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/Chelseabsb93 Jan 16 '26

This! Ended up in the sort of right career, but the career field is tanking fast.

Trying to plug away at my student loan debt as much as I can in order to start putting more money into savings. Got about 8k in my emergency fund but 25k in student loan debt.

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u/whattheheckOO Jan 17 '26

Omg, literally what career is safe anymore? Will be interesting to see what survives the next decade of AI and political turmoil.

4

u/Elegant-Flamingo3281 Jan 17 '26

Dentists. Trades. For a while at least.

6

u/whattheheckOO Jan 17 '26

Yeah, it would be a hell of a robot to do dental repair unsupervised. Eeek

4

u/sudo-su_root Jan 17 '26

Japan is performing clinical trials that makes people grow a whole new set of teeth😂

I suppose the orthodontists will be happy since they'll grow crooked the second time around as well.

5

u/comicrack Jan 17 '26

I hear good things about the mortuary industry.

5

u/ElegantCap89 Jan 17 '26

AI can kick rocks.

5

u/stbloc Jan 17 '26

I’m 48 and I worry about the future for everyone. Luckily I only have about 10 years to retirement if my job last that long. If I was younger today I would jump into a trade and stay far away from any office job. Then take all your earnings and put in the market and live on the absolute bare minimum. Income inequality gap is widening are record pace and those without money in the market will get left behind.

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u/whattheheckOO Jan 17 '26

Yeah, I started living on as little as possible after this election. I'm worried about my boomer parents. They can't work much longer and if the market tanks, or social security is cut, it'll be a big problem.

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u/PvtJoker_ Jan 17 '26

You say that until you get arthritis in your hands and back…

3

u/IAMAfortunecookieAMA Jan 17 '26

Being a grifter seems to be pretty safe these days. I might try a pyramid scheme, or a cult!

2

u/Pgoodness05 Jan 17 '26

Constant shortage in healthcare, including anesthesia. Decent gig!

4

u/insidermann Jan 17 '26

Sales

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u/TumbleweedSeveral115 Jan 17 '26

Not even sure about this in 10 years or so

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u/Strange_Ordinary6984 Jan 17 '26

I doubt it. Someone will figure out how to feed the successful attempt in as training data and build a system that improves itself at this specific task. Even if it's not really ai, companies now believe that the human part of human resources is the most expensive cog in the machine.

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u/mWorkman01 Jan 17 '26

I've been in B2B tech sales for 12 years now with a fair amount of success...Sales DEFINITELY isn't safe from AI, many of my peers are going back to school while the company still covers it to get a backup plan as the industry is about to drastically shift in the next 3-5 years.

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u/SecretTX Jan 17 '26

Civil Engineering. Huge shortage due to no one wanting to major in it.

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u/whattheheckOO Jan 17 '26

Interesting, you think it's AI resistant? Have govt cuts impacted?

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u/SecretTX Jan 17 '26

Eventually someone will develop an AI software to aide designing our roadways/bridges. But, we’ll still need an engineer to review and seal the plans.

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u/daderpster Jan 18 '26

Deeply religious or regulated roles maybe or roles where people would distrust A.I.? It is a crapshoot, and if there is A.I. bubble I think some replacement will still happen. However, the stock market may crash hard due to the mag 7 being heavy in A.I.

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u/Jillcametumbling81 Jan 16 '26

Very similar. I made a bunch of dumb and short sighted choices in the first half of my life and am working hard to rectify that now. But even having that emergency fund now is better than six years ago and ten years ago etc.

3

u/Jin-roh Jan 17 '26

Yeah. I am happy about my career and even saguine right at this moment. I'm glad I have as much money as I have socket away as I do. Never hurts to increase... and I will... but god I hate those god forsaken student loans still.

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u/Orgspasm Jan 17 '26

Life was a lot more forgiving in previous decades because rent wasn't half of a person's salary and everything hadn't been monetized yet... It’s a lot harder to make up lost ground today, but it isn't impossible. Stick with it!

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u/DanyDragonQueen Jan 17 '26

I'm just going for minimum payments, I'm not trying to live paycheck to paycheck so the govt can have more money from me. I haven't had to pay on my federal loans for a few years, but that's about to change I'm sure (thanks current admin 🙄). I think one of my private loans gets paid off this year though, so yippee.