I am forever shocked at the median retirement savings levels. Even boomers are barely cracking $200k. I’ve never put more than 5% of my salary into my 401k at my current employer, and I’ve been here for 11.5 years. Match is 1:1 on those contributions. Wasn’t eligible for the match the first year, so didn’t bother putting much in, so really only 10.5 years of meaningful contributions. It’s sitting at $215k right now.
That boomers, over a working life 4x that long, and access to 401k’s for at least 3x that long to have a median savings $13k under that is pathetic. Even if they didn’t get as much of a match, or make as much as I have in base salary. The 401k has been in existence since 1978, but if you assume someone started saving in 1988, was making the median income of $34k at the time, and got 3% annual raises, from then to today putting just 5% combined salary deferrals and matching, and averaging only 8% returns, they’d have $374k today.
I do have another ~$450k in traditional and Roth IRAs between my wife and I (and the money in my wife’s was my earnings too). And if anything I feel like I’m behind. And yet I have over 3x the boomer average savings, and 7x the Gen X average (and I’m one of the youngest Gen Xers).
Am I just way over what I need to be savings or is ~80% of this country going to be living in abject poverty in retirement?