How tf am i supposed to squirrel away 7 figures when i have mever made $40,000 in a year?
Compound investment is supposed to do a lot of the heavy lifting. At a 7% rate of return, your money doubles every 10 years. So, assuming you set aside $6k of that $40k/year ($500/mo), starting at age 22, you’d have $1M at age 60 and $2.2M at age 70
www.bankrate.com/…/save-a-million-calculator/
But here’s the trick… You’re looking down the barrel of 40 years of inflation. So, if you’re earning $40k in year one (let’s say, the year 2000) and you’ve been on the job for 25 years without getting a raise, inflation has reduced the real value of that income by roughly one half.
On the flip side, let’s assume you’re keeping up with inflation (and that $500 you’re setting aside is increasing at the same rate). Then the math gets more complicated and I can’t help you anymore. But the point is you get to $1M sooner, simply because $1M in 2060 is worth a lot less than $1M in 2000.
Had a broker explain that - at my current rate of savings - I’d be looking at a $4M retirement account by age 62. But then he dumped some ice water over my head when he noted “That’s only going to be worth around $1.1M in modern dollars by then”. Suggested I actually up my savings, because $1M only really feels like a lot until you try to live on it for the rest of your life.
explodicle@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
And that’s just one’s savings without kids.
Rooster326@programming.dev 10 months ago
Honestly having kids, and returning to multi-generational homes might be the only way one is retiring these days.
Good luck on that one.
AlecSadler@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 months ago
My wife and I have no kids and live with family and we’re still dubious on retiring 😹😿
(granted part of this is due to losing all our money*2 during covid when some local businesses shuttered)
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 10 months ago
My 26 year old son is still living with us, and we are all totally fine with it. We’ve been an extremely close family all along, and I consider him my best friend, and I’m sure he would say the same thing.
OTOH, I couldn’t wait to get out of my parents house. I could deal with it over summer breaks, but as soon as I moved back in after college, it was clear they still considered me a high schooler, and imposed a 10 pm curfew during the week, and an 11pm curfew on the weekends (so understanding). I didn’t say No to that, I just ignored it, like any adult would. Imposing a curfew? Please.
Then they called me one Sunday morning and woke me up at my girlfriend’s place, and demanded I return home and explain myself (“What do you want me to say? I got laid, like an actual grown adult, which I am”).
Got with a buddy, pooled our minimum wages, and got an apartment together. Back then, rent was $300, so it was possible. Even with a friend, I doubt my son could get the money together to get an apartment today. His student loans are going to eat too much of his income for a significant portion of his life. He certainly couldn’t do it on minimum wage.
He’s welcome to stay as long as he wants.