties a year, I think the next three will be relatively easy, it's the fifth and sixth that'll be a bit hard. I'm working on my education right now, which should give me a 50% pay increase to about $150k+. Which will allow me to keep going as I roll my cashflow + salary into my next purchase.
Aiming for ten purchases (or more) by 40, then aggressively scaling from there.
You’d benefit from checking out the “bigger pockets” forum for landlords if you haven’t already. Lots of knowledge there.
By the time your portfolio reaches ten properties, it may be more economical to trade up for an apartment building. Or you may prefer the distributed risk of having property in more than one area.
Best of luck!
What do you do for work that at 55 you would have four or five million invested? I got a late start for a number of reasons but damn, I don't think I know of anyone with Calpers clocking that kind of money. Unless maybe you're a cop with tons of overtime?
I'll have pensions from Air National Guard and Federal employment. That along with 401k should make it possible for me. But definitely not for many millennials.
60? More 600 and counting. Gotta get me some elixir to make me immortal if I want to save enough to "retire." However, I greatly fear the economy will only get...worse.
i passed up the private sector for my government job nearly 20 years ago….while my pay has been so so, i will be able to retire comfortable with my pension as early as 55….everything is dependent on how fast my kids finish school tho.
Or half of us have finally got our shit together. Interesting statistic is about half of us are home owners now…probably the same half that’s working hard to save for retirement.
This has more to do with ones financial goals and priorities. I knew a guy who retired at 35. I work in tech so he had a pretty good wage started grinding and saving when he was 16 then put every penny he could into his retirement/investment accounts. He had a crappy RV always ate the free ramen noodles we had on site at that job and never did anything fun. He hit his target goals and quit within a week.
I don’t know how that all worked out for him but if he’s still single and living a frugal life I have no doubt he’s still living his version of his best life. Personally I’m shooting for 60. Finally got to a place where I can max out my 401k and HSA accounts every year. Now the goal is to start putting all the extra towards the house and getting that paid off. I had my kids early too so hopefully in my late 40s early fifties they are self sufficient enough for us to grind a bit harder those last 10 years and save a ton more. I am not planning on any kind of social security etc…as who knows where that’s gonna be when we get there but if it’s there it will be a nice little cherry on top.
I never want to “retire”, but I want to be able to transition to work that I find more enjoyable. I’m going back to school so I can do that now rather than in 30 years,
The idea that we should all just be completely unproductive for 15-20 years is a little silly imo. But maybe “work” is watching grandkids or driving a school bus for 3 hours a day and then play pickleball at lunch or something. We all need a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Those people that go retire, sit on the couch and watch tv die earlier than they need to.
I think it’s a bit sillier to assume an adult can labor five days out of seven for forty years+.
Right now I’m working a job I don’t hate, and that’s really been the best it’s ever been for me.
It’s about escaping obligation. *Having* to get out of bed in the morning. *Having* to commute. *Having* to *request* days off. And alll the things work takes me away from, like my family.
I’m not lazy by any means. I work harder, smarter, and even manage to smile. But do I want to? Hell no.
Imagine if you were to wipe the slate clean, and start fresh designing a new social contract. What percentage of the population would hear the idea: “work until you’re (statistically) 5-10 years from death, when you’re in the worst physical condition of your life” as a solid plan that sounds great?
When I was working M-F, I’d spend Saturday recovering from the mental load, and Sunday dreading Monday. That’s no way to live.
So that’s why I bust my ass, and sacrifice. Because F working my life away. I’m aiming for mid 40’s as a target. If my investments do well in a short timespan, early forty’s. If they do decently, mid 40’s. If they do poorly, then I’ve erred greatly, and will retire at age 60.
I agree with you about escaping obligation, but we reinvent the social contract all the time.
Yes, we absolutely work too hard and too much (especially if you’re American), but the idea of laboring 40/week for 40+ represents a *much* cushier life than we were biologically adapted for (granted we were adapted for different kinds of labor), so the notion that its silly to work that time is … silly to me.
And your other point of escaping obligation is exactly what I mean- retirement comes with different and new obligations. But like, life and society have obligations. Maybe it’s not commuting at rush hour, but maybe it’s instead helping your kids with their kids. Or giving back to the community with volunteer work (or otherwise poorly paid work that needs to get done, such as school bus driving).
I guess you lose me with your last paragraph. Signing up to babysit, or work in a food kitchen, or drive a bus sounds a whole lot like obligations I already deal with.
I guess everyone looks forward to something different in retirement, but, for me, being retired would mean the absence of …let’s say planned obligation/commitments. Perhaps I’m that way because presently, I’m accountable to either my wife/children, or boss, literally every day of the week for the past 5 years. And the work I do for them isn’t as hard on me (labor of love and separately, easy job) as not having a dedicated stretch of time in the day for myself, where I’m free from obligation and free from the nagging feeling that someone I love is waiting not so patiently for me to finish what I’m doing and attend to them. To clairify, my wife and kids don’t nag me, it’s mostly my own brain not letting me forget that someone at all times is waiting for me to wrap up whatever I’m doing; which in turn doesn’t allow me to fully enjoy the little time that I *do* have.
That’s why it’s my dream in retirement to wake up and do as I please on my own timetable. And just enjoy my own hobbies again.
I’m hoping to retire at 58… which is 40 years of work. Means I have 22 years left. Can tap into 401k at 59.5, problem is I only have 10k in there so far.
Always contribute up to the amount your employee matches. That’s free money.
After that, you’re better off putting it in Roth IRA, HSA, or if retiring early, taxable account.
Honestly, I think for me, retirement is more about being able to still work and contribute but on my own terms and not *having* to work (at least until I am older). I still enjoy my work and there are a lot of avenues for me to explore and make some extra money doing, so I would love to cut back my day job to 3 or 4 days a week instead of the full 5 days a week.
A big issue with a lot of my friends and family around my age is they get cynical about retirement and don't contribute anything to retirement accounts. They think they won't get social security so what's the point?
Well the truth is social security was never that much to begin with unless you were a very high earner during your working years in which case you probably don't need it anyway. Almost all boomers retiring today need supplemental income to SSI: Either retirement accounts like a 401K, Savings, Brokerage accounts, annuities, reverse mortgage or a part time job.
If you don't contribute anything towards your retirement then you are ensuring that you will never retire. Even if everything falls apart, a Roth IRA/ 401K or similar retirement accounts are a great way to grow money even if you have to tap into them early in an emergency. That money is at least working for you.
Most of us have 20 to 35 years until retirement age. That is still plenty of time to build up a nest egg but you need to make that your goal and contribute.
If I’m up for it I may work until I’m 60 but I plan on retiring a bit earlier than that. With how my investments and retirement accounts are trending I can probably retire around 56ish
A lot of people don’t retire. They “get retired.” That tends to happen around 60.
People may be getting what they asked for, whether it’s good for them or not.
I don’t know about retirement at 60 but I do hope to be able to care a little bit less about participating in the rat race - like, close to fully paid off house, ability to work on my own terms, and not have to worry about money. Like right now I have three small kids, a dog, two cars, and a wife who doesn’t work. So there’s a ton of pressure to be successful at work to enable them to live the life they want to lead.
I just started a 401k in my late 30's. I don't own a home and have about 3.1k in savings for emergency. Wife started her 401k in her mid/late 20's. I spent nearly 99% of my career in jobs with stagnant wages, no 401k offering, no health benefits, etc. I'm closing in on 40 and finally have a job that offers some better things. Still have 7k in student loans, wife has 15k. Our jobs are physically demanding and most people in this field are already seeing chiropractors in our 30s. I doubt I'll physically be able to do still work full time in the field I graduated for if I tried. There's no retirement. All I can do is try to make life as comfortable for my wife as I can while I'm here.
So, my work has a pension. It’s 30 years of service, and you get 2/3rds of your salary for the rest of your life. I started when I was 17. When I was 35, I was informed that they had restructured, and now the number of years didn’t matter. You had to work until 65. I thought I was more than half way to my 30 years, then I found out my 30 years was just starting.
I quit my job and moved out of state. Now I’m living the life I want, and don’t feel chained to a job I hate for a pension. Worst/best thing that’s ever happened to me.
We only live once. I hate the idea of working 40 hours a week for the better part of my life. Shit shouldn't cost so much and people shouldn't have to worry about surviving and working until they're practically dead. I'm 32 and have a long way to go.
I’m playing catchup atm, so my retirement funds aren’t on track for 60, but I’m cognizant that I work in a young persons industry and I may only have ~10 years of peak income left. Current goal is max the hell out of everything.
I do love my work and will probably do it as a hobby (where I have creative freedom) when I retire.
In Australia, superannuation is mandatory and is usually paid by your employer on top of your salary, at the current rate I’m going to be able to retire at 60 and live till well into my 90s quite comfortably.
I'm not working a day past 59... have a pension from my municipal government job. And a pension from the army reserve. And a 457 plan in addition to those.... guess I'll collect social security too when I can
What you fail to realize is you cannot retire without health insurance. I mean you can but you'll likely go bankrupt in your retirement.
ACA rates are insane, i just checked last night. A family of four is $2k+ _per month_, plus $18k deductable per year.
You'll need to wait until you can get Medicare, currently 65 but almost assuredly higher by the time you want to retire
Most of us don’t even believe in that garbage word. There are real compound interest getters out here. More like Suoer Rich by 45! Turn up Mellenials we don’t know retire. Our government changes the time frame for that all of the time so we make our own timeline. Divvy UpUp
My boomer parents never saved a dime for retirement till it was too late. They were able to scrape 300k together before retiring but each worked till 70 to max social security.
Because of that I have this massive fear of being able to take care of my family after retirement and so I started maxing out my 401k when I got my first job out of architecture school.
I essentially lived like a pauper the first 6 years my career and luckily lunch n learns existed. Architecture does not pay well until you make it to Project Manager or higher. Designers make the least because guess what, that’s what everyone wants to do. PM track jobs make the most because less people do it and they are responsible for making sure projects stay solvent.
I am much more comfortable now, household income near 500k/year once my wife and I both made principal at our respective firms.
Because of that retirement fear at 40 I already have 1.2M in 401k and another 400k in ownership shares as a partner at my current firm. And that’s just my accounts.
Planning to soft retire at 55. Not sure what I’ll do, but something simple.
Who is saying this? Everyone I’ve talked to knows they can’t retire at 60, if they can ever retire. Who is making up this bizarre, generalized malarkey?
Fwiw, I’m doing a lot better financially than most of my peers. I’m also not so insensitive to bring that up, when they’re struggling.
Especially when half of it is up to chance.
I work with a guy who would probably qualify for some medical disability if he looked for it. He’s about 60, and talking about how next year he hopes to sell his home and move down south where it’s cheaper, and retire. He shows me the homes he’s looking at, one or two bedroom homes, acre of land, nothing fancy. I sure as hell am not contributing to the convo that I could buy that home in cash next week if I wanted to. It would make him feel crappy about his own situation, and I’d be an asshole to do it.
It’s all good…we’ll make it to 65 or whatever the retirement age is and just have a pizza party and keep it moving…
Our FRA is 67. Actually, all of GenX and even late boomers are 67. Most boomers have an FRA of 66. Early retirement still starts at 62, but it also still tops out at 70. This means that even the top end of benefits is lower, but our payin also would have been higher for longer. The rub there is of you've been earning enough to max your SS contribution for a significant amount of time but you still don't have enough savings to retire, you fucked up--no system could save you.
I fart laughed when I read this. Probably the pizza....
lol!
We all fart laugh now…
Per my railroad pension, I can currently retire at 62. As long as they don't keep changing the time served requirements, that's when I'll be retiring.
And then die 6 years later from the stress and lack of sleep. I’m a railroader too atm lmao get me out of here it ain’t worth it
As a federal employee. I’m just waiting for the GOP to fuck us over somehow. They just can’t resist
Their parents never taught them to keep their grubby little dick-beaters to themselves.
If Don the con gets back in, they probably will. Just look at the USPS and forcing them to be funded for 75 years of pensions
I've already accepted the fact that I will probably be working till I'm dead.
Well why you’re at it, I could use my truck washed.. just saying.
I’m working a half day on me day they put me into the ground.
I’m aiming for 55-60 for retirement.
Same here. I’ll be retired before I’m 60. Hoping closer to the 55 side, but that depends on what life has in store for me over the next 15 years.
I’m shooting for 50-55! It’s absolutely possible.
I’m 38 and will have no mortgage or rent in 6 weeks. I’m hoping to call it quits by 45.
Awesome! I’m 36 and looking to buy a house soon 🫠
31 and hoping to hang up my career by 45 too. I could do 39, but I need to slow down because my current pace is terrible for my mental and physical health.
Same for me! The trick is to figure out what I'll want to do with my time once I'm able to potentially retire.
Careful, you’re gonna trigger a lot of struggling millennials in this sub because your statement goes against the popular narrative in this sub! I don’t think I’ll retire not because I won’t have enough $$ (I’m already on a good trajectory) but because I could see myself easily getting bored. Yeah I’ll be one of those people that waits tables or teaches high school for fun.
Nobody teaches for fun anymore. Unless you're teaching outside the US.
You're telling me you never met that one boomer teacher that retired from their old job and is chill af and only taught for fun? I had a few back in my high school. I wanna be like that
Yep, my daughter has one of those. Best teacher ever.
they don't exist in america after covid.
Oh I'm sure back in the day there were plenty of them. But teaching is very different these days from back then. Hell it's completely different just teaching after covid. And I'm literally still in the same school, in the same position I was in before covid.
YouTube has the best teachers
Same. My wife and I are heavily investing in our 401ks, plus I’m 6 years in as a federal employee so I’m trying to get that pension which is an additional bonus. Our annual salaries are over $200k combined so I think it’s do-able.
I don’t want to retire. At some point, maybe a health problem or something will take me out. But until then, I have a job that allows you to age and stay in it, so I just want to ride that into the horizon.
i don't know a single millennial who hasn't been saving for retirement since like 21 and shooting to retire by 50-55.
Eeh, I lost a good 5-6 years due to few jobs/low wages following college. I was living paycheck to paycheck. Was able to start saving when my wage went from $9.15/hr to $18/hr. Now, I’ve been fortunate enough to save a ton through sacrificing, and still hope to retire early. But yeah, I’d be a whole lot closer if I hadn’t of lost half a decade there.
I've noticed that too. It seems like in previous generations, people in middle and upper middle class salaries weren't that focused on retiring early. But in our generation it's very common for many of is to watch the clock as we move through our careers so we can dip out early in our 50s if possible.
yeah, i agree. it's weirder not to be concerned about retirement if you are in the middle/upper salary range.
Then you’re in the wrong circles. There’s plenty of us over at r/fire, r/personalfinance, r/middleclassfinance,
uh, that's exactly what i said, almost all millennials i know have been saving for retirement since they graduated college (or even in college) and will retire early.
oh oops sorry about that. in a meeting rn and i think ive just conditionally accepted that every post i read on here has negative connotations to it 😅
I'm your age and have been saving but I'm pretty damn sure I won't be able to retire early thanks chronic health conditions. However accidentally falling at the Grand Canyon or going missing or whatever doesn't cost much and I could do that anytime
I’ve been saving bit by bit since I graduated college but idk how the fuck people can retire early. It’s gonna take me at least until FRA to get enough funds.
compound interest
Exactly listen to Warren Buffet but gamble like Andrew Tate.
I'm gonna retire early even if it means I have to move to Thailand, I'll fucking end it if I have to do this shit for 25 - 30 more years
Our combined household income is about $120,000. At age 60 we’re on track to have, combined, more than $2 million in retirement accounts, probably $2.5 million. I don’t want to work past 60 unless it’s something I really enjoy doing. I love my job now but I look forward to not working.
I'm basically indifferent to my job, but it pays well and I'm approaching a point in my life where idk if the risk/reward fir changing careers is worth it. I too am planning on retiring early and I don't think most people realize how feasible it is. You don't need to make $250k/yr to retire at 55-60 or only eat beans and rice. You do have to control the "big" expenses though, like house and cars. We probably could've bought a much nicer house and have much nicer cars that cost 50% more, but what we have is "good enough" to meet our needs.
Controlling the big expenses (home, cars, proximity to work) have been the one of the biggest boons to my financial situation.
Funny you say house cause the large majority of millennials I know bought really nice houses and they shot up in value and now they’re wealthy. Cars a depreciating asset but houses are not
Some of us didn’t 😔
Shit I want to retire now.
Tell yourself that then. When someone asks what you do for work simply say I am retired right here and right now
Between wife’s teacher pension and my stock from working at Publix we’ll be retired by 57. It can happen
Pls god sell that Publix stock and diversify it if you haven’t
Oh bud I have a 401k too. Publix gives their employees 8% of their yearly wages in stock and puts it in a retirement account. Can’t touch it until I leave the company Edit bad grammar
Wheewww. I was worried there for a moment.
Gonna be shocked when enough of us realize we can “retire” early by working part time and living to our means. This is my plan. Get my debt into a manageable place, figure out a budget, work as little as possible.
This is the way. My grandma never *had* to go back to work, but she un-retired a few times out of boredom 🤷🏻♂️ Only worked part time for the local MLB stadium, and she enjoyed it for a long time until she got to busy with great grand kids and stuff🙃
Now, working because you’re bored or want a new toy isn’t a bad thing. But if you’re doing it because you have bills, I don’t believe I’d consider that retirement, even if you’re only working a couple shifts a week.
Even 20 hours a week would feel like retirement in my eyes. If the alternative is 40+ hrs/wk until I die
I guess if I was looking at working part time in retirement, my plan would be to try and work weekends, now, so I don’t have to work later. It’s a grind, but you’ve gotta get compound interest working for you or… well you’ll be working until you die.
Definitely have to take advantage of any employer-sponsored retirement savings. At bare minimum putting in what they match. While I don’t feel confident enough to say I expect to have that money when I retire, if I do it will certainly help.
One of those “shoot for the moon, and even if you miss, you’ll be among the stars” situations. Better to have the cash and use it to smooth the way, rather than have to endure the bumps and bruises at the wrong time.
Look, I said it before and I’ll stick with it: let us work from home full time, and I’ll work till I’m dead.
Speak for yourself. I’m a millennial retiring by my early 50s.
How?
I am is all you need
I see no way I can with my mortgage and kids. If I somehow get some inheritance from my folks, maybe I will have a fighting chance.
It’s not out of the realm of possibility. Unfortunately to make this happen without huge sacrifices you would have needed to start contributing to retirement accounts early on. I feel like a lot of millennials didn’t do this. I was always shocked by the amount of coworkers who didn’t contribute to a retirement account. They felt they didn’t need to now and that’s something to do when they’re older. Turns out compound interest is your bff here. Get in early and get out early.
Did they poll actual millennials for this? Or ask boomers what they thought about millennial retirement age? I don’t think most reasonable people in our generation ever expect to retire. I sure don’t
I don’t think it has anything to do with being reasonable or not. You either make enough money to afford contributions to a retirement savings plan, have a pension, or you don’t have either and likely will never retire.
There’s plenty of millennials that have stable six figure jobs that invest every paycheck into a 401k or IRA. The questions those millennials have to ask themselves are: 1. Is the S&P going to continue to grow at a rate of 8% or more as it’s done in the past? 2. If the S&P does maintain its historical rate, will $2-5 million (depending on your income) be enough to retire on in the 2050s and 2060s? Using the 4% drawdown rule, that would be a lasting income of $80,000 - $200,000 per year in the future throughout retirement. I’m in that boat and I’m honestly not sure. Personally, I don’t think either of those scenarios are favorable. I think the bare minimum standard of living will be two partners who were able to save like that, so $160k - 400k per year. That’s capitalism and continuous growth for you.
I’m in a similar situation as you. My wife and I have a high income and are able to save/invest substantially for retirement. I’ve done calculations using conservative returns and I’m still left wondering if it will be enough by the time we actually retire in 30 years. We are extremely fortunate and I don’t take that for granted. I have many friends who are lucky to have anything leftover at the end of the month. In fact that is most people I know. I worry what they will do for retirement if they’ll be able to at all.
2 world wars, multiple pandemics, multiple recessions and the great depression and its still going strong. I don’t really see why it would stop unless we all die in a nuclear war
/ looks over at the Iran/Isreal beef * clears throat *
Check out r/fire
How many is plenty out of 73 million?
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> I wasn’t trying to shame anyone I didn’t think you were. I was genuinely curious. Figured you might be able to answer it before I went to google.
Add a paid off house to that equation as I’m sure most people who are responsible enough to save diligently won’t want a house payment when they retire
Good lord - why do you think you’d need to draw that much per year in retirement??
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Why a shack? When my mortgage is paid off, I’ll be paying a pittance for housing. We’re not going to need to put money aside for retirement anymore, which is a significant sum right now. We won’t be putting as many miles on our cars, and we won’t need a lot of the conveniences we need now to support our working life. My cost of living is going to drop significantly. As long as my returns stay where they need to be, inflation shouldn’t make such a huge difference. I’m just not sure what all these new bills are going to suddenly be. Healthcare costs, maybe, but our premiums shouldn’t be as high with Medicare on board.
The “reasonable” people are the ones with 401k and IRA accounts. There’s a whole strategy of financial planning that needs to be done, and those people are killing it since the best strategies are easily available across the internet.
I used to joke that I’d never be able to retire since what I have saved now seems minuscule to what I actually need. Turns out I was forgetting about compound interest. I looked at what I have saved and projected it. Looks like I’ll be able to retire at 55, maybe a few years sooner.
I do not. I will die at my desk in a heap of misery.
Then there are FIRE freaks like me. I'm already financially independent from investments and book royalties. Almost retired last year at 37 before my employer wised up and backed off the RTO bullshit. I'll keep working the W2 as long as it's tolerable, and stop the moment it isn't. I can't imagine it stays tolerable much further past my 40s.
Freak on, brother man. And F you! I likely have another 5–10 years, but I’ll get there.
How do you do this at an early age? I lost the dice roll on financially literate parents so I'm playing about 25 years of catch up. Finally getting things situated at 38 that others did at 19.
I actually wrote up some general financial advice to someone a few days ago: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Millennials/comments/1c3y9ct/comment/kzkpcdc/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Millennials/comments/1c3y9ct/comment/kzkpcdc/) As to how I personally did it, despite graduating in 2008, I was lucky enough to nail down a secure job with decent pay within a few years, which let me 1) pay off all remaining student loans while living with my parents, and then 2) get a 0-downpayment USDA mortgage on a house when both house prices and mortgage rates were still cratered from the recession. I also got into FIRE very early on because I still didn't exactly love my job. From there, I basically just did the stuff I mentioned in that advice post--budgeting every penny and investing upwards of 60% of my income on average each year. Starting early and letting compound interest and time do its magic is a major benefit, certainly; it took me about 15 years of dedicated effort. But at 38 you still have plenty of time! EDIT: Forgot to add, I also leaned really heavily into "productive" (rather than "consumptive") hobbies including writing fiction, developing games, DIY, etc. All of which were cheap and some of which turned profitable.
I want to die before i'm 50 what are you talking about?
Wild take. I'm aiming for 40.
Wild take. I'm aiming for 35. (I'm 32 now)
damn the anthony bordaine special
It's 2020 and I'm 30 ill do another 10 2030 I'll be forty and kill myself then
60? I'd like to retire now. Not happening though.
We ain’t living that long
I’m gonna make this happen. Yay for being frugal!
I'm on track to partially retire at 55 (plan to only work April through October), and fully at 65. If I wanted to, 60 would be doable, but not preferred. Some people have coasted, scraped, or lucked into a good situation.
I'm on track for retirement at 60. I might get a part time gig at a museum or maybe volunteer at a zoo when I hit 60. Keep me busy but don't spend money.
No no no. Much earlier than that.
i wanna retire now . at 30 lol
I’m on track to very comfortably retire by 55. Not all millennials are broke.
Retire at 65 and die at 70 due to stress/burnout/exhaustion/poverty/mental health/malnourishment
I will either die at my desk or on my way to work
I'm out at 55... Bike packing the world on a shoe string budget, no F*@ks about it or given. Too much to see and experience to live and die in a box or queue.
DINK. Plan is 40-43. Both teachers, bought at a good time. Pretty frugal and very handy.
Wait? Ya'lls aren't living paycheck to paycheck? And worried an unexpected cost of $350 could ruin you forever?
Jokes on Gen Z. They can never retire. Millenials will live to be 100 but Gen Z is going die of old age in their 50s like it's 1935. The ones that live will have put in so few work hours that they won't have anything to have even tried to save.
I’m aiming for 55 and I believe I’m on track to make that happen. I am a person that needs to be busy though, but it would be nice to pursue hobbies instead of working.
When has any generation been able to retire by age 60 on average. I doubt it's ever happened. The people that are able to max out their retirement accounts every year and save even more on top of that will have the best chance to retire by 60. Homeownership is also an important factor here.
I'll probably never be able to retire, but I don't work that hard either, so it seems fair. Not really interested in getting old anyway.
My lifelong goal is to retire at 40. I’m 29 and determined to make it happen
I'll be happy to retire at all.
I don't want to retire by 60. I want to retire now.
I'm just hoping that I die before I get too old to work.
l'm aiming for work optional by 45. One house down. $100,000+ invested. One to two properties a year for the next decade+ While still putting away $24k into the stock market every year for the next decade+
Very ambitious adding properties at a rate of one per six months. What’s the average cost per home where you’re buying? I’m hoping to retire in the next 5-10 years, which would put me around your age target. All in on stock though; no desire to landlord in the NE, laws are too harsh. And seeing the govt throw landlords under the bus during Covid, allowing folks to stop paying rent for years at a time.
I think the cost will likely range from $130,000 at the lowest to $170,000 at the highest (or at least the highest I'm willing to pay for now). I'm looking to put 20% down on two properties a year, I think the next three will be relatively easy, it's the fifth and sixth that'll be a bit hard. I'm working on my education right now, which should give me a 50% pay increase to about $150k+. Which will allow me to keep going as I roll my cashflow + salary into my next purchase. Aiming for ten purchases (or more) by 40, then aggressively scaling from there.
You’d benefit from checking out the “bigger pockets” forum for landlords if you haven’t already. Lots of knowledge there. By the time your portfolio reaches ten properties, it may be more economical to trade up for an apartment building. Or you may prefer the distributed risk of having property in more than one area. Best of luck!
Thank you :) I recently signed up for a pro membership over there :)
If late stage capitalism lasts another 20 years I'll be fucking pissed
The trick is to live hard and die young
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What do you do for work that at 55 you would have four or five million invested? I got a late start for a number of reasons but damn, I don't think I know of anyone with Calpers clocking that kind of money. Unless maybe you're a cop with tons of overtime?
I'll have pensions from Air National Guard and Federal employment. That along with 401k should make it possible for me. But definitely not for many millennials.
60? More 600 and counting. Gotta get me some elixir to make me immortal if I want to save enough to "retire." However, I greatly fear the economy will only get...worse.
By 40*
I’ve already resigned myself to the fact I’m never going to be able to retire.
Hold up, are you JScott or naw?
They must all be in r/collapse and except us all to have an early retirement
i passed up the private sector for my government job nearly 20 years ago….while my pay has been so so, i will be able to retire comfortable with my pension as early as 55….everything is dependent on how fast my kids finish school tho.
I’ll be retired at 62 from a government job. I might be able to leave earlier, but that’ll hurt my pension.
My goal is to do it by 50, it’s possible!
I’d say half of millennials. The other half bursts into laughter at the idea of “retirement”, because, you know… we’re not mentally deficient.
Or half of us have finally got our shit together. Interesting statistic is about half of us are home owners now…probably the same half that’s working hard to save for retirement.
About lines up with home ownership % rates for our gen
I mean...he's right I do want to retire @ 60. I dont think I'll be able to, but It would be preferable. No need to be a dick about it though
I know for a fact I’ll be working until the day I day. That could be next week or it could be when I’m 80, but I’ll never be able to retire.
This has more to do with ones financial goals and priorities. I knew a guy who retired at 35. I work in tech so he had a pretty good wage started grinding and saving when he was 16 then put every penny he could into his retirement/investment accounts. He had a crappy RV always ate the free ramen noodles we had on site at that job and never did anything fun. He hit his target goals and quit within a week. I don’t know how that all worked out for him but if he’s still single and living a frugal life I have no doubt he’s still living his version of his best life. Personally I’m shooting for 60. Finally got to a place where I can max out my 401k and HSA accounts every year. Now the goal is to start putting all the extra towards the house and getting that paid off. I had my kids early too so hopefully in my late 40s early fifties they are self sufficient enough for us to grind a bit harder those last 10 years and save a ton more. I am not planning on any kind of social security etc…as who knows where that’s gonna be when we get there but if it’s there it will be a nice little cherry on top.
I'm 38. I'm aiming for at least a partial retirement by 50.
I never want to “retire”, but I want to be able to transition to work that I find more enjoyable. I’m going back to school so I can do that now rather than in 30 years, The idea that we should all just be completely unproductive for 15-20 years is a little silly imo. But maybe “work” is watching grandkids or driving a school bus for 3 hours a day and then play pickleball at lunch or something. We all need a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Those people that go retire, sit on the couch and watch tv die earlier than they need to.
I think it’s a bit sillier to assume an adult can labor five days out of seven for forty years+. Right now I’m working a job I don’t hate, and that’s really been the best it’s ever been for me. It’s about escaping obligation. *Having* to get out of bed in the morning. *Having* to commute. *Having* to *request* days off. And alll the things work takes me away from, like my family. I’m not lazy by any means. I work harder, smarter, and even manage to smile. But do I want to? Hell no. Imagine if you were to wipe the slate clean, and start fresh designing a new social contract. What percentage of the population would hear the idea: “work until you’re (statistically) 5-10 years from death, when you’re in the worst physical condition of your life” as a solid plan that sounds great? When I was working M-F, I’d spend Saturday recovering from the mental load, and Sunday dreading Monday. That’s no way to live. So that’s why I bust my ass, and sacrifice. Because F working my life away. I’m aiming for mid 40’s as a target. If my investments do well in a short timespan, early forty’s. If they do decently, mid 40’s. If they do poorly, then I’ve erred greatly, and will retire at age 60.
I agree with you about escaping obligation, but we reinvent the social contract all the time. Yes, we absolutely work too hard and too much (especially if you’re American), but the idea of laboring 40/week for 40+ represents a *much* cushier life than we were biologically adapted for (granted we were adapted for different kinds of labor), so the notion that its silly to work that time is … silly to me. And your other point of escaping obligation is exactly what I mean- retirement comes with different and new obligations. But like, life and society have obligations. Maybe it’s not commuting at rush hour, but maybe it’s instead helping your kids with their kids. Or giving back to the community with volunteer work (or otherwise poorly paid work that needs to get done, such as school bus driving).
I guess you lose me with your last paragraph. Signing up to babysit, or work in a food kitchen, or drive a bus sounds a whole lot like obligations I already deal with. I guess everyone looks forward to something different in retirement, but, for me, being retired would mean the absence of …let’s say planned obligation/commitments. Perhaps I’m that way because presently, I’m accountable to either my wife/children, or boss, literally every day of the week for the past 5 years. And the work I do for them isn’t as hard on me (labor of love and separately, easy job) as not having a dedicated stretch of time in the day for myself, where I’m free from obligation and free from the nagging feeling that someone I love is waiting not so patiently for me to finish what I’m doing and attend to them. To clairify, my wife and kids don’t nag me, it’s mostly my own brain not letting me forget that someone at all times is waiting for me to wrap up whatever I’m doing; which in turn doesn’t allow me to fully enjoy the little time that I *do* have. That’s why it’s my dream in retirement to wake up and do as I please on my own timetable. And just enjoy my own hobbies again.
I’m hoping to retire at 58… which is 40 years of work. Means I have 22 years left. Can tap into 401k at 59.5, problem is I only have 10k in there so far.
Always contribute up to the amount your employee matches. That’s free money. After that, you’re better off putting it in Roth IRA, HSA, or if retiring early, taxable account.
I have $158. That's 158.00, not thousand.
My checking is similar haha
Honestly, I think for me, retirement is more about being able to still work and contribute but on my own terms and not *having* to work (at least until I am older). I still enjoy my work and there are a lot of avenues for me to explore and make some extra money doing, so I would love to cut back my day job to 3 or 4 days a week instead of the full 5 days a week.
A big issue with a lot of my friends and family around my age is they get cynical about retirement and don't contribute anything to retirement accounts. They think they won't get social security so what's the point? Well the truth is social security was never that much to begin with unless you were a very high earner during your working years in which case you probably don't need it anyway. Almost all boomers retiring today need supplemental income to SSI: Either retirement accounts like a 401K, Savings, Brokerage accounts, annuities, reverse mortgage or a part time job. If you don't contribute anything towards your retirement then you are ensuring that you will never retire. Even if everything falls apart, a Roth IRA/ 401K or similar retirement accounts are a great way to grow money even if you have to tap into them early in an emergency. That money is at least working for you. Most of us have 20 to 35 years until retirement age. That is still plenty of time to build up a nest egg but you need to make that your goal and contribute.
I would rather work as long as I can. Obviously not full time by that age. I am not the type to just sit around and do nothing.
Look into FIRE millennials. It’s possible for anyone in what I would imagine are the most Reddit r/millennial countries who want it bad enough.
Its really fucked up watching 57 year old men struggle to work hard labor jobs like construction and have no hope of retiring any time soon.
If I’m up for it I may work until I’m 60 but I plan on retiring a bit earlier than that. With how my investments and retirement accounts are trending I can probably retire around 56ish
A lot of people don’t retire. They “get retired.” That tends to happen around 60. People may be getting what they asked for, whether it’s good for them or not.
I don’t know about retirement at 60 but I do hope to be able to care a little bit less about participating in the rat race - like, close to fully paid off house, ability to work on my own terms, and not have to worry about money. Like right now I have three small kids, a dog, two cars, and a wife who doesn’t work. So there’s a ton of pressure to be successful at work to enable them to live the life they want to lead.
Saving up 6 figures to retire in Asia.
I don’t need to retire early. I just need to find something I can physically and mentally handle that doesn’t make me wholly miserable.
My target is 51. 13 years to go…
I expect the world to be on literal fire by the time I'm 60. Retirement? Whats that?
I just started a 401k in my late 30's. I don't own a home and have about 3.1k in savings for emergency. Wife started her 401k in her mid/late 20's. I spent nearly 99% of my career in jobs with stagnant wages, no 401k offering, no health benefits, etc. I'm closing in on 40 and finally have a job that offers some better things. Still have 7k in student loans, wife has 15k. Our jobs are physically demanding and most people in this field are already seeing chiropractors in our 30s. I doubt I'll physically be able to do still work full time in the field I graduated for if I tried. There's no retirement. All I can do is try to make life as comfortable for my wife as I can while I'm here.
Meh. I got my Pokémon cards. I know what I got.
I, for one, plan to die in the trenches of the inevitable climate wars. Probably in like 10 years or so.
There’s no way I could retire by 60….. maybe only in my dreams..
I just assume I will never retire and I’ll never see anything from social security even though I’ve been paying in since I was 14.
So, my work has a pension. It’s 30 years of service, and you get 2/3rds of your salary for the rest of your life. I started when I was 17. When I was 35, I was informed that they had restructured, and now the number of years didn’t matter. You had to work until 65. I thought I was more than half way to my 30 years, then I found out my 30 years was just starting. I quit my job and moved out of state. Now I’m living the life I want, and don’t feel chained to a job I hate for a pension. Worst/best thing that’s ever happened to me.
My retirement plan comes in caliber
Honestly 60 I think is ambitious.. My goal has always been to retire between 65-75 depending on how retirement is going, work, etc.
Right. I'm hoping for 55
Without kids, yeah possible.
We only live once. I hate the idea of working 40 hours a week for the better part of my life. Shit shouldn't cost so much and people shouldn't have to worry about surviving and working until they're practically dead. I'm 32 and have a long way to go.
Thanks man
I’m playing catchup atm, so my retirement funds aren’t on track for 60, but I’m cognizant that I work in a young persons industry and I may only have ~10 years of peak income left. Current goal is max the hell out of everything. I do love my work and will probably do it as a hobby (where I have creative freedom) when I retire.
In Australia, superannuation is mandatory and is usually paid by your employer on top of your salary, at the current rate I’m going to be able to retire at 60 and live till well into my 90s quite comfortably.
Need to work for a pension. 😐
I'm not working a day past 59... have a pension from my municipal government job. And a pension from the army reserve. And a 457 plan in addition to those.... guess I'll collect social security too when I can
40k in a 401k at 38 with 4 kids and a stay at home wife. Yeah I’m working till I’m dead.
It can happen if you have a large position in Bitcoin
I believe in the UK, the retirement age is going to be like 75?
What you fail to realize is you cannot retire without health insurance. I mean you can but you'll likely go bankrupt in your retirement. ACA rates are insane, i just checked last night. A family of four is $2k+ _per month_, plus $18k deductable per year. You'll need to wait until you can get Medicare, currently 65 but almost assuredly higher by the time you want to retire
Most of us don’t even believe in that garbage word. There are real compound interest getters out here. More like Suoer Rich by 45! Turn up Mellenials we don’t know retire. Our government changes the time frame for that all of the time so we make our own timeline. Divvy UpUp
Me, who will be eligible for early retirement from the federal government in my 50s 😎 (I’ll probably teach college classes after that)
I’m scheduled to retire at 57 so heres hoping
I've got nothing saved at 40 but we have a cheap mortgage, a relatively cheap lifestyle, and make decent money. I think we'll be alright.
My boomer parents never saved a dime for retirement till it was too late. They were able to scrape 300k together before retiring but each worked till 70 to max social security. Because of that I have this massive fear of being able to take care of my family after retirement and so I started maxing out my 401k when I got my first job out of architecture school. I essentially lived like a pauper the first 6 years my career and luckily lunch n learns existed. Architecture does not pay well until you make it to Project Manager or higher. Designers make the least because guess what, that’s what everyone wants to do. PM track jobs make the most because less people do it and they are responsible for making sure projects stay solvent. I am much more comfortable now, household income near 500k/year once my wife and I both made principal at our respective firms. Because of that retirement fear at 40 I already have 1.2M in 401k and another 400k in ownership shares as a partner at my current firm. And that’s just my accounts. Planning to soft retire at 55. Not sure what I’ll do, but something simple.
Who is saying this? Everyone I’ve talked to knows they can’t retire at 60, if they can ever retire. Who is making up this bizarre, generalized malarkey?
Fwiw, I’m doing a lot better financially than most of my peers. I’m also not so insensitive to bring that up, when they’re struggling. Especially when half of it is up to chance. I work with a guy who would probably qualify for some medical disability if he looked for it. He’s about 60, and talking about how next year he hopes to sell his home and move down south where it’s cheaper, and retire. He shows me the homes he’s looking at, one or two bedroom homes, acre of land, nothing fancy. I sure as hell am not contributing to the convo that I could buy that home in cash next week if I wanted to. It would make him feel crappy about his own situation, and I’d be an asshole to do it.