What percentage do you contribute to your retirement plan?

Discussion in '401k, IRA and Retirement' started by Francy, May 21, 2014.

  1. Francy

    Francy Active Member

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    What percentage do you contribute to you retirement plan? Are you aggressive or laid back? Do you increase it later in life or start out right away?
     
  2. crimsonghost747

    crimsonghost747 Senior Investor

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    My investments are my retirement plan. No fixed percentage, I invest the money that I don't use for everyday living.
     
  3. JR Ewing

    JR Ewing Super Moderator Staff Member

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    I max them out every year - I contribute a fixed amount each week and invest moderately aggressively.

    I usually put quite a bit more into my main investment account that has no annual contribution limits.
     
  4. SteakTartare

    SteakTartare Senior Investor

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    We max out our IRAs. I used to have a Defined Benefits plan through my employer, but it was discontinued, so I am looking at other ways of stashing retirement funds. My wife also has a pension plan and a 503(b) that we contribute to.
     
  5. nmb

    nmb Member

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    I determine the percentage I contribute to my 401k based on the amount my company is willing to match. Right now, they will match up to 5%, which is what I have elected to contribute for this year :)
     
  6. pot_star

    pot_star Member

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    I'm a laid back type of saver. I don't save that much because I value my lifestyle more. I don't want to get to the point where in I'd have to endure my hunger and sacrifice my happiness just to save a certain amount of money. I just need to discipline myself and set a proper mind set that whatever it takes, 10% of my salary would go straight to my savings. I'm not in a hurry anyway since I started early. Being cheap and being frugal are two different things. I just need to live within my means and not go overspending to keep my plans on track.
     
  7. crimsonghost747

    crimsonghost747 Senior Investor

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    This is something that I had problems with earlier on. I used to spend as little as I could and invest as much as I could. Seemed logical since that way both my available capital as well as my income increased. The idea of course is that in X amount of years I'd have a lot more money to do what ever I want to do with it. But yeah, current lifestyle is very important too, I've realised that now.
     
  8. Silver

    Silver Active Member

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    It all depends on the amount of any given debit purchase I make. When I use my card, one dollar goes into a fund which will eventually be transferred into a 401k. Right now I'm averaging 5% of what I spend, not what I make.
     
  9. LittleMissMia

    LittleMissMia Guest

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    I try to do 5% of what I make. I'm thinking of increasing the percentage but I think that for now, 5% is fine. Is this about average for everyone else?
     
  10. Kate

    Kate Senior Investor

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    I *want* to have a goal of 10%... it's not happening right now because we really need to do better than what the employer offers. I've been basically saving / investing on my own and doing just 1 or 2% on the 401k at work. They've not been handling it so well, so just biding some time here.

    I'm not aggressive when it comes to retirement. I've watched too many people thinking they were all set for a comfortable retirement and it just didn't turn out that way after some huge losses. I might be aggressive with other things, but not the retirement fund itself. The safer the better with that.
     

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