When did you start saving for Retirement

[disneysteve]

I agree 2% or 3% is far too low. But better than nothing saved at all, right?

I think a higher base, perhaps 5%, and an auto increase every 6 months up to 10% would be the way to go.

Is 2% better than nothing? I suppose. But it's certainly not better than actually educating people about why 15% is what they really need to be saving. Someone who only saves 2% their whole career is going to be pretty unhappy when they're still having to work full time when they're 85.

[gregb]

big saver

I started saving right out of college - 37 years ago. At 22, I wrote out a year-by-year financial goal, which had me retiring at 47. While that did not happen (I'm 59), that plan drove me to where I am now

I am CFO of a small privately held company.

Savings always came before consumption, especially in the early years, since compound interest is so powerful on a dollar saved 30 years ago. I always made sure to max out the pretax accounts and take the full employer match.

As my earnings rose, I made sure that my lifestyle did not rise as fast, which accelerated my savings rate more. There were years where I earned $150k but only spent $35k

Today - I have accumulated $4.3 million of liquid assets (stocks,bonds,funds and cash) with only a $130k mortgage balance. I am retiring in 2 months.

My point is that I was once like most of the younger people in this thread, in that I had to get my arms around my personal finances as far out as 40 years. But believe me, the time flies by, and if you make a plan and stick with it, you will get there - and it won't be as daunting as you thought when you started. Stay the course!

[cornfieldj]

I think a higher base, perhaps 5%, and an auto increase every 6 months up to 10% would be the way to go.

Is 2% better than nothing? I suppose. But it's certainly not better than actually educating people about why 15% is what they really need to be saving. Someone who only saves 2% their whole career is going to be pretty unhappy when they're still having to work full time when they're 85.

I hear conflicting things in the industry. Just got a press release from T. Rowe Price that says they see more employers going for an initial automatic default of 6%. If you search you can read this story on Yahoo Finance.

I don't think you'll see a 2 x a year increase - because employers are so often very afraid their workers are going to freak out when they see smaller paychecks. But I do think you'll see more annual increases. And of course people are always free to make these changes themselves.

It would be great to see more companies educating their workforce on how to best use the plan and save for retirement.

[ronb]

Employer mandated automatic 401k deductions make sense from a wealth building standpoint, but do we really want to allow that kind of paternalism? Why not just redeclare slavery and call it good?

[Outdoorsygal]

Just started saving for retirement these past few months. Prior we owed alot in CC bills due to medical bills from decades ago put on CC. We live in California

Age 47
$60,000 saved
$50,000 land. It will likely go up in value since it is the last parcel available to build on located close to the downtown.

We'll have $160 thousand more saved (inheritance) within 2 yrs. This amount + the land is designated for our son's inheritance.

We just paid off all of our CC bills from medical issues decades ago. I am saving $700 per month /$8400 yr plus whatever is in my HSA account ($3350 per year)

We will save some $ for our future grandchildren(s) inheritance also

.

[rob62521]

In 1984 I had a job I never knew when I would get laid off, but I put money aside and opened an IRA at a bank. I didn't know much about retirement accounts. A couple of years later I met a financial advisor at church. We talked and I made an appointment to meet with him and started a 403b at 27.