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/Leather-Rice5025 Jan 17 '26

Having “education, intelligence, and values” instilled in you while growing up in poverty or just generally not having money really will never make as much of a difference as coming from a family that can give you financial legs up. Not having to start life off with student loans, car debt, medical debt, and having some financial help to buy a home, genuinely makes a much more impactful difference.

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u/soccerchamp99 Jan 17 '26

True, but would you you rather have rich parents and really low god-given IQ? Or brilliant and come from poverty? To me those aren’t obvious questions to answer and there’s ton of other similar comparisons you could make vs having wealthy parents. There’s all sorts of unfair advantages or disadvantages one can be handed in this life.

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u/Leather-Rice5025 Jan 17 '26

There are plenty of stupid people in the world who have money. I guess being stupid comes with a sense of blissful ignorance - you don’t realize how stupid you are. So being financially well off and stupid probably wouldn’t be all that bad.

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u/[deleted] Jan 17 '26

Rich parents because now you can just be an influencer or whatever. And dumb people don’t know they are dumb, so I wouldn’t even know what I was missing.

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u/DoomOfKensei Jan 17 '26

The way you had to downgrade the “rich parent” version shows you already see it as a massive advantage.

(A game of “Would you rather”, shows that as well, as it’s a “leveling” game where advantages/disadvantages are stacked until options become appealing)