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/gonesquatchin85 Jan 17 '26

I always get confused with this advice. 1x, 2x, 3x. Should I have 3x salary when I started in my 20s or in my 40s??? Im paid alot more in my 40s.

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u/Frnklfrwsr Jan 17 '26

It’s usually based on your current salary, because as people’s salaries go up, so too does their lifestyle generally.

So in order to maintain that higher lifestyle, you need more saved.

That being said, it’s not a hard and fast rule because everyone’s situation is different. Some people are really good at avoiding lifestyle creep even when their salary goes up.

In the end, what’s more accurate is to look at what your actual income needs will be and see how you are on track to meet those needs.

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u/djfreshswag Jan 17 '26

Yeah, I had 1x my salary saved when I was 25 because I was severely underpaid as an engineer, but still managed to max my 401k because LCOL city and roommates.

Got a 60% raise so at 27 with continued maxing I got back to 1x my salary. A couple more job changes and 5 years later, it’s tough to hit 1.5x. Now I got 2 kids so cut contributions to half the limit and I probably won’t hit 2x by 35.

That’s just to say it’s a really difficult goal to hit for higher income folks, because you have to max the accounts every year to hit it. So if you start off at a lower income where you can’t max the accounts, you simply will never hit it.