How much is everyone contributing to their 401ks? I've only opted for 1% of my paycheck to go to mine, but my company will match up to 3%. I've been thinking about changing my contributions, but losing an additional 2% from my salary will hurt. Is it better to live leaner now in order to put more into savings?

23,500/year

Ill over simplify this because you’re missing out on the benefit of time value of money. Which is massive.

Let’s say you’re 28 and plan on working another 35 years. If the stock market continued sticking to 10% average returns in a year, it means double your investments every ~ 7 years, that means as of today you have (35/7) = 5 doubles left for a dollar you invest today vs 3 doubles left for every dollar you invest 14 years from now vs. 2 doubles for every dollar you invest 21 years from now.

For someone like you, who has a clear motivation in the form of the company match available, you’re missing out on not just the time value of your own money but also the time time value of the match.

Lets assume you make 5K gross a month. Right now you’re putting away 50 bucks and getting another 50. 100 dollars.

Five doubles = 2^5 * monthly contribution is

100 *32 = 3200. Thats the potential (not inflation adjusted) value of the money you invest today at 28 years of age in 35 years from now.

You upped this to 3% and got a 3% match, we are now looking at 3X*3200 = 9,600.

All for giving up roughly 70% of your gross income on 2% more, or basically 70 dollars a month in this scenario.

This is a no brainer situation unless you’re piling on debt every month. Please do this for your own sake.

In 14 years from now you will literally have 3X of whatever you’re projected to have now and have way more cushioning to make decisions as you’re older and perhaps be able to do more with a higher income then as you’ll have a much better foundation.

This thought hit me like a truck when I was ~30 with 45k in retirement savings. Fat forward 6 years i have now over 7X of that (still a bit behind vs if id made better decisions when I was younger) but now on track to ensure that everything that I can control has maxed my odds of being okay.

Good luck.

23.5 401k + 7k ira + 7k hsa i max everything i can and regret not doing it earlier in my career.

My husband and I have been maxing out our contributions for the past 20 years. With the time value of money and employer matches, we now each have well over $1M in our retirement accounts.

Yes, it’s better.

Do what you can to contribute 3% so that you can take advantage of the company match. It’s free money.

Yes - it's free money; pinch your pennies now, and your future self will be grateful.

Minimum 10% whether it’s by means with company match or not.

0% right now.

It will hurt more later in life if you don’t start prioritizing retirement now. At a bare minimum contribute enough to get your max match. Gradually ramp your contribution every year to get to the point you’re maxing your annual contribution. You’ll thank yourself later in life.

Max what you can afford

I did 10% until I made enough where 10% was going over max and dropped to 8%. Company match has always been 6%. It has added up quite a bit over 15 years and the more you contribute early in career, better you’ll be positioned to retire.

I would at least maximize the max - people call it free money but really it’s part of your comp package and not using it is like giving yourself a pay cut.

Nothing. I don't get a match and would rather have capital accessible for early retirement or other investment opportunities

You must do minimum 3%

Up to match. Accenture match 6%. I contribute the same~