The Avg 45 to 50 year old has how much in cash and investments

This could be true. If they bought the house 25 years ago or so at $300 K and paid it off and it's up to $700K now? Especially in parts of the country where homes prices are stupid high. He did say they raised 3 kids so it's been awhile. $800K is not really that hard to get to in 401(k)s. I have invested sporadically and I mean with big gaps over the last 23 years and I'm at almost $300K on my own. I know I could be over a million if I didn't screw around and was more consistent. $5K and $20K in savings could be saved from a couple of tax returns. The brokerage account he can speak for on his own. But this is no impossible at all with long term investing consistency.

Wow, most folks here are ..... average

51

401k 1.2M - 1.3M (high was 1.51M). I maxed it out most years but have scaled back to 6% which gets me close to maxing it out and I'm matched 6%.

I also have a pension and my wife and I have Roth IRAs in the combined vicinity of 60k (most of the time I make too much to contribute to a Roth)

529 for child 160k (high was 220k)

The rest of my info is private. I don't have this much, but if my wife were as tight and organized as myself with money, we'd easily have $5M in investments outside the 401k. I make about $250k a year now but have been making over $200k for at least the last 20 years.

You don't need a lot of money to save a lot of money, but you can't be earning weak ass wages either. Always save a fat amount of your paycheck and live below your means. At some point, you can move on from living like a broke college kid and plus up your life a lot without diminishing your fat savings ability. Then your lifestyle can indefinitely improve while your net worth does too.

Am 65, never made more than $98,000/yr. , worth 2.4 million by age 60. Saved and invested it. Live in a high cost city. It can be done.

I mean it depends on if you include equity in a house. Someone could have no cash or savings and have over a million in equity in their house.

It probably just looks that way from down there, bro.

Normally, home equity is not considered a part of "savings," even though for most households it is the single most valuable asset. To access home equity, you either have to sell your home, take out a home equity loan, or do a cash out refinance.

On that note, home equity loans and cash out refinancing can be far more dangerous to homeowners than they realize. Home prices shot way up these past 2 years, but there is no guarantee they will go up forever. I worry there could be many homeowners who find themselves underwater on their mortgage if prices come down substantially.

I have far less than I did two years ago, and I'm still expected to help pay for the poor education and loan decisions of others. FJB.

Yep, the same is true of stocks. There’s no guaranteeing we aren’t on the precipice of a lost decade or two, in real terms. Historically, this has been the case, but the last 20-25 years have been one Fed-induced bubble after another.

This thread is funny. It’s asking about the “average 45-50 year old,” but it’s mostly well above average people posting who aren’t even in that age group. As for those behind in their savings, like the OP, I wouldn’t despair. You might have to wait longer to retire, but the key is saving and investing right now with a 30-year time horizon. Also, find creative avenues to generate more cash flow, whether that is an income producing asset, another job, etc.

Something never mentioned in these threads is are you enjoying your job and your life? Having retirement goals is great, but if you are unhappy, there is no price to put on that. I grinded for a lot of my life, I’m right at the top of the suggested age range, and I can’t wait to retire. Yes, I’m comfortable, don’t really know what my retirement # is, but I’m not sure I wouldn’t choose differently careerwise if I could do it over again.

Stocks are always volatile, which is why if you are in retirement or close to it you need to make sure you have enough cash on hand to not have to sell your stocks when they are way down.

Yes a retirement account or house is not liquid enough to call savings. But if you have 60% of the house or more as equity, I think it is fair to say you have savings because you couldsell in less than a month and still generate positive cash.

We're 37 and 34 with a toddler with 270k combined income in HCOL area (under 200k until last couple of years). Have done well saving, but daycare currently at @ $2,500/month is going to cut into the next few years. Haven't decided on trying for kid number 2.

37k cash

264k retirement

296k brokerage

340k home equity

So I guess that means NW currently around 900k

Our equity is right near La Jolla in San Diego. I do some real estate and prices are dropping in some parts of the city and inventory is piling up. But ours has held steady and possibly even gone up according to recent sales comps. People are coming in and tearing down homes and rebuilding them. I've made and lost money on real estate, but I feel pretty good about this one over the long term. Especially since our jobs are recession proof. I do wonder about the people who have said, "we are good, we bought our house in early 2021 at 2.5% interest" and of course at super high prices. That's all fine and dandy if you have a job. No one is really talking about unemployment over the next few years if this recession does occur. Can you pay for that house? Would be interesting to see this thread again in a few years and see what people have left.

Agreed. My wife and I bought our house in 2017 for $850k. Have put in about $75k. Northern California on the coast near San Francisco. Limited houses available. We also have a small cottage on the property and make $1500 per month with our renter.

We could now likely sell the property for $1.5ish mil fairly quickly. Real estate usually increases in value over time...

It's not ideal, but there are people like us who are using their homes as part of their retirement strategy.

39 yrs old

$200k in 401k, SEP etc; $35k savings. Wife has about the same in her accounts

no other debt or loans. live comfortably.

Work and income is starting to take off, so I expect to be in a much better place when I'm 50 yrs old, but who knows.

About $900k in cash and investments.

$200k in home equity.

A pension maturing in a few years that is worth roughly $900k.

Married, age 51, no children. Wife has her own investments not included in the above. Never made more than $105k per year.

38 here.

$1.5 million stocks/mutual funds (all index aside from what is tied up in RSU grants), $400k in 401(k) (took a big hit this year), $300k in cash/cash equivalents (potential second home purchase on horizon as income producer). Only debt is mortgage, about $300k on a house bought 3 years ago. Base salary about $220k.

Hoping to retire by 50. No kids helps.

40 years old, married with 2 kids (ages 3 and 5). I currently make ~$110k, wife makes ~$325k, but these incomes are significantly higher than they were 5 years ago. All of this is for our household, not just me.

~$100k in liquid savings and checking accounts

~$360k in a Brokerage account (index funds, mostly, but some more aggressive growth-oriented funds as well)

~$20k in I-Series Bonds (going to buy another $10k each in January)

~$525k in retirement accounts (403b, 401k, Roth IRA - contributions are ongoing, of course)

~$105k in 529 college plans (currently ~$60k for the older, ~$45k for the younger, with monthly contributions ongoing)

~$500k in home equity (worth ~$950k in the current declining market, owe ~$450k)

Can't go wrong with investing 15% of your salary into an S&P 500 index fund. In your case, $1,125/month.

If you had clients, your advice you just offered could get you trouble. Every 40 years or so, U.S. equities go down and stay down for a good ten plus years. See 1929. See 1968. See 2008. S&P have released data publicly on S&P500 since 1946. Since 1946 there have been numerous rolling 10 year periods in which aggregate bonds outperformed S&P 500 with significantly less risk to investments portfolio.