401K is an insanely easy way to become wealthy - why do so few take advantage? (million, rate)

[AltarMadness9]

If you start at 25-30 and you invest say 6K a year in a 401K plus get another 2K in match - you'll have around 1.3 million dollars at 60



so why do so few people have million + in a 401K?

[mathjak107]

Which of a thousand reasons do you want to hear ….everyone will have their own reason or excuse .

Usually it is lack of contributing much and poor investor behavior or investment choices they made but everyone will have their reasons why they were subject to the two main reasons.

I didn’t find it hard at all AND I LIVED IN NYC MY ENTIRE LIFE , nor was I a high earner by New York standards.

I was right in the median income of our area

[AltarMadness9]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

Which of a thousand reasons do you want to hear ….everyone will have their own reason or excuse .

Usually it is lack of contributing much and poor investor behavior or investment choices they made but everyone will have their reasons why they were subject to the two main reasons.

I didn’t find it hard at all AND I LIVED IN NYC MY ENTIRE LIFE , nor was I a high earner by New York standards.

I was right in the median income of our area

I don't buy the poor investor behavior or investment choices. Almost any mutual fund you invest in will have a 6-10% growth rate

[rjm1cc]

I would say a poor educational in finance in high school.

[Racks]

If not for a well-meaning neighbor telling me to open a Roth IRA and start investing after my first job I wouldn't know anything about 401K. My parents and friends never talked about it. So I was lucky, very lucky.

[CorporateCowboy]

Originally Posted by AltarMadness9

401K is an insanely easy way to become wealthy - why do so few take advantage?

Quite simply, an absence of education i.e. the majority of high-schools are (still) lacking relative to financial literacy requirements.

Originally Posted by AltarMadness9

so why do so few people have million + in a 401K?

Originally Posted by AltarMadness9

you'll have around 1.3 million dollars at 60

That said, it's wise planning for many; but I'd hardly refer to $1M as 'wealthy', per your thread title.

[BeerGeek40]

Originally Posted by rjm1cc

I would say a poor educational in finance in high school.

Bang!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39_HhRkXDpQ

[Thatsright19]

Originally Posted by AltarMadness9

If you start at 25-30 and you invest say 6K a year in a 401K plus get another 2K in match - you'll have around 1.3 million dollars at 60



so why do so few people have million + in a 401K?

I would never advise against saving for retirement, and taking advantage of time and compounding…

However, your numbers are skewed and ignoring the difference in value of money over time.

Because if someone started at age 25, and retired today, that means they would have started to invest $6,000 a year 35 years ago, which was in the mid 1980s….scraping together $6,000 per year at age 25….was a very large sum of money then when the average person probably made around $20,000 or so.

Someone investing $6,000 today, to get to a million three will find out that is not a lot in 2055.

You’re thinking in terms of the $6,000 and $1,300,000 being the same dollar versus dollar. $6,000 may not seem like a lot (to you) today, and $1,300,000 may sound like a decent sum today to you…but will it be anything to get excited about in 2055? No.

[BeerGeek40]

Originally Posted by CorporateCowboy

Quite simply, an absence of education i.e. the majority of high-schools are (still) lacking relative to financial literacy requirements.





That said, it's wise planning for many; but I'd hardly refer to $1M as 'wealthy', per your thread title.

A million dollars is wealthy if you don't spend yourself into oblivion

[Thatsright19]

Originally Posted by BeerGeek40

A million dollars is wealthy if you don't spend yourself into oblivion

Having $1,000,000 net worth today puts someone into the top 11 percentile in the United States. $1,300,000 is the top 9th percentile.