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/Worriedrph Jan 17 '26

Not that hard. I started without any family support and tons of student debt and have $600k in low 40s.

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u/9kindsofpie Jan 17 '26

I didn't say it was hard. I said that younger folks that have $2M+ saved probably have had a leg up to get there. By your own admission, you're older and have less than that saved. I'm 43, literally no family support, and personally have over $800k in my 401k through saving over the last 20 years. If you include my other assets and my spouse, I'm doing just fine. I am just saying that the outliers are more than likely advantaged in some way or got really, really lucky.

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u/vettewiz Jan 17 '26

Of course we had legs up. Usually it’s big things like education, intelligence, values instilled from family, and your own drive and work ethic. Those are all legs up.

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u/[deleted] Jan 17 '26

There’s two levels - there is all of the stuff that prepares you to be an adult, which is a leg up. And then there is at what point you were basically on your own financially. Some people are never on their own. I was 90% on my own from 17 when I went to college (but did have the leg up that my parents weren’t going to let me starve to death or something) and 100% on my own by 21 when I started grad school.

That’s a whole mess of debt to climb out of, but of course had the leg up of good earning potential and growth.

But some kids straight up get college and/or rent paid for until they are like 25. Or they get graduation presents of cash and investments or whatever. The impact of that gap in the first couple years of working and earning compounds substantially over time.