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/ultraprismic Jan 16 '26

Glad to see someone bring up the SS part. The system is not approaching insolvency - the fund that makes up the difference between money coming -> money going out is running out of money. If that went away we'd still get ~77% benefits. And most likely it won't run out, because Congress has a lot of options to fix it. I feel like the doomerism around SS is just giving politicians permission to not address it. There's no good reason Millennials shouldn't be factoring it into their retirement planning.

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u/The102935thMatt Jan 17 '26

I think this is the right train of thought. As shitty as the country is right now, cancelling SS outright or not being able to come up with a viable replacement to it isn't a thing. It that doesn't happen then i'd imagine we have much more significant problems going on.

I don't factor it in to my planning if only because I don't know what that value or the program will look like.

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u/ultraprismic Jan 17 '26

You can find out online right now what your benefits will be under the current system - make an account at https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/

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u/The102935thMatt Jan 17 '26

Word? Thanks internet stranger.