What percentage of my income should be put in my 401(k)?

Question

I make about $35,000 a year. I can't decide on what percent I should contribute. I don't want to go too low, but I also want a decent paycheck.

Answer 1

To be forthright, your question can't accurately be answered with the information you provided.

Although I could just throw out a number or a percentage, the first issue is if you can afford to put money in your 401k, or not.

Small differences in financial planning can produce vastly different results 30 years down the road. Given your comment that "I don't want to go to low, but I also want a decent paycheck.", I would be inclined to recommend that you add information to include your age, your debt (if any), the amount you save each month or the amount you save each year, how much you already have saved or invested, and if invested where (company or type of investment, i.e. "mutual funds, index funds, T-Bill", or whatever.) and how much you expect to make each year until you retire.

This is semi-personal information, but debt needs to be paid before saving, and saving needs to be started before retirement investing. A working budget is key to this, and you run the risk of allocating money to a retirement account when you can't afford it.

The reason I bring this up is that the penalty for early withdrawal of retirement funds carries a hefty penalty - which is entirely avoidable, by having a working budget that doesn't put too much into retirement investing accounts.

Other people have already mentioned the benefits of employer matched contributions (i.e. free money) and as long as you don't have any debt - You should contribute to whatever amount your employer will match.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

I think it's important to save 10% to 15% of your income for retirement.

Should it all go into the 401(k)? I don't think so. I'd recommend you capture you're employer's match (probably requires you to contribute 6%). I'd then take at least 4% of your income and put that into a Roth IRA.

For some strange reason, I think you'll enjoy having a tax free Roth IRA when you retire. You'll have long since forgot that you didn't receive a tax deduction for the contributions.

Answer 3

Financial experts advise that you put in the amount of your employer match. Grab it ... it's free money. If your employer doesn't match; however, you may want to consider a Roth IRA which is after tax money. The reason for this is that our taxes are relatively low these days so when you withdraw your money in the future, it may be at a higher tax rate. What's the benefit of a 401K being tax deferred until you need it if now you are at a 25% rate and when you need it, you are at a 32% tax rate??? But, put whatever you can put in because you can always adjust later in life. I recently found that I cannot take out my 401K even if I pay penalties unless I were to quit my job or roll to another plan. Make sure you read the fine print of your plan. My money is stuck there until I am 59-1/2, which is another 11 years, unless I am terminated from employment.

Answer 4

No matter your income, 35% saved toward retirement if you want to continue current lifestyle once retirement is reached. If all you have for this event is your 401, then all 35% should go there. If you have other vehicles carrying your retirement plans, then divide that 35% of your income into all those investments.

Answer 5

The earlier you start to save the better. Check out this chart:

http://daveramsey.com/etc/cms/index.cfm?intContentid=64

Notice, Ben never invests another dime beyond age 26. He just lets the compound interest do its job (and Arthur never catches up).

So my advice - save as much as you can as early as you can. And certainly, if your company offers ANY match, put in at least enough to get the match.

Answer 6

Does your employer match any of it?

Mine matches $ fo $ up to a 4% contribution so thats what I choose.
4%... since he is matching that means I'm making 100% interest on my money.

Answer 7

As much as you can afford, as early as possible.

This is a critical decision. For many of us, there's no way we can go back in time to get an earlier start on investing. If you have the time, i.e. start young, and have discipline to save, then stock market investments offer huge possibilities.

Answer 8

At the very least, the same percentage your employer will match. Above that, 10% is good, but the more the better.

Answer 9

It really depends upon how old you are. If you are in your 20's to early 30's I would say try to save $7-10k. If you are older say in your late 30's to 40's go for at least 10k to the max.

Answer 10

i contribute 4% myself, but it really depends on several factors. if you are married and spouse also contributes to a 401k, your age, and whether the company you work for offers to match your contribution. my company has a financial advisor that we can make an appointment with for advise--i would start there.