How are you saving for Retirement?

MrsMeyer7911

I don't know why but I am becoming obsessed with saving and retirement and investing lately. I think it's because I realize if I do switch careers I will be making less money, won't have the same bonuses, and won't have a company car anymore. 

Anyways currently we both contribute a good amount to our 401k and get a match on some of that. We were thinking we should also look into an IRA? I know we want to retire earlier so we are trying to throw as much money into retirement as possible since they say that saving early on gets you the best returns. Does anyone else do both a 401k and an IRA? What are you all doing to save for retirement? 

breaness

FI has both an IRA and a 401k. He has good chunk of change in each and we're taking out some for the house and it's not even making a dent. His last job had awesome matching. I'm pretty jealous.

My current job doesn't match, which is really freaking stupid. I put in $100 a paycheck to my 403b but it really doesn't amount to much since they suck and don't match anything, but I figure it's better than nothing. What I've been doing for the last year is putting $1k a month or more in savings, which has gone to our home down payment fund. But now that we're done with that I'm thinking we'll get an IRA set up and put the money in that instead, or maybe do 50/50 IRA and savings.

MrsKtotheE

I think Matt has both.  I don't have either.  Yes I know it's bad but for the longest time I didn't really make enough to put it back.  When I moved in with him I asked if he wanted me to start a 401K but he said no bc at the time my company wasn't guaranteeing they would match.  

 

I do know we have a Charles Scwab account.   

MrsMirMaz

I have a retirement fund through the state since I teach. I teach in Indiana and they automatically set up your find and take so much a month from your checks or school. I feel like I should save more but my student loans are killer right now and I just can't afford to. Matt does a savings account and he has investments and stocks.

sld0618

We just went into the bank yesterday to do out account stuff.  We talked to my parent's business lady and she explained that you need a MILLION dollars to retire now a days.  If you do it right, then you will only need to save around 238,000 and have the interest and your account make up the rest.  That's basically only 30k a year for 33 years to live off of.  CRAZY!!!  Pretty much you need to be putting 15% away a year for retirement to be secure.  I don't have one, DH has one though and he has been putting away 15% for the past 8 years.  Def on track, but I need to step up my game.  My goal is to start an IRA account by the end of the year.  After we get in all the wedding bills and pay them off, time to save to put a big chunk into the account.

MrsMeyer7911

I currently put away 14% and my company matches an additional 6% dollar for dollar, while DH puts away 10% and his company matches an additional 3.5% dollar for dollar. I just am worried its not enough, I want to be able to travel a ton when we retire!! Maybe we will open an IRA together and stash away a set amount each month. We were putting 1200 a month into the wedding acct maybe we will put that in an IRA. I want to bulk up our emergency savings first though I think. 

Anyone know a good rule of thumb of how much to have in savings? 

sld0618

Um, as much as you can?!? hahaha.  You're supposed to have at least 3 months worth of all your bills in your savings so that you have 90 days to find a new job if needed.  These days, it's probably pushed back to 6 months.  Plus you will need extra money in there if things go wrong with the house.  Personally, I would keep that money going into the savings for the rest of the year and then do the retirement.  You could also split it up and put half in the savings and half in the IRA.  You always have that money saved in the account to transfer over to the retirement fund as well.

breaness

sld0618:

Um, as much as you can?!? hahaha.  You're supposed to have at least 3 months worth of all your bills in your savings so that you have 90 days to find a new job if needed.  These days, it's probably pushed back to 6 months.  Plus you will need extra money in there if things go wrong with the house.  Personally, I would keep that money going into the savings for the rest of the year and then do the retirement.  You could also split it up and put half in the savings and half in the IRA.  You always have that money saved in the account to transfer over to the retirement fund as well.

Ditto ALL of this.  

minionlover

FI & I both pay into the state pension system. Its actually mandatory. Then I also have 3 IRAs that my father puts money into every year. Whatever you can save is better than not saving at all.

MrsMeyer7911

You ladies are right. I think we will keep our 401k contributions the same, hopefully get our emergency fund up to 20k by the new year, then start an IRA in the new year. Everywhere I looked says IRAs are maxxed out at 5k per year so once we reach that point each year just overload our student loan payments. We dont have too much left so that should get rid of it in the next two years which will be nice. Great advice ladies thanks!!

sld0618

MrsMeyer7911:

You ladies are right. I think we will keep our 401k contributions the same, hopefully get our emergency fund up to 20k by the new year, then start an IRA in the new year. Everywhere I looked says IRAs are maxxed out at 5k per year so once we reach that point each year just overload our student loan payments. We dont have too much left so that should get rid of it in the next two years which will be nice. Great advice ladies thanks!!

 I was told yesterday there's a max of 5k as well.  I think it's good plan...except if you're paying interest on those student loans, I would pay them off first before worrying about an IRA because you're losing money on it.

TheMrsTurtle

I am currently not saving anything towards retirement.....which I know is not great. But, I am trying to pay off some other debt and don't have enough income to do it. My company contributes to my IRA every year though, at a rate of about 10-13% of my annual income.