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Old 01-29-2016, 10:54 AM
 
Location: Central Massachusetts
6,554 posts, read 7,010,705 times
Reputation: 9271

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Quote:
Originally Posted by DelightfulNYC View Post
A million per couple is hard if you have a stay at home wife.

But once you hit 50 your can put 24k a year in your 401K and employers can match up to 16k.

If you do all equities and have an employer giving you the 16K match and work till 67 you can most likely get to one million even starting at 50 if you have a strong bull market.

A lot of ifs in that
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Old 01-29-2016, 01:20 PM
 
1,039 posts, read 1,149,435 times
Reputation: 817
Quote:
Originally Posted by golfingduo View Post
A lot of ifs in that
You either at 50 need to do the whole max $24,000 a year with a company that gives a match till you are 65 or start early and stay the course.

My wife only contributed 5% a year to her 401K for the 14.5 years she worked and her salary started at 28k and ended at 55k. She has around $400,000 in her 401k.

But she joined her 401k summer of 1986 at 21 years of age and when stock mkt crash happened in October 1987 she had peanuts in the account. So pretty much from November 1987 till around November 1998 she was buying stocks at fire sale prices and reinvesting all dividends.

She stayed the course and in crash after 9/11 and crash in late 2008 still left it all equities and even though not contributing reinvesting dividends the thing kept growing and growing.

With my math she will easily break one million in retirement and will have only put in around $30,000 of her own money.

Just think the lousy $1,500 she put into stocks in 1988 alone has had incredible compounding for 28 years at a time when the Dow was around 1,950. Today it is over 16,000. But wait she got a 100% match up to 5%. So every $1,500 is at least $31,000 today

it is hard to imagine how anyone could not have one million in a 401k when they retire.
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Old 01-29-2016, 01:30 PM
 
Location: NC Piedmont
4,023 posts, read 3,781,756 times
Reputation: 6549
Quote:
Originally Posted by DelightfulNYC View Post
it is hard to imagine how anyone could not have one million in a 401k when they retire.
You need to get out more...
A big chunk of the population can barely make ends meet.
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Old 01-29-2016, 01:32 PM
 
Location: Central Massachusetts
6,554 posts, read 7,010,705 times
Reputation: 9271
Quote:
Originally Posted by DelightfulNYC View Post
You either at 50 need to do the whole max $24,000 a year with a company that gives a match till you are 65 or start early and stay the course.

My wife only contributed 5% a year to her 401K for the 14.5 years she worked and her salary started at 28k and ended at 55k. She has around $400,000 in her 401k.

But she joined her 401k summer of 1986 at 21 years of age and when stock mkt crash happened in October 1987 she had peanuts in the account. So pretty much from November 1987 till around November 1998 she was buying stocks at fire sale prices and reinvesting all dividends.

She stayed the course and in crash after 9/11 and crash in late 2008 still left it all equities and even though not contributing reinvesting dividends the thing kept growing and growing.

With my math she will easily break one million in retirement and will have only put in around $30,000 of her own money.

Just think the lousy $1,500 she put into stocks in 1988 alone has had incredible compounding for 28 years at a time when the Dow was around 1,950. Today it is over 16,000. But wait she got a 100% match up to 5%. So every $1,500 is at least $31,000 today

it is hard to imagine how anyone could not have one million in a 401k when they retire.

you are correct. I did a lot like your wife. Stayed the course and for 27 years over the same time frame basically. Stayed the course and had 550k as of the beginning of this year now since dropped.

the point I was making though are these

If you can put in max
If the employer matches
If the market goes bull
AND
If you can work until 67

Gratz on a great job to your wife. I know you are proud of her.
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Old 01-29-2016, 02:01 PM
 
Location: Central IL
20,726 posts, read 16,216,098 times
Reputation: 50368
Quote:
Originally Posted by DelightfulNYC View Post
A million per couple is hard if you have a stay at home wife.

But once you hit 50 your can put 24k a year in your 401K and employers can match up to 16k.

If you do all equities and have an employer giving you the 16K match and work till 67 you can most likely get to one million even starting at 50 if you have a strong bull market.
Jeez - tell me the percentage that get a 16K match! I get $1,200!
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Old 01-29-2016, 02:04 PM
 
Location: Central IL
20,726 posts, read 16,216,098 times
Reputation: 50368
Quote:
Originally Posted by DelightfulNYC View Post
You either at 50 need to do the whole max $24,000 a year with a company that gives a match till you are 65 or start early and stay the course.

My wife only contributed 5% a year to her 401K for the 14.5 years she worked and her salary started at 28k and ended at 55k. She has around $400,000 in her 401k.

But she joined her 401k summer of 1986 at 21 years of age and when stock mkt crash happened in October 1987 she had peanuts in the account. So pretty much from November 1987 till around November 1998 she was buying stocks at fire sale prices and reinvesting all dividends.

She stayed the course and in crash after 9/11 and crash in late 2008 still left it all equities and even though not contributing reinvesting dividends the thing kept growing and growing.

With my math she will easily break one million in retirement and will have only put in around $30,000 of her own money.

Just think the lousy $1,500 she put into stocks in 1988 alone has had incredible compounding for 28 years at a time when the Dow was around 1,950. Today it is over 16,000. But wait she got a 100% match up to 5%. So every $1,500 is at least $31,000 today

it is hard to imagine how anyone could not have one million in a 401k when they retire.
Yes....but even though your wife stayed fully invested and didn't try to "time the market" she did in fact benefit HUGELY from being in the market for that very specific era of time. People tend to take a bit more credit for their good fortune than they might if they'd lived 20 or even 10 years earlier or later....
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Old 01-29-2016, 02:06 PM
 
Location: Central IL
20,726 posts, read 16,216,098 times
Reputation: 50368
To the OP...until recently women didn't have great odds of even approaching the savings power of their husbands. And frankly, I'd say few husbands counted on their wives to add much of anything! Whatever it was was a bonus so now that women are making substantial contributions everyone is amazed! But now the stakes seem to be raised? One million isn't enough - it's TWO?! Please....
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Old 01-29-2016, 02:14 PM
 
Location: SoCal
20,160 posts, read 12,671,181 times
Reputation: 16993
I thought it was for one person. I know my brother and his wife are in this category. My sister, who never got married, who didn't earn very much came very close(last time I had to step in to help her work the numbers). I think it was the equivalent of pre 2008 crash, have half a million and a house paid off for a single person.

Last edited by NewbieHere; 01-29-2016 at 03:09 PM..
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Old 01-29-2016, 02:15 PM
 
Location: Moku Nui, Hawaii
11,048 posts, read 23,886,891 times
Reputation: 10901
Saving a million dollars is for folks who never heard the word 'cashflow'.
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Old 01-29-2016, 02:39 PM
 
268 posts, read 341,967 times
Reputation: 420
I did it and I am now 54. I have never made more than $50K/year.


My dad taught us at a young age the rule about COMPOUND INTEREST etc.... and he also drilled these 3 rules into our heads:


1. Save 10% of your income EVERY YEAR, no matter how much you make.
2. NEVER finance a depreciating asset (cars etc..)
3. LIVE BELOW YOUR MEANS!!


The book "The Millionaire Next Door" goes into all of these things I just assumed were common sense.


I buy a car (for cash) a year or 2 old and keep it for 10 years then do it all over again.


When I bought my house I always took the monthly payment and divided it by 12 and included that extra amount each month w/ my normal payment.


The house was paid off in 24 years instead of 30.


With each pay raise I got I did NOT go out and buy a better car or a bigger house (like some people), my lifestyle stayed the same. Nice trips each year and good whiskey in the liquor cabinet. Some things you do NOT skimp on!

Last edited by JohnCurtisEstes; 01-29-2016 at 02:56 PM..
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