How much (percent of salary) do you save every year? And Honest feedback on whether or not I doing okay?

Question

Currently, my wife and I (we are both 36 yrs old) save about 25% of our combined salary of 120k per year, which is 30k a year we save into our 401k and roth ira accounts. This is a lot of money but I just feel so insecure about whether or not we are saving enough for retirement (our goal is to be out of the workforce and rat race when we are both 55 yrs old). Our investments are split up in mid caps, large caps, international funds,etc. So far, we have about 382k saved up (300k in 401k and roth ira and the rest in checking and money market account at our bank). We currently have zero debts and no children and both our cars are paid off and are relatively in new condition. However, we are planning soon to have kids (2 at most) and buy a house somewhere around 350k price range. So I just want to know whether or not my wife and I will be able to retire at 55 yrs old and have house paid off and kids taken care of (at least in terms of a decent education). Thanks!

Answer 1

I have no idea about if you'll have enough to retire or not.
I think saving 25% Of your combined income is great but if you're buying a home or having kids, you need to consider a few things. What if one of you lose your job? Will you be able to support your lifestyle including making house payments? Will you or you wife want to stay home full or part time after kids? Even if you say no, you might have to if the child is ill or handicapped. And if you both work, you'll have daycare expenses, which can be a lot more than you think!

So my advice is to buy a home in a price range less than you think you can afford (our home was about $50k less than what we could "afford"). Make sure you put a minimum of 20% down on the home. Pay more than required on your mortgage each month. You'd be surprised how much you can save in interest over the life of the loan by even paying as little as an extra $100 a month towards principal. It really shaves off years.
Maximize your 401k to the full extent that your employer will match (and I love Roth's too). Personally, and I do not work or know much about investing btw, but I prefer to do the international funds. They seem to be doing well right now.

There's really no predicting the future of the economy and retirement ages. I feel like even though I have a nice savings and retirement, I'll have to work forever thanks to taxes and rising health care costs.
But you're doing FAR better in savings and debt control than the rest of the nation. I've been told that most Americans don't even have enough savings to pay for one months bills if they lost their job. Sad, isn't it? They be surprised how much they'd save if they gave up cable tv, cell phones, and beer for a month. It all adds up, you know?
But it sounds like you and your wife will be fine for both short and long term. Best wishes to you!

Answer 2

You are right on... We too save / put away / invest approx. 25% and more when there is extra cash laying around.

When you decide to have kids, DO NOT let anyone tell you that have to stop saving now. You can still do this even with kids. Pay attention to what you are buying for the kids... kids need parents, not all the other crap that people think money can buy!

You can go to msn money central, there they have a saving calculator to see how much you will need to, how much you want, or how much you should put away to achieve your goal.

The formula for living off the interest of any investment is soooo simple. Say you have $1,000,000 saved in an account by retirement. You simply drop a zero and divide by two to get the amount of interest you will get off the principal, which in this case will be $50,000 annually

>> $1,000,000 drop a zero = 100,000, divide by 2 = $50.000 <<

Can you live off $50,000 in retirement ? If not then you need to plan on saving more. Run through the calculator at msnmoneycentral.com and get a better picture!

Way to go on doing so well !

Answer 3

You are doing great. I (at 46) just got a Roth and put away $100 per month. (I was a stay at home mom up until 6 yrs ago). I heard that if you make one extra house payment, it will go directly into principle and help you pay off your house much quicker. I doubled my payments (when I could) and it worked.