My 401k just passed 1 million

Go with the hookers and cocaine strategy.

Yes you were bragging, OP; be honest.

Give me money. I am legit business man. I will investment 100%. You trust me now, yes?

Yes- you’re aging out of high risk. Go see someone to realign your portfolio with your goals. Ask your friends who they use. There are a lot of good eggs out there, there’s also a shit ton of hucksters out there.

r2 lol maybe but every article I read says that is even not enough. I am just looking to grow but preserve it.

OP, Muriel just upped your monthly subscription rate.

R5: Fair enough, it depends on how long you have and how much you need/want a year. $1m.. that's like $50,000 a year for 20 years in today's money. Of course, I would expect investments to make more than inflation.

Aintcha heard, OP? All the A-gays are sinkng it into Bitcoin! Act fast!

BFD, mine's $2.6M.

My 401 is closing on 1/2 million. I want to contribute more, But I sometimes worry that it will not be there. My dad worked hard for his pension, and then the executives stole the money, and shut down the company. Dad’s pension vanished. I worry about my 401k with TIAA, even though they are said to be long term stable. I am I safe?

Daddy, my mussy is moist! For the right price, slide right in! 😫

You should retire right now and enjoy your 50s. Move to Mexico or Vietnam and live on a 25k budget.

Put at least some in crypto.

Depends on your view of market. I think there is still steam left in the bubble. The opening over the next year would seem to be good for spending. But one major shock could sink it. It’s clearly frothy and filled with money from people who can’t spend it anywhere else. Seems like Biden’s corporate tax increase proposal would have had a negative impact - but maybe people don’t believe it will happen.

Congratulations OP on being diligent in saving for retirement. The old rule of thumb was "your age in bonds, the rest in stock". Meaning at age 60 you should have 60% in bonds, 40% in stock. However today that is considered extremely conservative and does not take into account the fact people are living longer and that it requires more money. Check out the bogleheads forum and specifically asset allocation (often referred to as AA.) At 50 I my AA was 70/30 stocks / bonds. At retirement I went to 60/40 and will leave it there until 75. Safest way to achieve this is with a total stock ETF market fund and a total bond ETF fund.

Only one million? Can you imagine?

I would have retired on that 10 years ago.

r9 that is awesome! CONGRATS! what are you doing to manage it at that much? Are you staying conservative or still aggressive in investing?

Traditionally, investment advisors would suggest 100-age=amount in stocks with the rest in bonds.

That figure has increased to 110 to 120. However, the real issue is your tolerance for risk.

Also, it really depend on how much your cash emergency fund is and what you have outside your retirement in taxable funds.

Can I borrow a few grand, OP? I need teeth and a new washboard!

Late 40's and also just passed $1M in investments and cash. For investments, I'm 80% stocks and 20% bonds, all index funds. I'm at least 10 years away from retirement or semi-retirement so I'm actually increasing it to 85/15. Within 5 years of retirement, I'll slowly decrease it to 60/40.

R10, TIAA is reputable and stable. That's where I had my retirement investments when I worked in non-profits. I switched to corporate work and Fidelity. I also invest with Vanguard outside of work. I'm all in with index funds and Fidelity and Vanguard have plenty of them.

The risk is not with TIAA and any other reputable company. The risk is investing itself--there are no guarantees of a return. So there's that foundation. The secondary risk is your allocation. Look over your portfolio and see what you are invested in. If you're heavily into stocks, and stocks that are particularly volatile, then you're more prone to market swings, both highs and lows. If you want to play it safe, you need to hedge with bonds. That's why as people retire, their portfolio becomes more bond-heavy and they are no longer concerned with chasing high returns with stocks.

R10, also pensions and 401Ks (or 403B for nonprofits/education) are not the same thing.

Meh. You'll need at least $2.5 million to retire comfortably, OP.

I look down on you.

I would roll over some into an IRA, if possible. You can diversify and have more control over your funds with an IRA and they can be more tax advantageous. Note- you might have a penalty on rolling the 401(k) into a Roth IRA, but a good stockbroker and CPA should be able to help with that.

Also figure out what the company matched and what is vested vs not vested. While the balance might be $1M, you personally might only have $800,000 (still a lot and kudos for growing it).

[quote]You should retire right now and enjoy your 50s. Move to Mexico or Vietnam and live on a 25k budget.

You can't start taking money out until you're 59 1/2 without a penalty.

Three words: Canadian Allied Petroleum.

I have almost $500K in my 401(k); I retired at 58 (10 years ago) and haven't touched it. (I have a pension.) I'm not looking forward to the day (coming in a few years) when I HAVE to start withdrawing from it. I don't need to the money and it will really bump up my taxes.

R29 You have four years- RMD was moved to 72.

r30 Yes, I know that. I'm almost 69, so "a few years" is 72.

For those who don't want to dive headlong into an investment book, try the pamphlet below. Not just for millennials, it will give you a summary of investing for the long term. His books are good too but may not be the most exciting reading. For gateway reading, I find the Dummies books on investing and index funds helpful. Also recommend John Bogle's Little Book of Commonsense Investing --which is short and written for general population.

You come to DL for financial advice, you don't deserve the million

If you live a modest lifestyle, you really don't need as much money as you think. If you hate corporate life, retire as soon as you can. Spending your days looking at the clock is a tragedy.

Live a little OP. You may never make it to 65 - and you should feel very safe with $1 million. Do things now that you won’t at 65 - because your body or your mind won’t want to. After 65, you really just want to wake up in the morning and enjoy the day where ever you are. Distractions like expensive meals, clothes, cars, houses hold much less appeal.

I don’t care, OP.

Why in Hell would you be asking people on fucking Datalounge? Yes, you are bragging. Sadly, that amount is relatively small if you plan to retire anytime soon and live really well.

r37 because I don't trust financial people - I only trust random strangers on the internet. It's not bragging if I know it's not enough. Genuinely asking what others have done since I know DL skews older.

OP, if you check your email, I believe a Nigerian royal personage may have contacted you with a foolproof way of transforming your cash.

I read on some website that you should have 10x your last annual salary to prepare for retirement. There's no way I'm going to get to that amount of money! Not without eating dirt for the next 5 years. I don't have a lot of debt other than my mortgage. I don't travel and don't intend to do that much once I retire either. I think I'll be good with 1/2 to 3/4 of a million. Plus, selling my condo and downsizing will add to my income.

Don't focus on your income, focus on your spending. If you figure out what you spend now and plan to spend in retirement, then save and invest to cover the spending. Google the 4% rule. In short, if you plan to spend 40K annually, then you should have 1M in investments from which you would withdraw 4% to cover your spending. If you want to spend 60K, then you would need 1.5M. Factor in social security, pensions, etc.

[quote]You can't start taking money out until you're 59 1/2 without a penalty.

Unless you use IRS rule 72t.

Last time we had a thread like this, it turned out thateveryone on Datalounge had more than 3 million dollars. Sometimes it almost feels as if these threads are not filled with honest self-reporters.

[quote]Unless you use IRS rule 72t.

Internal Revenue Code section 72(t) (not "IRS Rule, but an actual law passed by Congress, like 401(k)) is the legislation that imposes the 10% penalty. Are you talking about EXCEPTIONS to the penalty? Here's a handy list.

[quote]Last time we had a thread like this, it turned out thateveryone on Datalounge had more than 3 million dollars.

I'm not surprised with the age skew. It's easy to have that these days with a paid-off home, but still be income poor in retirement.

What did Miss OP do to cause her post to get greyed out? I mean other than post yet another fantasy.

It's not grayed out for me.

Ditto to R41.

That approach has given me some relief, as I am 50 and not close enough to my Minimum Escape Pod Amount. The unknowns are endless, so I try not to worry too much. I wish that I could quit my job today, but my investments outside the IRA and 401(k) aren't large enough yet to live on a 4% withdrawal. I keep updating my spreadsheet where I fantasize that, assuming a 13% rate of return, I could start drawing 4%, on the (non-IRA/401k) investments, in two years. Then 8 years later without the mortgage I'd have much less annual expenses. Then trickle in SSA pmts at 62 if I "can't" wait til 67. I know that inflation is a factor, along with taxes, and unexpected medical bills, and who knows what the ROR will be, but it's soothing to imagine an escape nearly ready.

I'm going to get traveling again post-COVID, and I hope I can get more of that done during my remaining, salaried years. Travel has always been my single large "fun" expense and I'm unrepentant on that. I'm glad that I traveled while young and healthy, instead of squirreling away a couple thousand more dollars every year, over the past 3 decades.

If Biden's 2 trillion dollar infrastructure bill passes I would think the economy and stock market would boom even higher, r48.

R48, it's 4% of your overall investment total though. So let's say you are aiming for 40K a year and you have 1M. But only 300K of that is accessible prior to penalty withdrawal. You would withdraw 40K from the 300K, and let the remaining 700K grow to balance it out.

But yes, you have to be mindful to have a substantive pot of accessible money prior to withdrawing from retirement funds. Obviously, having nearly everything in 401Ks and IRAs and only 25K in taxable investments is not a good withdrawal strategy if you need 40k annually.

The best move I made with my retirement funds is putting 60% of the funds into Roth IRA Index funds the value has more than quadrupled and none of the money is taxable plus it is not counted when the IRS calculates your RMD.

which index fund? R51?

The tax effect on 401ks is largely ignored. In NYC - or CA - you could end up paying a total of 40% of your withdrawal in taxes. Retiring to Florida is one answer - but spending my last years in Florida would be a punishment. I’m actually looking at Pennsylvania - it doesn’t tax 401k withdrawals (oddly it taxes contributions instead).

R52 I use Fidelity and Vanguard funds.

R54, I'm with Fidelity as well but there are so many funds, I'm confused. can you recommend a couple of index funds? I don't care about how risky. I have some money in Fidelity Balanced Fund FBALX

R55 look at growth funds tied to US equities what works for me may not be good for you it depends on your tolerance for risk. I have a high tolerance for risk since I keep a fund for 6 years or more.

R 56, thank you!

Listen OP, at 50 you are old and have one foot on the grave. So why not be a nice person for a change and give me some of that money.

r58 how big is your dick? I could trade in my husband but you are going to have to have a good thick nine inches for me to consider it, and a complete lack of understanding of fiduciary rules

Thanks R22

Op, How much debt do you have? Getting rid of debt is very helpful to long-term financial health.

so who should one trust in regards to retirement and investing and stocks and bonds and roth's and ira's and so on and so on...

a bank? a investment firm? small or big bank or firm? if so which one? how does one know IF they know what they are doing, since you (meaning me) doesn't!...

[quote]My 401k just passed 1 million

On the way up or the way down?

R62 I talked with a financial advisor at my bank and we meet a couple of times a year since setting up my accounts.

[quote] Why in Hell would you be asking people on fucking Datalounge? Yes, you are bragging. Sadly, that amount is relatively small if you plan to retire anytime soon and live really well.

How do you brag anonymously? Don't we need the identity of the braggart, and wouldnt he need to know his audience, for it to constitute a brag.

R26 I agree with this. I rolled a 401K into an IRA and it almost doubled in value in one year.

[quote] Last time we had a thread like this, it turned out thateveryone on Datalounge had more than 3 million dollars. Sometimes it almost feels as if these threads are not filled with honest self-reporters.

Yes, many Dataloungers exhibit a talent the would uniquely qualify them to excel at reporting Florida's COVID numbers

r61 I have zero debt. Both cars are paid for, the house is paid for, credit cards are paid off monthly in full. I have I year's salary saved in the bank as a cushion as well as another five figures in cash for emergencies.

Great job, Op! You're doing it right.

Become a pimp for Dubai man whores.

Woman who moved to Mexico to retire...

Thanks for sharing that, R71. I am not a racist and I welcome new experiences. I had a wonderful visit to Mexico in the 1990s and found the people charming.

But that article makes it sound like a hellhole.

R71 explains perfectly why I’m not even considering retiring elsewhere. A nice fantasy - but I’d rather live in a poor section of the US than Mexico or Costa Rica or Panama.

r71 I have a (non-Hispanic) relative who moved to Mazatlan over 30 years ago and loves it. Not for me. I'm too spoiled to live in a third-world country.

I'm 51 and was all excited that mine hit 100 grand yesterday. That's the most money I've ever had. Thanks for sucking the wind out of me, OP.

Retire in Thailand and find yourself a hot Thai boy.