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1. what's your contribution amount for the year?
2. About how much is your salary?
3. Do you find it difficult to contribute the full 17,500?
4. what's your company match?
I hit the cap ~15% or so.
Company match is 6%. (@100%)
Salary 125+
Started doing it after I paid off the house about 6 years ago so it's not a big strain and helps with tax burden.
I particularly like the poster who told us in an abstracted way that he/she makes $400,000 a year and contributes $28,000 more than allowable (max $23,000 for those over 50) to the plan. So, I'd take most of these answers with a grain of salt.
what's wrong with making 400k? just because you don't/can't, doesn't mean others aren't able to either. as far as the 26k he mentioned, i believe he was including his employer match. go back and read it again; he made it sound like that was the case.
what's wrong with making 400k? just because you don't/can't, doesn't mean others aren't able to either. as far as the 26k he mentioned, i believe he was including his employer match. go back and read it again; he made it sound like that was the case.
Yeah, they were including employer match which on >400k @ 8% + 17.5k would get them up to the 51k or so that they mentioned.
I can never figure out how people can love people like Michael Jordan, Peyton Manning, Johnny Depp, Oprah, Stephen King, Matt Groening etc. etc. etc. who make tens of millions of dollars a year....and then turn around and moan that a doctor with their own practice is making 400k or the CEO of a fortune 500 company pulled down 10mil (when their decisions affect billions of $$$).
Those aren't trust fund babies laying around, they've put in a ton of hard work and effort to get where they are but some people don't realize that.
I know someone that is a partner at one of the big accting firms, they make a ton of $$$ and I wouldn't trade lives with them for anything. They've been working 60+ hour weeks for decades, it's what they enjoy, it's sure not for me.
i had already stated that. i said in a regular forum it would be 3-5 percent, but in the finance forum i would expect 10 percent, since the niche is different. to go from 1 out of 15 to 3 out of 5 is just not realistic.
were not ever going to meet each each other and were behind a computer, why do we have to constantly misrepresent how much one has in a 401k or how much one makes.
im honest. im entry level. ill be starting at roughly 30,000. im using this forum to look at resources for starting a 401k and roth ira. im in my 20's.
I WANT to max out my 401k, but that will be 60 percent of my gross. Unless I got a part time job, I could not max it.
realistic responses can lead to realistic discussion.
saying i fully fund my blah blah blah and have a net worth of 5 million blah blah blah is great for your online character profile, but not helpful for people like me looking for advice.
granted there ARE people who are like that, but there arn't 60 percent of people like that. there is likely less than 10 percent of people like that.
It's the internet, we could all be dogs for all you know.
As others have noted, this is a personal finance forum, on a website that overall draws a significant number of relos researching their destinations. You're looking at a MUCH different demographic from the overall population (heck, what percentage of people would even bother to take the time to post on personal finance forum as opposed to watch the latest reality TV show?). Less than one third of Americans have college degrees but I suspect the overwhelming majority of posters here do. Plus, you're looking at the people RESPONDING to this thread, not just reading it. You've got selection bias - the people responding are disproportionately going to be those who contribute a bunch to their 401(k).
I post on a few other forums on CD for one city, and the frequent posters definitely have a bias towards the more expensive parts of the area. Sure, they could all be lying, but the consistency of their responses and the details of their answers, across long periods of time in multiple different threads - well, they must be REALLY GOOD liars. Also, the discussion is rarely ABOUT the posters themselves, but rather them passing on little details about certain areas that they have familiarity with.
Heck, you can believe that I'm a poor slob barely making ends meet with 5 figure credit card debt living in a tiny studio apartment driving a 15 year old car. Because that actually WAS me about 20 years ago. Except for the car part, I didn't even HAVE a car back then. The 15 year old car is what I drive NOW!
Which, BTW, is part of why I can max out my 401K and Roth.
what's wrong with making 400k? just because you don't/can't, doesn't mean others aren't able to either. as far as the 26k he mentioned, i believe he was including his employer match. go back and read it again; he made it sound like that was the case.
Nothing wrong with it at all. But 1) in my experience, people who make that kind of money aren't on this board advertising it, 2) companies don't match more than 100% of a total contribution (in fact, I don't think it's even possible under the law), and 3) read 1 and 2 again until you understand.
Nothing wrong with it at all. But 1) in my experience, people who make that kind of money aren't on this board advertising it, 2) companies don't match more than 100% of a total contribution (in fact, I don't think it's even possible under the law), and 3) read 1 and 2 again until you understand.
1. he wasn't advertising it. he was asked the question by the OP (me), and simply responded. in fact, he didn't even say 400k. he just mentioned the percentage and the amount.
2. what if he's self employed? what if he's a doctor and has his own practice? can't he contribute more than the 17.5k contributed, up to the 51k limit?
Ok then! come back with something more solid, because what you call an argument is easily broken down.
I max the full 17500 per year. It helps me on taxes.
Its not too difficult once you get use to it. My company matches 3%
How does one get use to maxing out their 401k when they make so little to begin with? Do you just get used to not eating? Living in a box under a bridge?
How much do you all make that you are able to contribute the full amount? Is there a magic number I should atempt to obtain?
2) companies don't match more than 100% of a total contribution
Sure they do! Some companies put in sizable amounts in a DC plan for , far more than the employee does. Again the max COMBINED (employer and employee) total on a DC plan is 51K, while the employee max amount is only 17.5K. If employer's couldn't put in more than the employee does the law wouldn't make much sense! (after all, 17.5K plus 17.5K is only 35K).
Granted, that's usually not a "company match" as we're used to but rather an additional contribution tied to company profits or some other metric, but yes, employers can and sometimes do make contributions to qualified defined contribution plans far in excess of the employee's contribution.
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Also, the discussion is rarely ABOUT the posters themselves, but rather them passing on little details about certain areas that they have familiarity with.
