Ask HN: How old are you and how much do you have saved for retirement? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How old are you and how much do you have saved for retirement?

#21

Post by randomopining » Thu, Oct 07, 2021, 8:15 PM UTC

ixacto wrote: post #11

220k in Roth, early 30s. Should be about 5-15MM USD in the late 2050s with an inflation adjusted rate of return of ~8% and an annual contribution of about $6000, also increasing annually (math works). This should take me way beyond the point at which the marginal utility of money tapers off. It's really not that difficult to get wealthy(ish) in this country if you think ahead a few decades, but most people are not go…

How much was your employer's match? I do the minimum to get the match, which is 6%.

How did you save >100% of your income at your parents?

Re: Ask HN: How old are you and how much do you have saved for retirement?

#22

Post by randomopining » Thu, Oct 07, 2021, 8:29 PM UTC

aureli wrote: post #18

VirusNewbie wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could work for like, one year, bank it all and then in about five years you'd be rich... seems weird to not do that.

That's what I did. Billed similar numbers for a few years, saved 80% - 90%, and am now financially independent in my late 20s.

What was your financial independence level? I figure not working at all is probably boring... so getting to a point where you have enough to quit when/if you want is probably the goal.

Re: Ask HN: How old are you and how much do you have saved for retirement?

#23

Post by randomopining » Thu, Oct 07, 2021, 8:33 PM UTC

29.

401k - about 60k. Don't really care about the 401k much, can't touch it for a long time, but ill take the match.

Debt - none

HSA - 9k

Investments - nearly 300k total. mostly crypto, stocks, and about 20% is cash (should probably throw that in too).

No car. No house. No family.

Re: Ask HN: How old are you and how much do you have saved for retirement?

#24

Post by deanmoriarty » Thu, Oct 07, 2021, 8:39 PM UTC

35. $3.5M liquid and $4M illiquid pre IPO stock from a previous employer. Started from $0 and got it by working in tech/finance as a software engineer and investing in VTSAX.

Re: Ask HN: How old are you and how much do you have saved for retirement?

#25

Post by retirementhway » Thu, Oct 07, 2021, 8:45 PM UTC

24 years old, NW is ~300K. That's about 30k in cash, 200k invested into VTI and VT, and 70k in 401k.

I achieved this by becoming a FAANG software engineer right out of college. By my projections, and assuming no major world events occur to knock my plans off course, I should be a millionaire by 28/29 and will be able to retire by my mid/late 30s. However, the more and more I work, the more I realize that I really enjoy what I do, so we will see what happens.

Re: Ask HN: How old are you and how much do you have saved for retirement?

#26

Post by ixacto » Thu, Oct 07, 2021, 9:51 PM UTC

randomopining wrote: post #21

ixacto wrote: post #11

220k in Roth, early 30s. Should be about 5-15MM USD in the late 2050s with an inflation adjusted rate of return of ~8% and an annual contribution of about $6000, also increasing annually (math works). This should take me way beyond the point at which the marginal utility of money tapers off. It's really not that difficult to get wealthy(ish) in this country if you think ahead a few decades, but most people are not go…

How much was your employer's match? I do the minimum to get the match, which is 6%. How did you save >100% of your income at your parents?

It was either 5 or 6 match into vanguard, which is ok but not great. I saved 105% of my income for a couple years as they paid for all my living expenses including food, although I went shopping to get groceries and cooked for them. Also this was not the tech industry…

I carpooled to work so that was also free. The only thing I spent money on was a couple new iphones and alcohol/dates/entertainment, which was paid with through churning maaaany credit cards.

I’m very grateful for that, and would show them my retirement account every once in awhile to prove that I wasn’t blowing my paycheck on stupid stuff.

The only real problem is that it didn’t really work because housing prices have increased much faster than the market so now I need like 1-1.5MM if I ever want to buy a decent house by Seattle and don’t really have that.

Re: Ask HN: How old are you and how much do you have saved for retirement?

#27

Post by giantg2 » Thu, Oct 07, 2021, 10:03 PM UTC

admissionsguy wrote: post #19

giantg2 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$20k per month? What do you do?

Run-of-the-mill full-stack + mobile web development + a tiny bit of DevOps. I am decent at understanding and solving business problems, and very efficient (and all around brilliant, let's be honest), but otherwise I don't feel like I'm doing anything special, technically. For the most part. Note 20k is $125/hour at 100% utilization, which I find rather easy to achieve. I had spent years at $40/h, then upped to $60-70…

I guess I'm just in the wrong part of the industry then. It seems $250k per year work is rare, at least outside of a few specific markets.

Re: Ask HN: How old are you and how much do you have saved for retirement?

#28

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Oct 07, 2021, 10:11 PM UTC

admissionsguy wrote: post #19

giantg2 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$20k per month? What do you do?

Run-of-the-mill full-stack + mobile web development + a tiny bit of DevOps. I am decent at understanding and solving business problems, and very efficient (and all around brilliant, let's be honest), but otherwise I don't feel like I'm doing anything special, technically. For the most part. Note 20k is $125/hour at 100% utilization, which I find rather easy to achieve. I had spent years at $40/h, then upped to $60-70…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How old are you and how much do you have saved for retirement?

#29

Post by endisneigh » Thu, Oct 07, 2021, 11:18 PM UTC

what's the point of this question other than dick measuring? age isn't really a relevant variable as people have had different opportunities, born in different situations, etc.

Re: Ask HN: How old are you and how much do you have saved for retirement?

#30

Post by pelagicAustral » Thu, Oct 07, 2021, 11:28 PM UTC

I'm like 34 and I think I'm worth like £12k. No kids, no waifu, no gf.

I started really late in life but I hope to build a house next year, already got the land and I think its going to be brilliant, after that I'll just continue to work, pay my mortgage, have a nice holiday every few years, drink a few beers and then expect to die alone, just like everyone else, since the beginning of time.

I do care to have that cushion-fund to allow me to get over hard times, other than that I think having death insurance is wise so you can pay for your own gravestone and maybe have an Elvis impersonator sing Amazing Grace. Which is kind of like an odd idea since I tell people they're 'not invited to my funeral' as much as I can.

In the end, it doesn't matter... as long as you've got enough for the odd BBQ with friends, the staycation, the nice steak dinner, laughs and help a friend or family here and there... Enjoy life folks, remember, you can end up in a grave with a million bucks in your bank account any single day of the lord...