How many late 20 somethings do you think are saving for retirement?

Question

I have started saving a couple hundred for retirement and want to know if i am ahead of the game or not? 30%, 50%, etc.

Answer 1

In Canada, 35% of people in the 25-34 age group have RRSP's. Personally, I started when I was 23.

Answer 2

ahead of the game? no...there are plenty with 40-50k by the time they are in their late 20's. You've missed your prime opportunity to grow...but you can still recover. Put 300/mnth in there starting now...

You'll end up with about 1.6 - 2.0 million when you're 67. About the same as if you had begun putting 200/mth in when you were 21. Think about that! 40 years of 300 or $144k of contributions versus 47 years of 200 or 112k. That 30k that you spent on beer over the last 7 years is coming back to haunt you.

Be careful who you listen to on here...the dope who said you'd have more in a ROTH then you would in an IRA is a moron. Think about it...you are putting LESS in each month or year because it's AFTER TAXES. How are you going to have MORE in at the tail end? And even if you put the same amount in (ignoring taxes) the amount you would have at the end would be the SAME!!! The benefit of the Roth is that the (typically) SMALLER amount that you have in the end is entirely non-taxable. Versus the LARGER amount being taxable. But since you don't have to take all of your money all at once...is it really an advantage? Only if you're tax rate NOW is lower than your tax rate THEN. For most of America that's not been the case in the past....even the recent past. And the SEP (not SEPA) is available only if you own your own business. And even then there are better plans available then a SEP. It's antiquated and not very beneficial for most.

Answer 3

If i had to guess i would say not that many.15 percent? I saw a report that half of all the baby boomers have less than 50 thousand saved for retirement not including the value of there home.

Answer 4

I started putting away when I was 22. (company 401K). I'm now 42, and no matter how much I save now, it won't put a sizable dent into what I was able to get in early. TIME is your biggest friend when putting away money.

I was just at a Martini bar on saturday night, and saw a lot of hip young 20-somethings enjoying the scene quaffing $14 martinis. I wonder how many of them can't affor to put away $100 or $200 a month?

Answer 5

Probably not ahead of the game, but most people aren't.
The younger you start, the better. I'm 15 and I save 38% of my salary towards retirement.

Answer 6

My conjecture is that not too many are saving up for retirement. Too many took out loans to go to overpriced schools and graduated with mickey mouse majors which landed them mediocre jobs. They are too busy paying off loans to save up. I know a graduate of UPenn who wasted money and time studying history and now is grinding it out.

I am so glad my dad convinced me not to be a psychology major. What a waste of money that would of been?

Never underestimate state schools. Best bang for the buck, although students are getting hosed over here in NJ. It's cheaper for a nj resident to be an out of state student at Arizona than be an instate at Rutgers.

Answer 7

Don't know. I didn't start until my 30's. You're smart to start so early, but don't forget when you retire you want to be able to look back on a full life. For example you might want to earmark some of your savings for travel. Security is important but not everything.

Answer 8

JoshJones,
Congratulations on your intelligence and ability to see past the next beer.
late 20's people probably less than 1% are doing anything for their future.
this is the reality, if your just put 2000$ a yr in your IRA (mutual funds) from 20 -29 at 62 you
have about 2.1million $$$ to suffer with.
of course if you open a Roth IRA and SEPA and fully fund those you'll have about 7 million$$
and about 25 more yrs to spend it .
OR you can pray Social Security is working.
my 14 yr old found out he only needs to fund his IRA from age 16 -20 to have 2.5 million$$ at 62.
hey visit DaveRamsey.com to learn more that college doesn't teach and bankers credit cards pray you never ever learn.

Answer 9

I'm 22 ( not really late 20's but will be there before I know it) and I have nothing towards retirement. I'm putting it all toward starting my own business!

Answer 10

Good for you! In Canada, most people start investing money in RRSPs with their first jobs. Not knowing what will become of the pensions we pay into by the time they retire makes it more important for you to be putting money aside.