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Haha I’m enjoying reading the responses, you guys are hilarious!
The real underlying issue I’ve seen is probably best explained by books like Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Our education system manages to have plenty of time to teach everyone about ancient history or obscure novels but not any time at all to explain the basics of investing, how interest works, how to budget, or valuable financial skills. So you either get those from your parents, you learn them on your own, or you just fail in general because you never learn how to manage money.
People are surrounded by consumerism at every juncture of their lives, yet there’s very little to counteract that in the way of financial education and discipline.
I'm not sure what I had in 2009 since I was not as much into personal finance then. Fast forward to 2011 and I really got into personal finance so I tracked what I had in my retirement accounts. From 10/2011 to today, my retirement accounts are 6.75X larger. I think I'm doing very good for someone my age.
I plugged in your scenario to Bankrate Investment Calculator and I'd have to get 16% return annually in your scenario. In your scenario, 210K grew 4.76X in that same timeframe, <sarcasm>why so low?</sarcasm>
Yeah, I’m not a savvy financial investor by any stretch, but those numbers didn’t seem to match up. We did have that much in 2009, and while we’re getting close to $1M, we’re not there yet. We have been able to sock away a good chunk into our 401K each year, but it seemed as if it was stagnant for 5-7 years.
there is a host of conflicting info in this thread... some people claim a million is not much these days, if we accept that thesis then $210k should indeed be an extremely pedestrian amount to save up, yet, many claim that to come up with $210k is a huge task that will take many many years... which is in direct contradiction to the claim that a "million isn't much", which one is it, let's get the story straight here.
Yet, if it takes many years to come up with just $210k then coming up with $1.7 million would just be a fantasy... these savers are contributing on average $8800, at that contribution level and a consistent 6% CAGR it would take 42 years to reach $1.7 million EXCEPT that in 42 years the inflation adjusted value of $1.7 million would be $4 million so they would still not even have reached 50% of the goal.
I primarily posed this question because I have heard from many that a million isn't much these days, so if it isn't that much then why don't you have a million? Or if you do I would've expected many to state in this thread that they have easily reached that figure. Except that most in this thread gave a myriad of reasons why that was a lofty goal...
however if it is a LOFTY goal then reaching a million is not an easy task and a million is a LOT contrary to the claim that a million isn't much.
there is a host of conflicting info in this thread... some people claim a million is not much these days, if we accept that thesis then $210k should indeed be an extremely pedestrian amount to save up, yet, many claim that to come up with $210k is a huge task that will take many many years... which is in direct contradiction to the claim that a "million isn't much", which one is it, let's get the story straight here.
These aren't contradictory. $1MM isn't much to have; you can't retire on it unless you're at least old enough to be getting SS/Medicare. But it's a lot to make. Putting together $210K on a median salary is going to take quite a while, especially if you want to actually live on that salary as well.
Haha I’m enjoying reading the responses, you guys are hilarious!
The real underlying issue I’ve seen is probably best explained by books like Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Our education system manages to have plenty of time to teach everyone about ancient history or obscure novels but not any time at all to explain the basics of investing, how interest works, how to budget, or valuable financial skills. So you either get those from your parents, you learn them on your own, or you just fail in general because you never learn how to manage money.
People are surrounded by consumerism at every juncture of their lives, yet there’s very little to counteract that in the way of financial education and discipline.
If you had a paltry $210,000 in your account invested in the S&P 500 in 2009 and contributed just $500/month since then to now you would now have a MILLION dollars.
The market has essentially tripled in the last 10 years... most people should at least be half-millionaires if not outright millionaires by now.
It seem like every average Joe could've done this. Why aren't you one of them??
well I guess because I'm not the type that thinks 210 is "paltry". Let's see 2009 was right after the economic crash so the "average" Joe was probably out of a job.
there is a host of conflicting info in this thread... some people claim a million is not much these days, if we accept that thesis then $210k should indeed be an extremely pedestrian amount to save up, yet, many claim that to come up with $210k is a huge task that will take many many years... which is in direct contradiction to the claim that a "million isn't much", which one is it, let's get the story straight here.
Yet, if it takes many years to come up with just $210k then coming up with $1.7 million would just be a fantasy... these savers are contributing on average $8800, at that contribution level and a consistent 6% CAGR it would take 42 years to reach $1.7 million EXCEPT that in 42 years the inflation adjusted value of $1.7 million would be $4 million so they would still not even have reached 50% of the goal.
I primarily posed this question because I have heard from many that a million isn't much these days, so if it isn't that much then why don't you have a million? Or if you do I would've expected many to state in this thread that they have easily reached that figure. Except that most in this thread gave a myriad of reasons why that was a lofty goal...
however if it is a LOFTY goal then reaching a million is not an easy task and a million is a LOT contrary to the claim that a million isn't much.
you are confusing two different concepts. "spending" and "earning"
Peoples wages has not kept up with the cost of things. Now I live in a high cost of living so yes that is my choice but that's where my experience is.
Philadelphia/NYC, the cost of housing alone has gone loco, so a million is not a lot if you have to buy ahouse or rent in one of these cities.
case in point, my property taxes have increased 218% from 2009 (I am currently at 12,000 a year on a townhouse). again, yes it is my choice but I guarantee you my salary has not increased that much.
let's not even get into my healthcare. lol when I started my job, our healthcare was totally free, as in 0 dollars, with a 5 dollar copay. do I really need to tell you that is no longer the case.
My friend retired from nyc dept of sanitation with a 42k pension inflation adjusted . ...I needed a million dollars in savings initially to generate that very same amount inflation adjusted
Is it problematic that most people will not even save $200 a month in their 401(k) and then complain about how bad their financial situation is when they reach 60?
Why do people care what other people have saved or invested or why they have or haven't reached some specific amount in their portfolio? Why is this anyone else's business?
And why do people feel the need to justify themselves or their financial status to anyone else (beyond their spouse), especially to some rando on the Internet?
IMO, it's no one else's business and no one needs to justify anything, ever.
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