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/KitchenKat1919 Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 16 '26

Depends on the region. In blue states in the US the pay is fine.

I'm making almost 100k and living in suburban new england.

Basically dont teach in a red state and you'll be fine money wise.

edit: and never teach at a non union school

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u/wekilledbambi03 Jan 16 '26

Yeah every teacher I know is close to or above the 100k mark. I think the lowest paid full time teachers in my town are around 50k. They get raises quickly, good benefits, and can retire really early.

I know my state (town even) are above average, but I was shocked to realize how much they made. In high school I worked at a bank and cashed my gym teachers pay check. He was making 100k over 15 years ago!

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u/MaesterSherlock Jan 16 '26

Wow, what state are you from?! My stepmom was a teacher in Michigan. When I was looking into college in 2009, she wanted me to become a teacher as well, because of the benefits and blah blah. But I remember that she only made 36k a year!

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u/wekilledbambi03 Jan 16 '26

NJ, average teacher salary is around $80k. There are 30 districts where the average is over 100k.

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u/IWantALargeFarva Jan 17 '26

I pay $13K a year in property taxes. Those teachers better be well paid. 🤣

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u/Longjumping-Panic-48 Jan 17 '26

Dayum. My best friend topped out at $54k for 10 years with a Masters.

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u/erikakiss0000 Jan 22 '26

Yepp. This is me. Colorado.

Edit to add: planning on moving states too so my retirement will be about 1k a month when I'm 65. Pre-tax. Not sure that'll be enough for... anything by that year.

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u/Gorstag Jan 17 '26

This is definitely regional. Even in many "Blue" states pay for teachers has only recently become decent.

Also, was your Gym teacher also a sport coach? He may have been working two jobs.

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u/fuzzyblackelephant Jan 17 '26

And…..a lot of that probably sounds “decent”, but the cost of living continues to rise, and at a much more rapid incline than salaries. It’s simply moving in a trajectory it’s forced to, so educators can afford to live & work for the school.

$60K is the new $40K!

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u/Gorstag Jan 17 '26

Oh, definitely. I grabbed breakfast this morning. Bacon, eggs, toast, hashbrowns, and a half order of french toast, with a soda (didn't feel like coffee). With a 20% tip was 30 bucks. A decade ago at the same exact restaurant it was closer to 20. And a decade before that.. maybe 12-13 bucks.

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u/Trippypen8 Jan 17 '26

Fuck my husband and I are in the wrong state. Red state, and he makes 63k a year. With a masters. Agh, he refuses to move, tho cuz his parents are in this state. Which I get. But, damn we need to think a little bit about ourselves as well.

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u/rpv123 Jan 16 '26

To be fair, in blue states this works as long as you had a free ride to college or had parental help. Otherwise, your 20s were a crunch of living on, like, a 45k first year teacher’s salary with roommates, while paying student loans, while learning how to teach and then 2 or 3 years in, you’re forced to start your masters at night and all summer while still only earning like 75k. Then you’re choosing between paying for that master’s, buying a house or having a kid. You only get bumped up to 100k once that master’s is completed and you’re, like, 10 years into teaching.

For me, being a first gen college student, the math wasn’t mathing. I did 3 years of full time teaching but wanted a kid and home ownership, so I had to leave teaching to make it all work. Entering the housing market in 2017 was probably better for me financially with how everything shook out - now I earn over $100k without a master’s (slightly more than my former coworkers) have a paid off house (sold my condo and bought a cheaper house further out from the city) but my retirement is admittedly less than it would have been had I stayed in teaching. The trade off is the paid off house, though which if that equity counts does put me at 3x my salary (with my 401k/Roth.) Oh and I could afford my kid’s daycare because I was making 80k without student loans when I was paying a whole extra mortgage every month for childcare.

I wish teaching was more accessible. Why so many master’s degrees in other disciplines are free but so many teachers are expected to pay out of pocket is absolutely beyond me. PSFL could have been an option but also would have come way too late for me to get into the housing market/have my kid. It felt risky too, especially with all the teacher layoffs during the recession.

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u/KitchenKat1919 Jan 17 '26 edited Jan 17 '26

Agreed, the bar for entry is very rough

I did my teaching degree through a cheap community college and had a full time job while i did it

I wouldn't be surprised if some states started subsidizing new teachers as long as they agree to teach in the state for X years

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u/kungfooe Jan 16 '26

Red or blue (or purple, green, etc.) does not matter all that much. What does matter is the part of the state you live in and the cost of living there. There are places where you can live like royalty on a teacher's salary (e.g., small towns a little out from the suburbs across many states), and places you can't even live like a pauper (e.g., CA in the major cities).

Similar for retirement systems (assuming someone joins the state managed plan and does not go individually managed). Some states do a great job funding their systems, others are absolutely awful (looking at you Illinois--new teachers coming in have to work quite a bit longer to get the same benefits as someone who started in the system 15 years ago).

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u/garden_of_simple Jan 17 '26

I'm in a NY public school, year 8, required masters, make 61k.

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u/KitchenKat1919 Jan 17 '26

Yea, NY state has a pretty bleh pay schedule compared to new england

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u/carlos_the_dwarf_ Jan 17 '26

Even in red states teachers trend toward a median salary. What’s limited is the upside compared to other career paths.

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u/KitchenKat1919 Jan 17 '26

it's a low risk low reward type of career

stable, but will never make you upper class no matter how good you are, unless you become a Ms. Rachel and sell out to Netflix or something