In your 20s, funding your 401(k) might have sounded like a good goal … for your 30s. Now that your 30s are here, you may be nervously noticing the countless articles on the virtues of investing in your 20s.
Don’t worry. You’re definitely not too old to reap the benefits of investing. Getting started now gives you plenty of reasonable paths to build a healthy $1 million by retirement.
Your 20-something self was right about the 401(k) part: That’s the first place most people should save for retirement.
The payoff: Let’s pretend you make $50,000 and begin saving at age 30. Assuming 2% annual salary increases and a 6% average annual return, saving 10% each year and collecting a 3% match will net you a little over $1 million by age 67. You can do the math for your own situation with our 401(k) calculator.
Once you’re capturing that full 401(k) match, you should take a second look at your 401(k)’s investment options. Yes, they’re often inexpensive, but not always — and some plans tack on administrative fees. If your plan is too costly, you’re better off directing any additional contributions this year to the second-best place for your retirement savings: an individual retirement account, such as a Roth IRA.
As noted above, with a 401(k), your contributions go in pretax, which means they’re taxed when you withdraw them in retirement. With a Roth IRA, your contributions go in after tax, which means no tax in retirement. Your money also grows tax-free in a Roth IRA.
That kind of tax diversification is why it’s a good idea to combine a 401(k) with a Roth IRA, if you meet the income eligibility rules for a Roth.
The downside is that IRAs allow you to contribute only $5,500 in 2017. If you max that out, go back to your 401(k) until you hit its $18,000 ceiling or otherwise max out your budget for savings.
The payoff: Consistently saving $5,500 in your Roth IRA each year won’t land you $1 million if you begin at age 30 — at a 6% return, you’ll end up with about $740,000 at age 67. But remember, we called this a supplement — and that’s $740,000 you can draw on tax-free in retirement.
Young people have a long time horizon before retirement, which means they can worry less about short-term volatility. That allows them to accept risks that should lead to higher average returns over the long term.
You should be taking risks, investing the vast majority of your long-term savings — 70% to 80%, at this age — in stocks and stock mutual funds.
The payoff: Risk doesn’t guarantee higher average returns, but it makes them more likely over the life of a long-term investment. Let’s say you played it safe in your 401(k) and earned an average annual return of 4% instead of the 6% we used in the earlier example. That would trim your $1 million down to about $740,000.
Investing becomes less risky if your investments are diversified, which means no, you should not dump all your available cash in the Snapchat IPO.
Here’s one trick to diversification: use index and exchange-traded funds.
A Standard & Poor’s 500 fund, for example, tracks the S&P 500. The performance of the fund virtually mirrors the performance of the index — less the fees you pay for the convenience of the fund.
The wide assortment of stocks in index funds makes you somewhat diversified. To diversify even further, you can put together several funds — for example, one that gives you exposure to international stocks and one or two that invest in small and medium-sized U.S. companies. Because bond prices tend to move in the opposite direction of stock prices, you can also buy bond funds to further balance the risk of those stock funds.
The payoff: This benefit comes in ways both monetary and not: Your overall portfolio return may or may not improve, but it should be less volatile, which means you’ll get more sleep than had you bet your retirement on one individual stock.
Retirement is the universal long-term goal, but it’s often treated as the only goal. You can save and invest for other things, and in your 30s, those other things tend to come up more: college for your kids, vacations, or a down payment for a house.
The trick is to prioritize these goals. Retirement should come first, but you can divert money into these other goals by saving more when you get a raise, stashing away windfalls and taking advantage of changing expenses. Let’s say you pay off your car or student loans. Instead of kicking your restaurant spending up a couple of notches, put those payments into a savings account or a 529 college savings plan.
The payoff: If you invest $200 a month at a 6% return from the time your child is born until he or she turns 18, you’ll end up with about $75,000 — and, with any luck, a kid with a college degree.
Arielle O’Shea is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website.
An overflowing dam threatens homes in Northern California, Adele’s big night at the Grammys, Trump’s national security advisor Michael Flynn resigns, Federal officials say they haven’t broadened the scope of immigration enforcement raids, Enrique Marquez Jr. didn’t take part in the San Bernardino shooting on Dec. 2, 2015.,Russia denies that intelligence agents were in contact with Trump’s campaign team, and when the pastor at a Texas church urged his congregation to embrace refugees, 300 members left.
An overflowing dam threatens homes in Northern California, Adele’s big night at the Grammys, Trump’s national security advisor Michael Flynn resigns, Federal officials say they haven’t broadened the scope of immigration enforcement raids, Enrique Marquez Jr. didn’t take part in the San Bernardino shooting on Dec. 2, 2015.,Russia denies that intelligence agents were in contact with Trump’s campaign team, and when the pastor at a Texas church urged his congregation to embrace refugees, 300 members left.
An overflowing dam threatens homes in Northern California, Adele’s big night at the Grammys, Trump’s national security advisor Michael Flynn resigns, Federal officials say they haven’t broadened the scope of immigration enforcement raids, Enrique Marquez Jr. didn’t take part in the San Bernardino shooting on Dec. 2, 2015.,Russia denies that intelligence agents were in contact with Trump’s campaign team, and when the pastor at a Texas church urged his congregation to embrace refugees, 300 members left.
An overflowing dam threatens homes in Northern California, Adele’s big night at the Grammys, Trump’s national security advisor Michael Flynn resigns, Federal officials say they haven’t broadened the scope of immigration enforcement raids, Enrique Marquez Jr. didn’t take part in the San Bernardino shooting on Dec. 2, 2015.,Russia denies that intelligence agents were in contact with Trump’s campaign team, and when the pastor at a Texas church urged his congregation to embrace refugees, 300 members left.
Surveillance video footage shows the moment a hillside in the San Bernardino County mountains crumbles, sending rocks and snow into a drainage area below.
Surveillance video footage shows the moment a hillside in the San Bernardino County mountains crumbles, sending rocks and snow into a drainage area below.
Alhambra Resident Sergio Aguierre talks about a tree that fell and smashed into power lines on Jackson Avenue during the storm Friday.
Alhambra Resident Sergio Aguierre talks about a tree that fell and smashed into power lines on Jackson Avenue during the storm Friday.
A storm that officials said could be the strongest in years moved into Southern California on Friday.
A storm that officials said could be the strongest in years moved into Southern California on Friday.
At a press conference, President Trump shrugged off a rocky start. An executive order has been drafted to end protection for ‘Dreamers,’ who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. New York real estate scion Robert Durst confessed to killing a writer, a witness said in court. The Governors Ball after the Oscars will be decked out for the stars.
At a press conference, President Trump shrugged off a rocky start. An executive order has been drafted to end protection for ‘Dreamers,’ who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. New York real estate scion Robert Durst confessed to killing a writer, a witness said in court. The Governors Ball after the Oscars will be decked out for the stars.
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