What % of your income are you saving for retirement?

[rob]

Goes up and down each year and I am limited to 10% in my 401K. Most years we manage to max out both Roth's and some years we barely get anything into the Roth's. That makes me an outlier in this conversation but I think compared to most in the real world I do okay. It was far higher before we had kids & dropped to a single salary, so had a faster rate for a few years at the start where it was 40% or so.

[minesweep]

This earlier post took a poll

Mike

[WorkToLive]

We save 21.4% of gross into tax-deferred retirement accounts. This year we are using 25% of our gross pay to pay off our mortgage (ages 39/38). An additional 3.3% goes to college savings for our one child. Next year, our retirement savings percentage is slated to rise to at least 30% of gross.

[hoppy08520]

Struggling to get to 30% of gross. I am in my early forties. Last year was 20%, was around ~15% for several years before that, up from around 10% since I started working. If I can just keep this upward saving trend going...

[bottomfisher]

I'm very impressed with everyone here savings rates. I presume the rest of the US is not anywhere near this rate. I Googled it quickly but didn't see a straightforward answer/rate. My income varies month to month. But I'm only at about 10 - 12%. I personally could easily save more, but my wife seems to always have another major purchase of some sort or the other

[tacster]

Around 45% of gross, not including mortgage, extra mortgage payments, or employer 401k match.

[Johm221122]

25% of gross
John

[jvclark02]

60%

[Paul78]

nm nm nm

[dharrythomas]

I don't do the math:

10% of civilian job to Roth TSP
15% of Army Reserve salary to TSP (Roth option not available yet)
~2.5% of take-home to taxable
Max 2xRoth IRAs
90% of my mortgage is principal

50

And that doesn't include the 2 defined benefit pensions or the 5% match on the Civilian TSP

My wife thinks we're crazy.

When we get the house paid off, this year, I'm going to 15% Roth TSP and ~7.5% of take-home. The wife can spend the other 2/3 of the mortage/something to make us both happy.

[EmergDoc]

It varies a lot depending on what you use for the numerator and the denominator, but I'm usually between 20 and 30% toward retirement.

[pennstater2005]

10-15% for retirement. We are still saving for a kitchen remodel and paying down other debt so it will increase over the next few years.

[iceman99]

About 30% gross

[rr2]

I'm curious how those who save over 50% of gross do it. Taxes (federal+state+payroll) alone comprise about 20% of our gross income. Therefore total expenses must be less than 30% of gross income. Amazing!!!

[reggiesimpson]

Save as much as you can when you can. If thats 90% of income then so be it. As another poster said "Make hay while sun the shines"

[Grt2bOutdoors]

I'm curious how those who save over 50% of gross do it. Taxes (federal+state+payroll) alone comprise about 20% of our gross income. Therefore total expenses must be less than 30% of gross income. Amazing!!!

Sacrifice. My mother would always tell me "either you pay now or you pay later" - I took her advice and pay now. I've seen what happens to those who don't prepare, I want to avoid that.
It helps to have two incomes, live on the lower one, save the higher one. We live far below our means - still, it's important to have balance, I don't want to be that guy who was a miser and never enjoyed life.

[Grt2bOutdoors]

Save as much as you can when you can. If thats 90% of income then so be it. As another poster said "Make hay while sun the shines"

+1 - Thanks Reggie!

[blumby]

Wife and I are 25 - we save about 12-13% ourselves and my company contributes 10% (6% match and 4% in lieu of pension). I'm hoping to bump up my 401k contribution a few percent this year if we can swing it.

[rr2]

I'm curious how those who save over 50% of gross do it. Taxes (federal+state+payroll) alone comprise about 20% of our gross income. Therefore total expenses must be less than 30% of gross income. Amazing!!!

Sacrifice. My mother would always tell me "either you pay now or you pay later" - I took her advice and pay now. I've seen what happens to those who don't prepare, I want to avoid that.
It helps to have two incomes, live on the lower one, save the higher one. We live far below our means - still, it's important to have balance, I don't want to be that guy who was a miser and never enjoyed life.

Great advice. My grandparents lived with us and used to tell us stories (sometimes with financial morals) when I was little. In my mid-40s, I can still recall some of those parables.

I did go back and look at our budget which roughly looks like

Taxes (includes Federal+state+payroll) -- 20%
401K+IRA contributions -- 40%
Budgeted expenses -- 30%

The remaining 10% goes to mortgage prepayments and taxable savings for intermediate term needs.

[Juniormint]

Early twenties, single. And I save about 55% of gross just for retirement. I save another 5% for other items.

[wingnutty]

around 20-25% gross, age 32 with 2 kids and twins on the way.

Saving might get knocked down a bit with day care costs over the next few years

[crowd79]

The more I can save in my early years like right now at 33 years of age, the more time my money has to grow and compound later in life. Everyone should save every dime they can and sock it away into retirement in their 20's and 30's. I want to be able to have a good, comfortable retirement, and not worry about whether or not Social Security is there or not, because it probably won't be.

[reggiesimpson]

The more I can save in my early years like right now at 33 years of age, the more time my money has to grow and compound later in life. Everyone should save every dime they can and sock it away into retirement in their 20's and 30's. I want to be able to have a good, comfortable retirement, and not worry about whether or not Social Security is there or not, because it probably won't be.

+1 Smart thinking!

[Candor]

45 years old, single and just paid off the mortgage last month so that helped to bump it up to roughly 45% of gross. I'm conflicted as to whether I'm overdoing the savings because it would be nice to have some extra cash to travel and enjoy hobbies a little more but this place and ER.org help keep me on track. Only here would I feel like an underachiever. I better not kick the bucket early!

[BHCadet]

33% of gross earned incomes with one in college.

[bmelikia]

16.16% - doesn't include the match component of my 401k

Based on 2012 company match (Roth IRA + 401k + Company Match) = 27.0%

I'd like to increase contributions down the road but I am attempting to save more money towards the purchase of a first home for myself.

[bmelikia]

Early twenties, single. And I save about 55% of gross just for retirement. I save another 5% for other items.

Certainly good to save for retirement but don't forget to save for a house -->> of course, that only assumes you WANT to buy a house.

As the saying goes. . .don't put all your eggs in one basket.

But congrats on a good start.

[hoppy08520]

Only here would I feel like an underachiever

LOL! That's why I come here and Mr Money Mustache. Until a year ago I was smug about saving around 10-15%. I kept reading that Americans are saving around 1% so I must be doing ok, right? Then you read about all these Bogleheads saving 50% or more and you feel like you're a reckless materialist consumer. Thanks to this site I first figured out my investing and now I'm focusing on the spending/saving side of the equation.

[stoptothink]

I'm curious how those who save over 50% of gross do it. Taxes (federal+state+payroll) alone comprise about 20% of our gross income. Therefore total expenses must be less than 30% of gross income. Amazing!!!

Sacrifice. My mother would always tell me "either you pay now or you pay later" - I took her advice and pay now. I've seen what happens to those who don't prepare, I want to avoid that.
It helps to have two incomes, live on the lower one, save the higher one. We live far below our means - still, it's important to have balance, I don't want to be that guy who was a miser and never enjoyed life.

My overall expenses are less than $1k/month. Probably not a lot of people in my income bracket who have 3 roommates, commute almost exclusively by bike, literally never eat out, etc. Grew up very poor and then was a full-time college student for an entire decade, I see no reason to significantly change my lifestyle just because I now have a decent income...my ex-wife did not agree.

[zaboomafoozarg]

About 50% of gross, give or take a few.

[WhiskeyJ]

I went from 50% when I was single and 35 to about 10% over three years after getting married and having two kids in a short time period. Sometimes I think we over did it on the house (4 times as expensive as the one we were renting 5 years ago), although only 15% of our gross goes toward the mortgage payment. Daycare for two is quite pricey.

[texasdiver]

We max out two 403(b) accounts, two Roths, and a family HSA. That comes to about about 25% of gross. No employer matches but my wife's employer puts an amount equal to about 8-10% of her salary into a separate profit sharing account and my employer has a decent defined benefit pension. With both of those included we are probably at around 40% of gross.

[Sriracha]

It varies a lot depending on what you use for the numerator and the denominator, but I'm usually between 20 and 30% toward retirement.

I hear you on that first part, E-doc!

[dianna]

Depends on self-employment income each year, but we max Big-Company 401k, self-employed 401k (to max allowable; this year $51,000), Backdoor Roth 401k, HSA, Coverdell. Then contribute to taxable accounts, 529s, etc from there. House scheduled for early payoff.

One may say that Coverdells and 529s aren't really for retirement, but contributing to those now does mean lower expenses during retirement, which is why I still listed them here.

Generally, 20-25% for specific retirement plans; estimate up to 35% if one includes educational plans.

[grokzilla]

25% for me in a SEP and about 20% for the wife in tax deferred. Then we vary the taxable each year but usually another 15-20%. Total is about 35% or so. We're 42.

[HornedToad]

Counting company match it's around or just under~15%.

A good chunk of savings right now is just general/taxable savings instead of for retirement.

[555]

67%

[Padlin]

This says a lot about the disposable income level of the members. Most younger couples I know are in the area of 10% even with company matches. Percentages rise towards 30% as others near retirement, spending drops and income rises.

[Bustoff]

We are retired now, but we always maxed out our 401k's and then saved about the same amount on top of that.
We were "dink's" so that allowed us to save much more than our friends with chitlins.

[Call_Me_Op]

Approximately 68% of gross.

[skylar]

Discounting the HSA savings, about 60%. With the HSA, about 67%.

Skylar

[boknows]

I'm curious how those who save over 50% of gross do it. Taxes (federal+state+payroll) alone comprise about 20% of our gross income. Therefore total expenses must be less than 30% of gross income. Amazing!!!

Sacrifice. My mother would always tell me "either you pay now or you pay later" - I took her advice and pay now. I've seen what happens to those who don't prepare, I want to avoid that.
It helps to have two incomes, live on the lower one, save the higher one. We live far below our means - still, it's important to have balance, I don't want to be that guy who was a miser and never enjoyed life.

Sacrifice and/or higher income. Seeing as we just did our taxes last night, here's our situation:

~$150k gross income
5,964 State Tax
17,723 Federal Tax
~$9300 SS tax
~$2175 medicate tax
~$1300 in health insurance premiums
Roughly $113k net

To save 50% gross, you're saving $75k (which includes employer matches) and living off ~$40-55k (depending on those matches). Not entirely impossible.

[LowER]

About 55% of post-tax and post-403/457/Roth contributions which are maxed. I'm in my late 40s.

[Go Blue 99]

For retirement, we do 15% of gross including vested employer match.

We also save another 10% of gross for other things (future baby expenses, business investments, etc).

[aceoperations]

We're a single income household, and save about 33-38% of gross income into tax-advantaged accounts and i-bonds.

[Bacchus01]

I look at it both gross and net.

Included in the "savings" I include: 401K contribtion, 401K match, after-tax investment contributions, and principal payments on two homes. I do look at my homes as retirement as I plan to liquidate both of them at retirement.

Of net take-home pay, the above is 85%.
Of gross pay, the above is 55%

I don't calculate it on total income (investment returns) but if I did, it would be higher since 100% of investment returns are re-invested.

I am 39, married, and have 3 kids who are 4, 7, and 11.

[Bacchus01]

I'm curious how those who save over 50% of gross do it. Taxes (federal+state+payroll) alone comprise about 20% of our gross income. Therefore total expenses must be less than 30% of gross income. Amazing!!!

Having a very high gross income helps.

[scone]

I'm curious how those who save over 50% of gross do it. Taxes (federal+state+payroll) alone comprise about 20% of our gross income. Therefore total expenses must be less than 30% of gross income. Amazing!!!

I'm not going to lie to you, it's not fun. Thrift shop furniture, used books, cheap clothes, cheap haircuts, cheap restaurants, cheap food, cheap wine, old cars, a new computer once a decade. We do most of the work around the place ourselves-- I have my own chain saw. We sleep on a mattress on the floor. We have no curtains, no rugs, few pictures or ornaments. We keep the heat way down, take short showers. We had a cheap wedding. No engagement ring. My wedding band is a silver one I bought for $15 at Kroger's, on sale. When we do go on "vacations," it's usually to a relative's funeral.

We've been living like this for more than 20 years. The upside is, we're pretty much financially independent. The downside is, it's often downright uncomfortable and constraining. I'm actually embarrassed to have guests. I think if we had saved a little less and invested a little more, instead of just staying in cash, we would be in better shape now, financially and psychologically. So, FWIW, my advice is to invest-- don't spend your entire life eating peanut butter and reusing tea bags!

[hoppy08520]

I'm curious how those who save over 50% of gross do it. Taxes (federal+state+payroll) alone comprise about 20% of our gross income. Therefore total expenses must be less than 30% of gross income. Amazing!!!

I'm not going to lie to you, it's not fun. Thrift shop furniture, used books, cheap clothes, cheap haircuts, cheap restaurants, cheap food, cheap wine, old cars, a new computer once a decade. We do most of the work around the place ourselves-- I have my own chain saw. We sleep on a mattress on the floor. We have no curtains, no rugs, few pictures or ornaments. We keep the heat way down, take short showers. We had a cheap wedding. No engagement ring. My wedding band is a silver one I bought for $15 at Kroger's, on sale. When we do go on "vacations," it's usually to a relative's funeral.

We've been living like this for more than 20 years. The upside is, we're pretty much financially independent. The downside is, it's often downright uncomfortable and constraining. I'm actually embarrassed to have guests. I think if we had saved a little less and invested a little more, instead of just staying in cash, we would be in better shape now, financially and psychologically. So, FWIW, my advice is to invest-- don't spend your entire life eating peanut butter and reusing tea bags!

Scone, thank you, your post was quite humorous, thank you for the perspective. I have been trying to get much thriftier in the last year. While I haven't reused tea bags, I have been known to brew a second pot of coffee with the same used coffee grounds as the first pot...now that's a sacrifice!

[Harold]

I'm curious how those who save over 50% of gross do it. Taxes (federal+state+payroll) alone comprise about 20% of our gross income. Therefore total expenses must be less than 30% of gross income. Amazing!!!

Having a very high gross income helps.

It doesn't even need to be very high, nor does it need to be a sad life of deprivation.

It pretty much comes down to recognizing how inexpensive the true basic needs are, and recognizing how little consumption has to do with happiness. That true number is pretty low (by our standards, but not by statistical income measures), say $30K. When someone knows how to live on $30K (or whatever the number is) and realizes that spending more than that isn't "living better" -- then it's easy to save big amounts when the incomes are $60K, $70K, $100K, etc.