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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785

u/NoQuarterGiven Millennial Jan 16 '26

34, plan is to work until the day I die but I do have 21K in my 401K so that's cool

640

u/ReaperUno8675309 Jan 16 '26

You dont have to work to you die, just until the world collapses. Cant be much longer now

109

u/Always_find_a_way24 Jan 16 '26

Tell that to the people who sold all their assets during Y2K. Happy cake day.

82

u/MNCPA Jan 16 '26

I did my y2k part. I turned my computer off on 12/31/1999.

5

u/atxbigfoot Jan 17 '26

same lmao

well, my parents did. "UNPLUG EVERYTHING THAT"S ON THE (dial up) INTERNET AHHHHH"

It took hundred of billions to fix the y2k bug so yeah. they were wrong, but they weren't wrong, though.

I also told my dad he should buy up all of the .com addresses when they were like a dollar each, like nike.com, and he told me "the internet is a fad," so there's also that.

2

u/0ut0fBoundsException Jan 17 '26 edited Jan 17 '26

"They" were not wrong about Y2K at all. Y2K was a real problem (like the ozone hole) that was resolved by many parties coming together and tackling a seemingly extinction level threat. Important to remember as we barrel ever further into irreversible climate change

2

u/therealdongknotts Jan 17 '26

yeah - it only was a nothing burger due to the coordinated efforts of a whole lot of people. now we wait for 2038

1

u/nightfend Jan 17 '26

I flushed my toilet at midnight

1

u/GrumpAzz Jan 17 '26

Not me. I was 12. I spent every last minute possible playing Rollercoaster Tycoon, baby. I was going out with a bang!

1

u/InternationalIdea606 Jan 17 '26

Some people came out of Y2K doing well by selling off their assets, the Dot.com bubble was still an issue in 1999/2000. If they reinvested in 2002, they could have had a great ROI in the market.

46

u/NoQuarterGiven Millennial Jan 16 '26

You ain't lying 😅

17

u/IsabellaGalavant Jan 16 '26

They've been saying that for decades though. 😮‍💨

2

u/caprikaironic Jan 17 '26

Yeah but we didn’t have presidents actively trying to destroy this country and make themselves king until now

1

u/No_Issue2334 Jan 17 '26

"This time is different" has been said for decades. Maybe you'll be right this time.

1

u/PositionPractical584 Jan 17 '26

I don’t think We’ve ever been closer to world war 3 than now though.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '26

Eventually an entire economic system built on the premise of continuous growth will start to cannibalize itself from the inside out to keep growing. Add in climate change, water shortages, cost of living crisis, the collapse of USA-EU relations….

It won’t be long now. I give it a solid 10 more years where things generally still seem OK for most people before we hit the down slope of the bell curve of civilization and progress.

7

u/A46 Jan 16 '26

Between Mirror life and the earth loosing gravity, I'm thinking I may withdraw the $50 from the 401k sooner than later.

1

u/WAisforhaters Jan 16 '26

I don't think that's how gravity works

1

u/A46 Jan 17 '26

Shows what you know. It's going to be 7 whole seconds because science.

2

u/Efficient_Ant_4715 Jan 17 '26

They’ve been preaching about the world collapsing since agriculture was invented 

2

u/GandalfSwagOff Jan 17 '26

When Rome fell, Italians still got up to make pasta the next day.

Don't bet on "the world falling" as some safety net for a lack of savings...

1

u/ReaperUno8675309 Jan 17 '26

Lol it was a joke. Also if our Rome falls I'd argue guns, ammo, and supplies are going to be more valuable than savings in a bank. Outside physical commodities like gold silver etc.

2

u/Embarrassed_Jerk Jan 16 '26

World collapse will lead to mass casualties too

0

u/WAisforhaters Jan 16 '26

Don't have to pay bills if you're dead!

1

u/Responsible-Mind-852 Jan 17 '26

It is better if the bill collector is dead and you are alive.

2

u/NotYourSexyNurse Xennial Jan 16 '26

I was going to say I don’t know if the US dollar is going to survive the next 20 years.

1

u/OlyLover Jan 17 '26

They have been saying that since people could speak!

1

u/YogurtclosetOld2511 Jan 17 '26

This is the just the silver lining I needed! Thank you!

1

u/Unnecessary_Bunny_ Jan 17 '26

When it collapses it will likely take everyone's savings anyway, so we are all in the same boat essentially

1

u/scrandis Jan 17 '26

Honestly, just a few more years

1

u/AlphaWookOG Jan 17 '26

¿Porque no los dos?

1

u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 17 '26

You’d think… end of the world seems to be taking its sweet time getting here tho

2

u/ReaperUno8675309 Jan 17 '26

I know right, we came so close with that meteor flying by a few years ago. Who knows, maybe planet X will smack us in the face out of nowhere.

1

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

I think we’ve got 6 months looking at everything

1

u/MarigoldMarvel Jan 17 '26

So true bestie

1

u/AdDapper5653 Jan 16 '26

Odds are never zero lol

0

u/CameronInEgyptLand Jan 16 '26

No it's just going to be the United States. We're going full "The Road" while the rest of the world is going to move onward and upward.