I am 31 and have about $32k in my retirement accounts. Is this well below average?

askjdisd · 2010-10-22T11:10:33-04:00

My saving has picked up recently, but I feel I'm way behind the 8-ball on this. Any thoughts?

Senior Software Engineer wrote:
"and whatever the compound value of saving 10%+ of my income for a working career is on that date, that I'll be better than fine."
That last line sounds like you expect the government to preserve your savings. During a currency crisis or outright default, most savers lose everything because they hold currency, bonds, and or the wrong stocks. They are debasing the dollar and you are losing value as I write this, although it still is not perceptible to you at this time.
I am not losing value however since I own the right things:
http://finviz.com/futures_charts.ashx?t=GC&p=w1
And no, it's not a bubble. The general public is not even there. Only 0.8% of funds are invested in this sector. It used to average 20% for over a 100 years. Think of the dollar as opposite of that chart... I expect that chart to rise increasingly faster over the next 1-2 years.

I'm just not that pessimistic. I don't own individual stocks, but I'm balanced in a blend of funds, including a little real estate, bond, and international. If ALL of that goes belly-up, then no matter what your investments are in, you're screwed, because the top 200 companies in America have gone out of business and we're all chasing our own groceries. My statement "whatever the compound rate is" reflects the uncertainty of the current situation. I rather doubt the market will return 10-12% on average for the remainder of my working lifetime (20-25 years), but there was a time back when that would have seemed mild indeed. Either way, being an above-average saver can't hurt, and what I'm saving is not causing any appreciable lifetsyle pain on this end regardless.

Well we're in agreement on the generational patern there; but seriously, you've been alive the past couple years and can't see that there is anything wrong with repeating a pretty prevatable problem?

You've already figured out one way in which my point makes sense (2000 crash). Let me provide a few others. For arguments sake, let's say you had to be involved in a gun fight and you had to chose between the Italian Mafia and an Angry French Mob (crowd, not gangsters). The Mafia is experienced in such matters and agrees to a certain code of conduct, e.g., no killin women or children. However, the Angry French Mob has no experience in such matters and easily gets caught up in the hesteria (mob mentality). With the Mafia, to a certain degree you can value your risk and hedge your losses. At most, you die but your wife and kids will be fine.

You have much lessor assurance when Angry French Mob gets involved. They just shoot in any general direction at anything that moves, or whatever is getting the most attention from the crowd.

A lot of that increased volume in trading is the result of the Angry French Mob getting access to computers and trading themselves, many completely misinformed, not because they are stupid per se, but simply b/c they don't do their homework.

If I'm trading against the Mafia, at least I can have a good sense of what my risk are, and much less concerned that some random ass patern will appear.

The housing crisis was a prime example of when too many average Joe's get involved in stuff (hey I can flip a house!) when they have absolutely no grounds for doing so.

I am 31 and have about $32k in my retirement accounts. Is this well below average?

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