Retirement data

But it's really hard to believe that the average is 3 something.
I would have guessed HT'ers, particularly those that click on this thread, would score well above average. A lot of people miss the bond question. It was probably the toughest one and it is the only one investment specific except for the stock risk question. The others are just basic math. So yeah, 3.3. America is not doing great...
 
A brokerage account (that has some age on it to avoid the capitol gains tax) is a terrific idea and it will help bridge that gap until you can start drawing from your 401K if you decide to throw in the rag early.

I will be throwing in the rag in 13 years, 6 months, 21 days, 3 hours and 40 minutes......

If I live that long.
Dang. Im throwing in the rag in 150 days, 15 hours, 55 minutes
 
I looked up the article. I don't see any reference to the $23,500 max? I think it would just be referring to the person earning 65k putting away around 10-12% and then the employer matching 3-4%?

Earlier in my career (12+ yrs ago) I worked on some 401k audits. The biggest one was a small publicly traded company with ~1500 employees in the Midwest. Medium cost of living area where it was fairly easy to for people to afford a house. There were people making 60k and maxing out their 401k and people making 150k that would opt out of the auto-enrollment and put nothing in.

We have 35 people in our office and pay above average for the area. We match 7.5%, $1 for $1, and still have some employees not putting in 7.5% 🤷‍♂️
When I only had one employee, my wife and I spent quite a bit of time getting the 401k set up, and paid some administrative fees to do so. At 3 Mo when he was eligible, he decided not to enroll.

We have a match. With OT, this guy was making around $105k a year. Financially Illiterate
 
When I only had one employee, my wife and I spent quite a bit of time getting the 401k set up, and paid some administrative fees to do so. At 3 Mo when he was eligible, he decided not to enroll.

We have a match. With OT, this guy was making around $105k a year. Financially Illiterate
I had to work hard to convince at the time our highest paid employee making over $200k that he needed to start contributing at least 5% into our 401k plan to get the 5% match we provide. It took me over a year to convince him. It cost us $10,000+ a year once I finally convinced him.

P.S. - we are an accounting firm so you would really think it would be a pretty easy thing for someone in our business to figure this out.

P.S.S. - he was 49 when we hired him so you would think he would have it figured out by then.

It really made me question whether we had made the right decision hiring him but he actually has done a really good job. We are using him almost in the role of a salesman and he does really good at that.
 
The 401(k) contribution data is deceiving. Employees frequently raid their accounts for emergencies and other big expenses.

Cash-outs are very common when leaving the company.

It is a cup with holes in the bottom. Half of adults have no retirement savings.

The median retirement savings for persons at the age of leaving employment is just $200k

So yes, the picture is pretty rosy for the top quintile of earners. Everyone else, we had better play our cards carefully if we do not want to be old and broke.
 
That is a relatively recent trend though- I spent the past several years watching my foreign funds (that’s a pretty vague term, lot of different options to get “ foreign” exposure) lag behind the S&P.

You’re right though, and it has been nice in some ways to see them start to perform a little better.
Recent but expected.. Had several advisors from major companies suggest a higher portion of foreign last fall.

US market factors are very strong...policy and policy impact uncertainty has been holding them back.
 
P.S. - we are an accounting firm so you would really think it would be a pretty easy thing for someone in our business to figure this out.
No offence intended to you or your business, but I'm sure glad he is not my accountant if he doesn't understand something this fundamental. You did the right thing to finally convince him.
 
IMHO, Bonds are dead as far as investments go. Looking at data on the popular bond funds, pretty much no return on investment the past decade. I think dividend funds are a better replacement for traditional bonds, like VYM or SCHD. a decent dividend return plus upside.

Ray Dalio disagrees. SCHD is still equity, mirroring the DOW Dividend 100. Bonds are a tool to be used to hedge and create diversification in a balanced portfolio.
 

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