How much do you contribute to your 401(K) and how much are you earning?

[Lao Tzu]

Shouldn't paying off your house early (in 10-15 years instead of 30) be a big move too? I don't know all the math aspects of it (tax deductions, etc), but Bran might, but a house at 6% for a 30 year mortgage has payments of about 7% of the total value of the mortgage a year. So if you have a 100k home you pay 7k a year for the mortgage. Paying that off would free up that money for other investments.

 

[The Shadow]

imo.....



I dont like 401k in general as they usually roll you into a mutual fund where id you invested 10k in the average Mutual Fund in 2001 - you would now have a touch over 11k.


Not a great return - a total of 10% spread over 6 years


You have to remember that mutual funds give ok results over a LONG period of time....but only great results for short periods of time - as when the stock market is having manic days



I am putting max contributions into a roth and using that with a fantastic strategy perfected by Warren Buffet and buying individual stocks.

 

[gonelifting]

"Pay yourself first" has been a favorite of many advisors. If you do that, then you'll just have to save it and get by with the rest of it for ills and plasma TV's etc... At least your savings won't suffer.

Paychecks turn into months, years... before you know it, you'll be in a good position with years' of savings. Starting is the hard part. Then it's just a part of your life.

 

[The Shadow]

Shouldn't paying off your house early (in 10-15 years instead of 30) be a big move too? I don't know all the math aspects of it (tax deductions, etc), but Bran might, but a house at 6% for a 30 year mortgage has payments of about 7% of the total value of the mortgage a year. So if you have a 100k home you pay 7k a year for the mortgage. Paying that off would free up that money for other investments.

Paying off unsecured debts like credit etc is definitely the right thing to do.


Paying off a mortgage at 7% could work for you - if you are investing the correct way in stocks - you would be averaging 13-15% compounded per year.


So -it depends on how well your typical investments pay out.


I would pay off the house before I dropped coin in a Mutual Fund

 

[Lestat]

I make around 80K and i contribute 15% right now. Not sure how much it makes, it fluxtuates with the market, but I'm in mostly large cap stocks.

 

[rnch]

i can choose between several investment accounts....rock soild at 4 to 6% return or riskier, more fluxuating ones that currently are around 28% return.....have to balance out safety and reliability with fluxuating up and down higher returns........mixin' and matchin' at this point in my (co called) career.

 

[chewyxrage]

one of the reasons i have "stayed the course" at my Simple Civil Service Sufferer job is the 401K plan...i've been maxed out in the government's thrift savings plan since my first day on the job, right at 20 years ago....looking forward to early out at age 55 partly because of stashing it away every pay period.

retiring @ 55 working for a civil service job is pretty damn good.


what do you do? postal worker?

 

[rnch]

retiring @ 55 working for a civil service job is pretty damn good.


what do you do? postal worker?

25 years will be ENOUGH for that job.....lol

i'll prolly have to get a part time job somewhere....can't Sit on the Sofa for the 25 years of my life...i'd turn into a marshmello, physically and mentally if i did.

working 2 or 3 days a week at a job i choose will be so much better than working 5 to 7 days at a job i have barely tolerated for 25 years.

 

[rnch]

...what do you do? postal worker?

i transferred to USPS for about 6 weeks from my present agency and then back again.......it's amazing how valuable you become AFTER you leave....

 

[cranny]

I'm currently contributing 9% to my 401K. I've got roughly 60,000.00 in it so far. I also have a roth IRA which I contribute to weekly though not near 9%. My employer matches .25-.50 on the dollar up to 6% on the 401K. Can't pass up free money.