How much do you contribute to your 401k?

Home Archive Serious Business How much do you contribute to your 401k?
OneBuckeye's avatar

OneBuckeye

Senior Member

5,888 posts
Jan 5, 2010 9:37 AM
Simple question. What other retirement investments do you have? Roth IRA, Pension, Real Estate?

I only contribute up to what the company matches and put more into a Roth IRA. I still feel like that big number you need to have when you retire will be hard to reach.
Jan 5, 2010 9:37am
FatHobbit's avatar

FatHobbit

Senior Member

8,651 posts
Jan 5, 2010 9:43 AM
I only contribute what the company matches. No other investment contributions at the moment. (I do have a Roth IRA that my neighbor convinced me to invest in, but the stock selection was shady and it's worth next to nothing now.)
Jan 5, 2010 9:43am
justincredible's avatar

justincredible

Nick Mangold

32,056 posts
Jan 5, 2010 9:51 AM
I'm another that only contributes what I need to get the maximum match from the company. I'm gonna start contributing into my IRA that I rolled my old 401k's into at some point.
Jan 5, 2010 9:51am
F

fan_from_texas

Senior Member

2,693 posts
Jan 5, 2010 9:52 AM
I contribute to the limit, primarily for tax reasons. I also contribute to a Roth while I can. Currently, our primary means of "saving" for retirement, though, is paying off our student loans. Once those are gone, we'll get more serious about investing.
Jan 5, 2010 9:52am
j_crazy's avatar

j_crazy

7 gram rocks. how i roll.

8,372 posts
Jan 5, 2010 9:57 AM
I do 15% for 6 months and 10% for 6 months. This keeps be below the limit for contributions. What's wierd is if I contribute at least 2% the company contributes 8%, if I contribute 10%, they still only contribute 8%, so a lot of guys my age are only doing 2% now and letting the company match 8%.
Jan 5, 2010 9:57am
McFly1955's avatar

McFly1955

Senior Member

1,441 posts
Jan 5, 2010 9:58 AM
Was around 7%, just lowered it to 5% --- company-wide salary freeze for this year until at least mid-year....We are doing well but they are being cautious. Income staying the same, cost of everything else is going up......I'm not eligible for a match either until June, so everything I've been deferring has been just me...

Wife and I are only 23 and well ahead of our goals at this time, so I'm fine with the temporary decrease.
Jan 5, 2010 9:58am
Q

queencitybuckeye

Senior Member

7,117 posts
Jan 5, 2010 10:00 AM
^^^^ Congrats on being wise enough to start that young. You'll be very comfortable at a pretty young age.
Jan 5, 2010 10:00am
HitsRus's avatar

HitsRus

Senior Member

9,206 posts
Jan 5, 2010 10:43 AM
We started late so we max out. I am the 'company' LOL so it does me little good to match....in fact we pay each employee a 3% safe harbor contribution. Most of my employees put nothing else away.

We came out of the crash pretty good. Dollar cost averaging really works...actually I wish the market would have stayed low for a little longer so we could have piled up some cheap shares of mutual funds. When the market was low, we were getting double the shares for our money, so when the market went back up to 10,000 all the ones we bought at 6500 went up 50%. All in all, our portfolio adjusted for our contributions is up about 4% despite the crash....better than I would have got if I would have pulled everything out at the peak and went with cash or CD's. Of course, Gold would have done better.LOL
Jan 5, 2010 10:43am
ZWICK 4 PREZ's avatar

ZWICK 4 PREZ

Senior Member

7,733 posts
Jan 5, 2010 10:46 AM
OneBuckeye wrote: Simple question. What other retirement investments do you have? Roth IRA, Pension, Real Estate?

I only contribute up to what the company matches and put more into a Roth IRA. I still feel like that big number you need to have when you retire will be hard to reach.
Did you not contribute at the end of the year?
Jan 5, 2010 10:46am
OneBuckeye's avatar

OneBuckeye

Senior Member

5,888 posts
Jan 5, 2010 10:51 AM
I contributed the same % even though it wasn't being matched. You?
Jan 5, 2010 10:51am
ZWICK 4 PREZ's avatar

ZWICK 4 PREZ

Senior Member

7,733 posts
Jan 5, 2010 10:55 AM
OneBuckeye wrote: I contributed the same % even though it wasn't being matched. You?
I dropped it down to 6%. I thought about dropping it completely but did not.
Jan 5, 2010 10:55am
Thunder70's avatar

Thunder70

Senior Member

748 posts
Jan 5, 2010 11:12 AM
I contribute 6% because that's what my company matches...
Jan 5, 2010 11:12am
Mr. 300's avatar

Mr. 300

Senior Member

3,090 posts
Jan 5, 2010 12:26 PM
At 9%, with match at 6%. The wife is at 10%, not sure on their match??
Jan 5, 2010 12:26pm
J

jmog

Senior Member

6,567 posts
Jan 5, 2010 12:38 PM
To the 401k I contribute to the tax limits.

As more funds become available as I get some debts paid off and the like, I'll start contributing to my IRA again, but for now its just moving with the market.
Jan 5, 2010 12:38pm
S

slingshot4ever

Senior Member

4,085 posts
Jan 5, 2010 10:00 PM
I just have a 401k. My company matches 50 cents to a dollar up to 6%, meaning they only give a max of 3%. I put in 10% plus the 3% from the company for a total of 13%. I am 27 years old. So I feel like I am in good shape for when I want to retire.
Jan 5, 2010 10:00pm
Cat Food Flambe''s avatar

Cat Food Flambe'

Senior Member

1,230 posts
Jan 5, 2010 11:24 PM
Both wife and I put away the full amount that our employers will match, and not one cent more. Any extra we have (half of any bonuses or windfalls, and -soon- the money we've shelling out for college tuition) goes into the self-directed IRA's we rolled over from our previous jobs.

Much as like my employer, I don't want them between myself and any of more of my money that is absolutely necessary.
Jan 5, 2010 11:24pm