Ohio Chatter
Ohio Chatter

Forums

All Threads Serious Business Sports Politics Archive Pick 'ems
Log In Create Account

What % of your income do you save for retirement?

Home ▸ Archive ▸ Serious Business ▸ What % of your income do you save for retirement?
J

jmog

Senior Member

6,567 posts
May 10, 2012 3:06 PM
Sleeper's thread inspired me (ouch, that hurts to say).

I have known for a long time that a big percentage of American's don't save for retirement.

How much do you save for retirement?

Only include actual retirement savings (401ks, IRAs, investments, etc) not your normal emergency savings account.

Also, don't count SS. Just what YOU are putting away.

This will be a private poll, so feel free to ACTUALLY be honest.

Oh, and the % should be of your gross, not net.
May 10, 2012 3:06pm
mcburg93's avatar

mcburg93

permaban to basement

3,167 posts
May 10, 2012 3:15 PM
Right now nothing after losing my job back a few months ago kinda hard to put money away. When I was working was stowing away 20%. I did the max on my 401k at work then put money away through safer means. My 401 lost a large amount but its slower coming back. My other investments are still doing alright.
May 10, 2012 3:15pm
sleeper's avatar

sleeper

Legend

27,879 posts
May 10, 2012 3:18 PM
15% into retirement.
May 10, 2012 3:18pm
ZWICK 4 PREZ's avatar

ZWICK 4 PREZ

Senior Member

7,733 posts
May 10, 2012 3:26 PM
combined 30%

Both 10% into 401k and 5% into an IRA
We put into saving too but I don't really call that retirement.

I'm not sure how the IRA will work now though since we're married. we used to be able to put 5000 a year in, but I'm not sure if it's 5,000 total now or still 5,000 a person.
May 10, 2012 3:26pm
Commander of Awesome's avatar

Commander of Awesome

Senior Pwner

23,151 posts
May 10, 2012 3:28 PM
I thought I was doing pretty well at 8%.
May 10, 2012 3:28pm
Laley23's avatar

Laley23

GOAT

29,506 posts
May 10, 2012 3:29 PM
6%. Max that is matched (dollar for dollar) by employer. Dont make enough to put away money that wont be matched.
May 10, 2012 3:29pm
like_that's avatar

like_that

1st Team All-PWN

26,625 posts
May 10, 2012 3:29 PM
I had a good head start with my retirement savings, so currently as a fairly new employee I am at 5% with my tsp. I plan on increasing that in a few months though.
May 10, 2012 3:29pm
ZWICK 4 PREZ's avatar

ZWICK 4 PREZ

Senior Member

7,733 posts
May 10, 2012 3:30 PM
Laley23;1167112 wrote:6%. Max that is matched (dollar for dollar) by employer. Dont make enough to put away money that wont be matched.
Do they match with actual money or company stock?
May 10, 2012 3:30pm
J

jmog

Senior Member

6,567 posts
May 10, 2012 3:32 PM
ZWICK 4 PREZ;1167105 wrote:combined 30%

Both 10% into 401k and 5% into an IRA
We put into saving too but I don't really call that retirement.

I'm not sure how the IRA will work now though since we're married. we used to be able to put 5000 a year in, but I'm not sure if it's 5,000 total now or still 5,000 a person.
How can an engineer fail at math?

Z4P...if you both put 10% of your incomes away into 401ks, that doesn't mean you put 20% of your total income into 401ks...you are still puting 10%.

10% of 40k + 10% of 60k is still 10% of 100k.

I honestly don't know the answer to the IRA, I personally have just always stuck to the 5k to be safe from the auditors ;).
May 10, 2012 3:32pm
Laley23's avatar

Laley23

GOAT

29,506 posts
May 10, 2012 3:32 PM
ZWICK 4 PREZ;1167116 wrote:Do they match with actual money or company stock?
Actual money. But if you leave company before 5 years you only get 20% of it, in increments. So 20% if leave within a year, 40% for 2 years etc. After 5 with company, we will be able to leave with all the money.
May 10, 2012 3:32pm
J

jmog

Senior Member

6,567 posts
May 10, 2012 3:33 PM
Commander of Awesome;1167110 wrote:I thought I was doing pretty well at 8%.
You are, trust me, with nearly half of the country putting away 0, you are well above average!
May 10, 2012 3:33pm
ZWICK 4 PREZ's avatar

ZWICK 4 PREZ

Senior Member

7,733 posts
May 10, 2012 3:34 PM
jmog;1167121 wrote:How can an engineer fail at math?

Z4P...if you both put 10% of your incomes away into 401ks, that doesn't mean you put 20% of your total income into 401ks...you are still puting 10%.

10% of 40k + 10% of 60k is still 10% of 100k.

I honestly don't know the answer to the IRA, I personally have just always stuck to the 5k to be safe from the auditors ;).
We just got married a couple weeks ago so in my head its still separate. when I look at projected amounts it went from 10% to 20% lol
May 10, 2012 3:34pm
J

jmog

Senior Member

6,567 posts
May 10, 2012 3:34 PM
I personally max personal pretax contributions 401k ($17k) and IRA ($5k).

I also put a little more into a post tax IRA, but that one isn't nearly as much as the others.
May 10, 2012 3:34pm
J

jmog

Senior Member

6,567 posts
May 10, 2012 3:35 PM
ZWICK 4 PREZ;1167127 wrote:We just got married a couple weeks ago so in my head its still separate. when I look at projected amounts it went from 10% to 20% lol
Dumb SparkE :)
May 10, 2012 3:35pm
Iliketurtles's avatar

Iliketurtles

Senior Member

8,191 posts
May 10, 2012 3:35 PM
I put in 10%.
May 10, 2012 3:35pm
J

jmog

Senior Member

6,567 posts
May 10, 2012 3:37 PM
Once again the Ohio Chatter is apparently MUCH better than the national average...so far only 9% say they don't save for retirement compared to the 49% of Americans
May 10, 2012 3:37pm
S

Sonofanump

May 10, 2012 3:38 PM
I am near 13%, wife is near 10%. That will increase once mortgage is paid off.
May 10, 2012 3:38pm
ZWICK 4 PREZ's avatar

ZWICK 4 PREZ

Senior Member

7,733 posts
May 10, 2012 3:39 PM
jmog;1167134 wrote:Once again the Ohio Chatter is apparently MUCH better than the national average...so far only 9% say they don't save for retirement compared to the 49% of Americans
That's b/c I'm retarded. I need to change mine to still 15%
May 10, 2012 3:39pm
ZWICK 4 PREZ's avatar

ZWICK 4 PREZ

Senior Member

7,733 posts
May 10, 2012 3:42 PM
jmog;1167121 wrote:
I honestly don't know the answer to the IRA, I personally have just always stuck to the 5k to be safe from the auditors ;).
I just called and you can only put 5000 away if you're filly jointly; 10,000 separately. So now we're at 12.5%..keeps going down.
May 10, 2012 3:42pm
sleeper's avatar

sleeper

Legend

27,879 posts
May 10, 2012 3:44 PM
jmog;1167134 wrote:Once again the Ohio Chatter is apparently MUCH better than the national average...so far only 9% say they don't save for retirement compared to the 49% of Americans
Typically forum users are more intelligent/more responsible than the public at large. There are also slightly more 'right' leaning politically as well.
May 10, 2012 3:44pm
ZWICK 4 PREZ's avatar

ZWICK 4 PREZ

Senior Member

7,733 posts
May 10, 2012 3:47 PM
Laley23;1167122 wrote:Actual money. But if you leave company before 5 years you only get 20% of it, in increments. So 20% if leave within a year, 40% for 2 years etc. After 5 with company, we will be able to leave with all the money.
That's not bad at all.
May 10, 2012 3:47pm
FatHobbit's avatar

FatHobbit

Senior Member

8,651 posts
May 10, 2012 3:48 PM
I am currently putting in 0%. I used to contribute 10% (with a 6% company match) until we took a 10% paycut and I got married. We got 5% back and I'm using that to pay down debt. Once we get our debt paid off, or my wife finds a full time job I will switch back to 10%.

I also have some company stock and a small IRA. The IRA was on the advice of my idiot neighbor who was a "financial advisor" and had a can't miss stock. I bought $1200 worth and it dropped to ~$100. He had refinanced his house to buy more than $20k worth and he sold it all when it tanked, so that makes me feel slightly better about it. (buy high, sell low right?!?) It's back to $700 now and I'll be surprised if I ever get anything out of it.
May 10, 2012 3:48pm
sleeper's avatar

sleeper

Legend

27,879 posts
May 10, 2012 3:51 PM
FatHobbit;1167162 wrote:I am currently putting in 0%. I used to contribute 10% (with a 6% company match) until we took a 10% paycut and I got married. We got 5% back and I'm using that to pay down debt. Once we get our debt paid off, or my wife finds a full time job I will switch back to 10%.

I also have some company stock and a small IRA. The IRA was on the advice of my idiot neighbor who was a "financial advisor" and had a can't miss stock. I bought $1200 worth and it dropped to ~$100. He had refinanced his house to buy more than $20k worth and he sold it all when it tanked, so that makes me feel slightly better about it. (buy high, sell low right?!?) It's back to $700 now and I'll be surprised if I ever get anything out of it.
LOL @ can't miss stock. Never take stock recommendations from anyone, not even Buffet.
May 10, 2012 3:51pm
ZWICK 4 PREZ's avatar

ZWICK 4 PREZ

Senior Member

7,733 posts
May 10, 2012 3:53 PM
FatHobbit;1167162 wrote:I am currently putting in 0%. I used to contribute 10% (with a 6% company match) until we took a 10% paycut and I got married. We got 5% back and I'm using that to pay down debt. Once we get our debt paid off, or my wife finds a full time job I will switch back to 10%.

I also have some company stock and a small IRA. The IRA was on the advice of my idiot neighbor who was a "financial advisor" and had a can't miss stock. I bought $1200 worth and it dropped to ~$100. He had refinanced his house to buy more than $20k worth and he sold it all when it tanked, so that makes me feel slightly better about it. (buy high, sell low right?!?) It's back to $700 now and I'll be surprised if I ever get anything out of it.
I'd never invest with someone who thought there was such a thing as can't miss stock lol.
May 10, 2012 3:53pm
FatHobbit's avatar

FatHobbit

Senior Member

8,651 posts
May 10, 2012 3:53 PM
sleeper;1167168 wrote:LOL @ can't miss stock. Never take stock recommendations from anyone, not even Buffet.
At the very least the next time someone suggests a can't miss stock, I'm going to find out if he's an idiot before I buy.
May 10, 2012 3:53pm