r/Retirement401k

Edit: Thank you to everyone who replied with constructive feedback and advice, I am going to work on a strategy to demonstrate and show him the benefits, and possibly loop in someone else with experience.

I went to college, was born mid-middle class and taught from a young age the importance of saving, budgeting, etc. from my parents who, ironically, have horrible finances, terrible credit score, etc. but despite all of that, they have set me up to be very successful (imo). They took on loans to put me through college, and as a result I’ve made 6 figures+ since I was 26yo, I’m not rich, but I’m better off than most. But I come from a place of privilege, especially compared with my husband, and I think it’s necessary to acknowledge that.

My husband (40M) has a very different life experience. He was raised in a very low income household, I don’t know much about his dad, but his mom used to work 3 jobs at a time, and is now disabled, but she never went to school (not even first grade). He has dual citizenship but moved to the US when he was in middle school. He’s worked with family from a young age, dropped out of high school, and has been working ever since. Despite a lack of formal education, he is very intelligent, very hard working and that’s reflected in the fact that he makes ~100k in a managerial role, but never graduated HS or got a GED. He is financially competent, because he managed to buy a house when he was 22. Honestly, had he not done this, we would be financially much worse off because most apartment rentals are twice what our mortgage is. The trade off is, he only has about 12k in his 401k and he had about $40k in cc debt when we got married but we’ve paid that off and haven’t had issues since - he truly was just using them to get by.

We share finances, but he adamantly refuses to contribute to a 401k because he said he doesn’t believe in them, and thinks it’s better to just save money on a traditional savings account at the bank - he is against me having one also. I am whole heartedly against this line of thinking because if you’re saving money in a savings account, you’re losing money to inflation. And I’m at a disadvantage because of age… he’s 8 years older than me so he’s got 8 years minimum of retirement where he won’t have to worry about not having money because I’ll still be working. And potentially, I will have several years where I have to live without him, and if we don’t have retirement, I’m screwed. If I pass before him, he won’t have retirement and he’s screwed and I don’t want that either. If I try to bring it up, he shuts the conversation down. I know it comes from a place of not wanting to put money into something you don’t understand, and it’s easier to stick with what you know, than to learn about investing.

We save $1000/mo in a traditional savings account and I’ve convinced him to let me manage that account so I keep some money untouched, easy to access and stagger the rest in CDs so we can bear-minimum compete with inflation. The balance on that account is only at $35k which isn’t even 6 months of expenses (we live in CA everything is expensive ifyky). At this rate idk how anyone can expect to save enough to cover retirement.

This is where I need advice… basically I’ve been going behind his back since we’ve been together and been contributing to my 401k… I contribute $1500/mo and the balance is around $75k (which is behind, I’m aware, but I can’t contribute more and risk him finding out because he’ll see my paycheck is less when deposited into our account - the best I can do is wait for a raise, not tell him, and route the difference into my 401k). But obviously this involves a lot of deception that I’m not comfortable with, I hate it. I feel like I’m generally a very honest person, except for this… (and a life insurance policy for myself which he also doesn’t believe in - but if he finds out about that, he can be mad at my corpse idc). My hope is that by the time he finds out (and will undoubtedly be angry - and for the deception, I think that’s justified) I will have a substantial sum and I can show the numbers of how much money I’ve put vs how much money that money has made. Right now my breakdown is about 2/3 contributions, 1/3 earnings but I’m hoping by the time he finds out, the earnings will have exceeded the contributions…

Realistically he could find out at any point if he pays enough attention… he thinks we make the same amount of money and we don’t, he didn’t notice on our tax forms from 2024, 2025 I truly made less because I took maternity leave, if he doesn’t notice this year (2026) I can buy myself 1 more year because I’ll be taking maternity leave in 2027.

Has anyone been through similar arguments?? Should I come clean even if it causes extreme tension in our marriage (I am unwilling to compromise and not contribute to 401k)? Wait it out and hope the large sum of money will make him see that I’m right, even if it upsets him?

Let me start out by saying I’m not making rash and sudden decisions, I want to better understand what’s happened and what considerations I should think about as we continue through a shitty US economy. I’m not asking this to scramble and pull all my money out, but to ask if there are any scenarios at all in which is it worth it to consider pausing or lessening 401k contributions for a period of time.

With the internet gossip saying that hedge funds are betting against the economy, the AI bubble is just waiting to pop at some point in the future, Japan and Koreas economies are canaries in a coal mine and private equity having access to 401ks
Idk if it’s fear mongering or truth telling but seems like the common thread is private equity trying to get access to 401k money and big corps stealing from regular people. I’m just a regular person trying to figure out what the fuck is going on lmao

I’m 31, make 70k a year, contribute 10% of my salary in a single household. I have a little bit of an emergency fund, like 2 months worth. Less than 17k debt of student loans and credit cards combined. I know investing is you wanna keep contributing as much and as long as I can. And that I’m young and have time to my retirement.
I don’t need specific advice I just want to know what I should be on the look out for.

I want to know is there a scenario or point at which paying into my 401k is just handing money to Corporate CEOs with extra steps? I want to keep paying off my debt and saving money and if there’s a “trigger” or something I should be on the look for that lets me know “yup. Wrap it up. Investing in your 401k is just handing money to AI CEOs”
I would not mind pausing for a year or two and putting that money towards my own debt or savings instead. Turn my 2 months of safety net into 3 months. Finish my debt faster. Maybe open a HYSA (on my to do list) and put the money I would have put into my 401k into that instead for a while until the impending mess blows over.

I don’t understand all the mechanisms or systems lol I’ll rewatch the big short but if my money is going to be “invested” but actually save an AI company fro falling I’d rather pause the investment for a short while and put that money into my own financial goals

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Hey! Im starting a new job in a few weeks at $124k base with a $15k sign-on bonus. Employer offers 10% match on 10% of salary (dollar-for-dollar).

Two questions:

Front-loading to max $24,500: Only \\\~7 paychecks left in 2026. Planning high contribution % (60-70%) each paycheck plus routing most of the sign-on to 401k, to hit the annual max by year-end. Good idea? Any gotchas beyond checking for true-up match and bonus deferral election?

Roth vs Traditional:

im assuming I'm in the 24% bracket. Leaning heavy Roth (70-100%). Leaning heavy Roth (70-100%) since I'll likely be in higher brackets mid-career and want tax-free growth for 40 years. Employer match automatically goes to Traditional either way. Am I thinking about this right, or is there a case for more Traditional at my stage?

Any input appreciated.

Currently everything in my IRA is thrown in an index fund with a .64% expense rate and a 6.2% historical rate of return.

Is that not a very high expense rate for a pretty meager rate of return?

Seems like I can just throw everything in VTI and maybe 2 or 3 other ETF’s and make a killing compared to that.

Edit: Invesco Select Risk: Moderate Investor Fund R is the fund. Ticker symbol ONMIX on Fidelity.

What do you think you’d need for each category for LCOL, MCOL, HCOL?

When doing the 4% rule, are you counting your house being paid off? When they said the 4% rule is that counting expenses as in necessities or all spending needed?

How much are you shooting for?

39M, married (38), with 2 kids (2 and 4). Have started playing around with retirement software and seeing if it would be feasible for my wife and I to retire early around 50-55. I know the Monte Carlo calculators and software are only as good as the inputs that you feed in, but I am currently getting fairly different results in the calculators when trying to set up a similar plan between Boldin and ProjectionLab. Boldin gives my current plan a 75% success rate whereas ProjectionLab gives it a 93% success rate.

Is this difference common? Is it because I'm still about 10-15 years out and the numbers will line up better as I approach my goal retirement? I know the default rates can be adjusted, but I currently have the rate of inflation at 3% on each, with the rate of investment returns kept at the software defaults (Boldin actually has a higher default rate of return than PL, so odd that the Monte Carlo is lower in Boldin).

Are people reducing their contributions right now due to the inflation of the market? I’m trying to decide if I should focus on HYSA cash (and just get my 401k match) until the presidency is over (this statement has nothing to do with personal opinions over the president, but I feel like once it changes we will see some downturn impacts for sure)

Would anyone be willing to explain to me the risks to (and how to safeguard) my 401k from the (powers that be) who be trying to bail out ehh eye, date ah centers, etc with our retirement accounts?

Quick context: I am currently making ~$200k.

Current net worth breakdown (~$290k total):

• Old 401k: $105k — I think I should roll this into a Roth IRA, but not sure of the best way to do it within Fidelity. Any guidance?
• Current 401k: $150k — recently migrated from Principal. Current allocation: 50% 500 Index Fund, 20% Vanguard Target Date 2055, 10% Target 2050, 10% Target 2045, 10% International Growth. I'd love input on simplifying this. (There's also a ~$100k block that was transferred over that I didn't manually allocate.)
• Liquid savings: $5k — actively building this up
• Brokerage (Fidelity): ~$5k — just set up a bi-weekly DCA of $35 into: DRTS, INFQ, IONQ, ONDS, QQQM, VOO, WQTM
• Crypto: ~$15k (mostly BTC/ETH/SOL) — DCAing $50/week into BTC and $25/week into ETH
• Other investments: ~$10k — expecting a ~2x return within the year

Main questions: How should I handle the Fidelity 401k rollover from a previous employer, and is my current 401k allocation reasonable or overly redundant? Any tips brokerage as well/roth plans.

Thank you and please let me know if you need anything other information. Appreciate everyone on this sub for triggering me to think about everything. Hard feedback welcomed.

I’m 39 and just recently crossed the 500k threshold in my 401k, but I don’t have much retirement savings beyond that and I’m wondering what my approach should be.

For more context, my wife is a SAHM and we have 3 kids under 10. I make 200k/yr with about a 50-60k bonus on top. 430k outstanding on mortgage at 2.8%. Probably around 400k in equity.

Wife has an old 401k with 50k and outside of my 401k I have about 40k in taxable brokerage. 70k in 529 across the 3 kids.

Seems crazy to say at my salary but I don’t feel like I have a lot of extra money to dedicate to saving and I am wondering if I should try to build out other investment accounts rather than maxing the 401k.

Contract is ending and realized that I split my 401k into both Traditional 401k and Roth 401k. However, now I have a choice to make:

Edit: more context--currently making 65k at 34 years old

Edit--no match on my new contract with the 401k

Option 1

Split my accounts by transferring the Roth 401k into my existing Roth IRA with Fidelity (FDKVX) at 0.12% and keep the traditional 401k with my existing broker John Handcock making it into a Traditional IRA at 0.32% contributing to it for 3 months until I switch.

Option 2

Consolidate both into Fidelity Accounts (Roth IRA + Traditional IRA)

Option 3

Do Nothing

Wait 3 months after which probationary period ends and I qualify for 401k with new contract rolling it over to Vestwell (still dont know any details)

I'm 22 but started working for this company at 19, i have a little of 30k in the 401k 5.5k in my pension, and 13k in a outside investment account, they match up 7% on the 401k and they put 4.5% of my salary in my pension every year and it jumps up to 6% after five years with the company. How much would i be able to retire with i make about 85k a year now and theres still alot of room to promote. So can anyone help me with the math on how to estimate how much I could retire with

Currently renting - looking to purchase with Fiancé. Fiancé and I plan to keep our retirement plans separate while splitting everything else. What I pay now on rent will be equivalent to my share of the mortgage with a few extra hundred a month as a buffer.

Car Loan - 14K at 4% for 4 years. I kept my old car for 15 years and it was falling apart after 180k miles. I’ll try to do the same for this one.

Brokerage ~130k where ~80k will be used for a down payment.

Retirement accounts ~ 425k total
35k in pension forecasted lump sum payout of 270k at 55.
~120k in Roth 401k.
~17k in HSA.
~253k in Trad 401k.

Salary ~ 170k with 4.8% company match. I add 4k to HSA and 20k to Roth 401k. Company adds ~8K to Trad 401k.

I’m in Illinois so there is a flat 5% income tax. My understanding is Roth 401k contributions are state taxed while traditional contributions are not taxed. I believe Trad 401k to Roth 401k conversions are not state taxed.

Should I change my paycheck contributions to Trad and do yearly lump sum conversions from Trad 401k to Roth 401k to avoid state tax?

Looking to gain insights so any recommendations are welcome. Looking to be FI at 55 years old where work becomes a choice.

Thank you in advanced.

Edit: Weddings in 3 weeks.

Anybody carrying or planning on carrying a large mortgage into retirement? Does it bother you? i should probably give specifics. Owe just under 600k at 4%. 25 years left. Hoping to retire in 10. I crunch the numbers and i think it it’s fine, it’s just more the mental aspect of it. Since the rate is low, I invest extra money, never any toward mortgage. When I retire, 4% isn’t necessarily a bad return, so I’m thinking of maybe paying it off when I retire. Is that a stupid idea? Probably time to get an advisor, but I love reading all your posts so figured I would contribute.

Hi all,

New to the forum but looking for some advice/thoughts from people older than me to get some insight on how I am doing.

Quick Background: I started my Roth IRA at 21 and have been maxxing it since. I have been working full time for just over 2 years now and have maxxed my HSA and put about an average of 13% in my Roth 401K + 7% match from my employer, equaling 20% total.

Here's my current breakdown

Current Salary: $92,000

Cash for Bills/Emergency Fund: $25,000

Roth IRA: $40,000

Roth 401k: $37,500

Health Savings Account: $8,500

I turn 25 next month and my goal is 250k invested at 30 yrs old. I'm really not sure what to do next, besides just piling more into the stash. Any thoughts? FYI most my investments (85%) are in broad ETFs (S&P, Energy, Healthcare)