re: what is your ideal 401 K balance at retirement?

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The fear mongering about social security is a little ridiculous. If the US defaults on social security, then we are living in Mad Max. It isn't going to happen and if it does, we have bigger things to worry about.

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Have you looked at how much the US is in debt? There is a real chance that it will cease to exist and it will not be mad max, it will be a bunch of old people on the streets or in run down Fema trailers with possibly a food stamp card or draining their kids' chance of a future retirement. We need to educate young people to sustain themselves and not rely on SS. You will not hear Libs talking about investing 100 a month in a mutual fund roth IRA but you will hear them talk about continuing to fund programs we can't afford. That is the problem with Libs. People who think SS is an entitlement are nuts. Wait until all baby boomers are retired and see how well these young people can fund it.

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Have you looked at how much the US is in debt? There is a real chance that it will cease to exist

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This was the issue back in the 70s. And you know what, we inflated the dollar so that it is now pennies to our country to keep our promises. Credit ratings are important. Paying social security is part of that.

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We need to educate young people to sustain themselves and not rely on SS.

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I agree. And my post stated perfect examples of why that is so.
It doesn't mean that SS will go away. It means that the future is too far away for most people to imagine what real inflation does to money 40-50 years from now. Or if you are 20 something, 70 years from now.

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You will not hear Libs talking about investing 100 a month in a mutual fund roth IRA but you will hear them talk about continuing to fund programs we can't afford. That is the problem with Libs. People who think SS is an entitlement are nuts. Wait until all baby boomers are retired and see how well these young people can fund it.

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I'm conservative. But this is fear mongering to the definition.
Inflation, a growing work force, and growing GDP will continue business as usual just like it has since the 70s.
You read half truths about the debt (yes, we do have a growing work force. Yes, we do have growing gdp. Yes, we inflate the shite out of our money). The whole truth isn't pretty. But the US is not going to default on debt. Our treasury will make sure of it.

under jimmy carter we had 14.4% inflation. 21% prime interest rate.

but yeah if you were 25 and put 10k into a fund and only put 100 a month until you were 65 you would have a million dollars AS LONG AS it was yielding 18% continually. i ran the numbers and it is remarkable. but those days in the late 90's during tech boom when those mutual funds were putting out 40 and 50% returns we may never see again. hell i was in janus twenty and it more than doubled. over 100% return. it was nuts.

I have always heard that you will need 25-30 times of what you will need to live on in a year.

$1 million spread out over 30 years comes to about $33K a year which is a decent amount per year assuming you live somewhere were living expenses are reasonable.

Of course, you will have to factor in health insurance and medical expenses.
I know this is obvious, you may feel like a million bucks now but as you age, your body will start to break down & you will need more medical care.

Then housing expenses such as insurance, repairs such as a hot water heater, washing machine, roof repairs...

Then automobiles, most likely you will live to be 85-90 years old. You may have to go through 2 maybe 3 vehicles...then all the expenses along with a vehicle, insurance, tires, new water pumps, fuel, up-keep...

Then there is entertainment, going out to eat, movies, fishing, hunting, golf or whatever you want to do as entertainment.

So many things unforeseen that can/will happen in the future.

The great thing is you are way ahead of so many people at age 38. Most folks hit their 50s only to realize they have little or nothing set back for retirement.

You still have a good 20-25 years to save for retirement.

Of course, there is a key word, balance. You want to enjoy today and enjoy the moments with your family and friends.