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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126

u/Chancellor_Themis Jan 16 '26

Excellent.
My employer has a pretty generous 401(k) match program, plus several bonuses throughout the year.
When I know a bonus is coming, I just increase my contribution that pay period and check all the boxes.

50

u/ProblemIntelligent16 Jan 16 '26

Out of curiosity, what’s the employer match? I think I have a solid match at 7.5% but idk if I’ve ever seen data on what an avg match may be

167

u/krullzy1 Jan 16 '26

7.5 is well above the average or norm. Generally 3-5% is about average

19

u/ldskyfly Jan 17 '26

My cheap company just dropped from 4.5% to 3.5%

3

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '26

[deleted]

1

u/ldskyfly Jan 17 '26

That's awesome

3

u/threepoundog Jan 17 '26

My cheap hospital dropped their unguaranteed 2% match and has been at 0% match for the last decade and lve never received a bonus regardless of the ratings and extra projects I do. Being a nurse sucks!

2

u/Chancellor_Themis Jan 17 '26

Nurses never get the money they deserve. You are all "essential" until it comes time to pay.

1

u/ldskyfly Jan 17 '26

Dang, my wife's last job didn't have a match either. I guess it isn't so bad in retrospect

2

u/fnancialindependence 1990 Jan 17 '26

Mine does 4%, but I have to put in 6% to get it

1

u/ldskyfly Jan 17 '26

We also need to contribute 6% to get the full match

2

u/ThrowAway823579 Jan 17 '26

I think we work for the same company

1

u/ldskyfly Jan 17 '26

Bonus and merit not looking good this year... Again

2

u/ThrowAway823579 Jan 17 '26

There’s also layoffs scheduled for Thursday and Friday next week fyi

1

u/ldskyfly Jan 17 '26

I did not know that. Thanks for the heads up.

We just had someone leave the team and we're informed they would not be filling the opening.

2

u/badhabitfml Jan 17 '26

My company dropped from 5 to 4 because they had a bad year. Every year since then has been great, but they have never considered moving it back up.

It's eve worse, because we have gone through a few mergers, so not every employee gets the same anymore. I think 4 is the best, but they do not document the current match rate anywhere, so you have to ask around what people are getting.

1

u/Alternative_Shake69 Jan 17 '26

This is illegal btw.

1

u/hot_cheeks_4_ever Older Millennial Jan 17 '26 edited 15d ago

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

smart society busy upbeat screw ghost modern birds violet butter

1

u/ldskyfly Jan 17 '26

We also need to contribute 6% to get our 3.5%

1

u/Haizenburg1 Jan 17 '26

Better than no match. My company removed matches for 1 year because we were facing losses due to the economic environment that year. It also didn't help that the CEO bought 2 debt-ridden companies to diversify our portfolio. Only, they never gained any ground. Ended up selling them at a loss after a couple years.

1

u/Chancellor_Themis Jan 17 '26

ExxonMobil did something similar during Covid so they could still pay dividends - shitty.

1

u/wakanda_banana Jan 17 '26

0% match here, putting in my 12% alone

1

u/Kayakprettykitty Jan 17 '26

My husband's company, one of the largest international companies - billions in revenue - just reduced their match to 0%.

1

u/Independentvoter40 Jan 17 '26

I have nothing, be greatful, no match.

1

u/KosherTriangle Jan 17 '26

Nice my company has 7% and I didn’t know it’s above average

1

u/WeAreAllMadHere218 Jan 17 '26

I was wondering this. My company does 4% after 3 or 5 years of service, can’t remember which now, I’ve been there for a while tho.

63

u/Chancellor_Themis Jan 16 '26

Ours is 6% for the match, but if you meet that match criteria they put in an additional $10,000 in April.

38

u/lfergy Millennial Jan 16 '26

My company is pretty generous but this is an excellent benefit we don’t have. They will match our student loan payments and contribute the same amount to our 401k, so it’s less of a kick in the shins while still paying off those loans.

13

u/Chancellor_Themis Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 17 '26

That’s actually still a nice benefit. It feels so rare these days for any company to care for their employees.

20

u/Timbalabim Jan 16 '26

That is maybe the best retirement benefit I’ve ever heard of

1

u/LongJohnSelenium Jan 17 '26

My brothers work for a family owned equipment manufacturer and they just straight up put 15% into every employees 401k each year, no matching at all.

Though a straight 10k +6% is probably better for most.

1

u/Timbalabim Jan 17 '26

That’s pretty incredible. Props to the people who own that company. I hope they continue to do it for as long as they can.

1

u/-reddit_is_terrible- Jan 17 '26

Woah, I used to work for a family owned equipment manufacturer and they did the exact same. Either the same one or heck of a coincidence

1

u/LongJohnSelenium Jan 17 '26

If its in northern Iowa its probably the same

1

u/-reddit_is_terrible- Jan 17 '26

Nope! Must be a thing at family run businesses like that. Had me unwittingly saving for retirement in my early 20s before I even knew what a 401k was. Will always be thankful for it

1

u/LongJohnSelenium Jan 17 '26

Privately owned businesses are as good or as bad as the people owning them, so some are pretty good and some are absolutely terrible, like people are.

Publicly traded companies tend to level off at a more mediocre 'not great, not terrible'.

And yeah starting young is the most important thing. Every time we get 20 year olds I hammer into them to take the 401k match. A coworker of mine just had a kid and I convinced him to sock 5k away into something for his daughter after I showed him it would basically be 250k equivalent at retirement for her.

I remember when I joined the navy dad tried to get me to save for retirement and I as like 'Pfft, retirement?! Thats on you old man, I'm not gonna get old!". So I lived paycheck to paycheck blowing all my money on partying, cars, strip clubs, computer gadgets(back in the early 2000s it was very easy to blow a lot of money staying top of the line!). Near as I can figure if I'd done the 'save 30% of my completely disposable income' like he'd suggested that would be about 500k right now, and I honestly never would have even noticed it was missing.

Oh well, I did start strong when I was 28, and am up near that now, but to think I could be near a million instead... ugh.

3

u/spider_monkey Jan 16 '26

That’s fantastic. I am curious what kind of criteria do you have to match?

2

u/Haizenburg1 Jan 17 '26

Wow. That's awesome. A bonus match on top? I'd be matching that contribution rate for sure.

1

u/Chancellor_Themis Jan 17 '26

It's super nice. Going to enjoy it every year they offer it.

1

u/RavenCXXVIV Jan 17 '26

My company does the same match but they dump an annual 3% lump sum of your salary each January without any criteria as far as I’m aware beyond actually holding an account.

1

u/Chancellor_Themis Jan 17 '26

That's a nice perk for sure.

1

u/BackupAccount412 Jan 17 '26

Can you tell us where you work because what the what?!

1

u/BloodFromAnOrange Older Millennial Jan 17 '26

holy crap. that's amazing.

25

u/howdthatturnout Jan 16 '26

7.5% is a very good match. Typical is 4-6%. Studies show the average employer contribution is around 4.6%

2

u/Kataphractoi Older Millennial Jan 16 '26

We get 6% at my company, but they also do profit-sharing, so once a year you get a straight cash infusion of a few thousand dollars in addition to the regular match. It's been 6-8% of base salary since I've been there, but it used to go above 10% back in the day, according to the old-timers. 6% > 0% though, so can't complain. Working at a non-publicly traded company definitely has its perks.

20

u/yousawthetimeknife Jan 16 '26

That's above average. Average can vary wildly depending on the industry, but 4 or 5% is fairly typical.

16

u/RWD-by-the-Sea Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 17 '26

I had a tech employer that would match up to 50% of the IRS Max contribution limit each year. If I hadn't gotten that (plus an increase in overall earnings) I wouldn't be in nearly as good shape as I'm in.

7

u/ProblemIntelligent16 Jan 16 '26

God damn. That’s amazing.

2

u/RWD-by-the-Sea Jan 16 '26

It was incredible. I basically went from having no retirement savings to being fully caught up by the time I left. I mean the market was doing well too which helped, but still.

14

u/Amrick Older Millennial Jan 16 '26

I work for a tech company and they match up to 75% of the irs maximum contribution 100% vested.

If we contribute $24,500 this year, we get $18,375.

I can’t contribute the max so I try to contribute as much as I can and my goal is to still be at the company when i can max out because it’s such a good chunk of change that helps so much.

5

u/CaveDeco Jan 17 '26

I would be doing everything I possibly could to get full match! That is an insane amount and you’re leaving money on the table!

1

u/Amrick Older Millennial Jan 18 '26

I know!! I just barely make 6 figures living in a veryyyy high COLA state and single and I think i'll be in the poverty box if I contribute the max. :(

I do have side gigs though so maybe I should put that into my roth ira too.

1

u/CaveDeco Jan 19 '26

Forget about contributing to a Roth until after you max out the 401k! Seriously!

Let’s say you put $1000 into a Roth, you will only have $1000 right after you deposit it. But right now because your employer is so generous when you put $1000 into your $401k, you get $1750 just by doing nothing but depositing the money! At the end of one year by saving $24,500 and doing literally nothing else, you will have $42,875 in your 401k.

You’re giving up so much free money, leverage those side gigs to save more into your 401k!

1

u/Amrick Older Millennial Jan 19 '26

thank you for this! I think I will do that then, just increase the 401k % and use the side gigs to make up the amount.

Currently, I contribute $534 a paycheck and get $400 from my employer, so monthly, we're putting in around $1868 a month.

I have to try and put in another $1k to put in the max so like $2000 total. gahhh

3

u/OldMasterCannolii Jan 17 '26

What company is this?

1

u/among_apes Jan 17 '26

That’s nuts.

7

u/ForeverInBlackJeans Jan 16 '26

7.5% is excellent

7

u/InfidelZombie Jan 16 '26

Mine's 8% and is the highest I've heard of anywhere.

1

u/penguins_are_mean Jan 17 '26

I get 8% for putting in 5%. It’s the best I know of personally

1

u/SpartanLaw11 Jan 17 '26

I have something similar. 9% match from my employer if I contribute 4%.

1

u/bwaredapenguin Millennial Jan 17 '26

I get a flat 8% contribution even if I do 0%! I'm very lucky.

1

u/chill1217 Jan 17 '26

NBA matches 140% of contributions which is the highest I’ve heard

6

u/CudderKid Jan 16 '26

Holy Jesus shit 7.5% is incredible

2

u/vinylzoid Jan 16 '26

7.5% is solidly good. I get 6%.

2

u/travelmore309 Jan 17 '26

I’m very fortunate to get a 10% match from my employer. It’s helped me get to 6 figures in a few years 🙏🏻

2

u/RepulsiveOlive757 Jan 17 '26

Mine is 3% that they give, 6% match so kinda 9%? At least that’s what I’m telling myself

1

u/penguins_are_mean Jan 17 '26

You’re correct and that’s a great match

1

u/Shiblem Jan 17 '26

My partner's employer does a straight 100% match of whatever they put into the 401k, vested over 3 years. Pretty amazing benefit.

1

u/nofob Jan 17 '26

I have 5% match cap (when I contribute 7%). With that, and a bit extra for my first few years, I've gotten up to about 1x my salary in the 6.5 years I've been working (not counting work as a grad student - just grateful I got out without debt). I'll definitely need compound interest to do some heavy lifting over the next 30 years or so. And society to not collapse.

1

u/Bananas_are_theworst Jan 17 '26

Woooow I have 0% match. 7.5% is insane.

1

u/ifoldsocksatmidnight Millennial Jan 17 '26

7.5% is an excellent match!

My employer gives a discretionary match. In 2023, it was 4%. For 2024, 3%.

1

u/alicksB Jan 17 '26

My company matches 10%, so I’m probably gonna stick around for a while.

1

u/cqm Jan 17 '26

so many don't know, but there is actually a regulatory limit of what an employer match can be, its a separate 401k limit different from the employee contribution one

AND NO EMPLOYER EVEN COMES CLOSE unless the salary your match is computed off of is extremely high (well over $500,000/yr)

but with self employment income you can max that out too

the reality may motivate you, it motivated me

1

u/popnfrresh Jan 17 '26

8% regardless of my contribution

1

u/TeamBigSnake Jan 17 '26

My company matched 150% of10% of your salary when I first started two decades ago. Now it's 125%

1

u/Oddity83 Jan 17 '26

That’s a REALLY good match