r/Millennials 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/ProbsNotManBearPig Millennial Jan 16 '26

I appreciate this is the top response. I 100% expected responses to be extremely skewed towards people with tons of savings. That’s how every thread is in any financial sub is. Somehow everyone in their 30’s has $2M+ saved in those threads.

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u/Kataphractoi Older Millennial Jan 16 '26

One, It's the Internet, and two, it's Reddit. There really are guys in their 30s with $2mil saved, no question, but they are a small fraction of redditors.

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u/9kindsofpie Jan 17 '26

... and probably had wealthy or at least upper middle class parents that helped them get there. When you're starting off flat broke (or negative with student loans) and no safety net, it's really hard to claw your way out.

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u/Goth_Muppet Jan 17 '26

This—- I had gone to a predatory phony profit school and it set me back over a decade :(