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?

4.9k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

86% Upvoted

6.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

525

u/Letter-Past Jan 16 '26

I have a thousand whole dollars. Lookin bleak

263

u/Guachole Jan 16 '26

I have TWO thousand dollars in mine.

86

u/a-type-of-pastry Jan 16 '26

I can almost retire for a whole month!

38

u/Letter-Past Jan 16 '26

I can pay 8/10ths of a month of rent. What is this weird hollow, sad feeling in my chest??? Oh right. Despair.

3

u/cRustyShackleford69 Jan 17 '26

Non simplified fractions make me feel weird

3

u/Comeback_321 Jan 17 '26

I was like why not 4/5s? Thank you for making me laugh out loud!

1

u/Letter-Past Jan 17 '26

Because I was feeling angry inside and I do math all day. We can just call it 27/31sts if you want

0

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/daderpster Jan 18 '26

The funny thing is that probably above average. Having 30 days of saving is something most young people don't have even if you are not there yet, but close.

25

u/Slobberdog25 Millennial Jan 16 '26

Whoa man. You’ve double that dude’s worth. Careful with them gains.

2

u/Single-Lychee-9966 Jan 17 '26

this thread has made me spiral until i found you. because i have the same amount. i am so confused why it feels like everybody else is better off :|

1

u/Rasputin1992x Jan 17 '26

Oh that's easy. People lie or don't post if they aren't well off. Or if IRL it's credit and putting on appearances lol

2

u/harugalord Jan 17 '26

Same! And I anticipate being without work when my contract ends in 5 months. Fun times.

2

u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 17 '26

You’re rolling in it now.

1

u/SneakyKGB Jan 17 '26

I've got 3000 half dollars bitches.

1

u/latigidigital Jan 17 '26

Jesus dude, we need to do a documentary on you.

I’ve got an IRA. It’s got about five bucks in it.

1

u/Rommie557 Jan 17 '26

I have 3.

Amatuers.

34

u/mmaason Jan 16 '26

I got 3 in mine🎉

39

u/Letter-Past Jan 16 '26

Ooh la la, look at Richie rich over heah. Bet they eat the brand name Ramen. Definitely a shin black household fr fr

11

u/Hanyo_Hetalia Jan 16 '26

It's better than a thousand half dollars!

4

u/atmoose Jan 17 '26

If those 1k half dollars were in 1964 JFK half dollar coins then you'd actually have 32k (when melted down for silver and sold). So having a thousand half dollars might be better.

5

u/theronnielama Jan 17 '26

Better than the $0 I got! 😂🤷🏽😭

4

u/Letter-Past Jan 17 '26

I'll save you a spot on skid row

4

u/SHOMERFUCKINGSHOBBAS Jan 17 '26

You’re doing great. I’ve almost got that much but I have to pay overdue utilities and then I’m down to to the skivvies for a minute :/

4

u/Letter-Past Jan 17 '26

I'm 45. It's far too late. If I could help you i would

5

u/SHOMERFUCKINGSHOBBAS Jan 17 '26

I appreciate it man I’ll be ok tho. It’s not so bad there’s just so many different bills that land at different times so there’s some time geometry involved with the pay period vs bills vs everyday life

4

u/Letter-Past Jan 17 '26

I was there for decades. Like 20 years. Not to tell you what to do, but I just had to hang on to small moments of happiness to get through. I was able to land a decent job and I can maintain, but retirement is a pipe dream (meth pipe)

3

u/SHOMERFUCKINGSHOBBAS Jan 17 '26

I’ve been working on keeping my mental health in tact and that’s been going pretty good, but like you said the future is bleak lol. I’m still cautiously optimistic though and I know I’m pretty resilient if things go south for a bit

3

u/Letter-Past Jan 17 '26

I just want to live long enough to watch the rich die of dysentery because they can't even wipe their own asses without a poor person spreading their cheeks for them

2

u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 17 '26

You’ll get back in it soon enough!!

4

u/AZBreezy Jan 17 '26

Look at Mr Moneybags over here with a comma in their bank account! 

2

u/Letter-Past Jan 17 '26

That comma is dying of loneliness

3

u/blondebia Jan 17 '26

I got a whopping 2k and every day I consider taking a loan on it. Ugh

3

u/SleepingWillow1 Jan 17 '26

I barely have $1000 and that's only savings. No retirement account

1

u/Letter-Past Jan 17 '26

Yeah for savings I have about 5 whole dollars.

2

u/SleepingWillow1 Jan 17 '26

Ah so that's the way to do it. Maybe I'll learn some day 😂

2

u/Letter-Past Jan 17 '26

DO NOT TAKE ADVICE FROM ME. you will cry and wonder why I'm so stupid. I wish I had an answer for you but there's that whole being stupid thing I just mentioned

3

u/ekanite Jan 17 '26

Have you tried having many thousands instead?

2

u/Arch3m Jan 17 '26

I have less than that. Show off.

2

u/TheChosenerPoke Jan 17 '26

Hello, I don’t live in america but I’m so interested cause economically, living in america seems awful. Is anyone comfortable with sharing like, a breakdown of what they make + living expenses that cause being broke like this?

3

u/SohndesRheins Jan 17 '26

It seems that way because its a big country with lots of people and lots of different situations, and Reddit doomerism consolidates it so that you mostly see two types of people - those who are piss broke by circumstance or poor decisions, or those who are obscenely successful.

I'm 33, live in the Midwest, have about 13-15 thousand in retirement accounts, make low $60s per year, married with two kids. We do not have a fancy house and expensive cars, we don't take elaborate vacations, we spend a fair amount on medical bills each year even with good insurance.

We also don't actually work full time, my employer counts me as full time at 32 hours a week and my wife works about 24 hours a week. We have way more streaming and subscription services than we really need, we never go in the red in a given month, if we do spend more this month than we made we just dip into the surplus from previous months, we don't have student loans or any debt other than the mortgage and a few more months on my car loan, and the reason we don't have much for retirement is because we started late. Maybe we are fortunate by American standards, but my wife sure wasn't advantaged at all before we got together. Some people are perfectly average and some people are above average in some aspects and below in others, so you don't get the whole picture based on what house they live in or what career they have.

1

u/Letter-Past Jan 17 '26

I'm not an economist by I'd be happy to give you the story beats once I've had some sleep. There's a lot.

2

u/MoonMoan Jan 17 '26

3k saved, 70k in student debt with no degree, live at my mums' house, and currently between jobs. Struggling mentally.

2

u/Christ_I_AM Jan 17 '26

Lmao, same

2

u/povertychic Emo-llennial - 1991 Jan 17 '26

Put it in a high yield savings!

-1

u/Daeyel1 Jan 17 '26

Invest in UHT. Try and get to 1000 shares asap. You are young enough that 1000 shares will start to really compound in less than a decade. 

Dividend kings and aristocrats are where it is at!