Hitting 50k in retirement funds!

[TheInsuranceMan]

Is it bad that I'm pumped about getting close to hitting $50k in retirement funds?  DW (27) and I (28) are currently at $47,459.71 in our combined retirement accounts.  My wife has been working full time for only two years, so her accounts are a little behind (but it's a state pension, so that's cool), but by the end of the year, we should eclipse $50k in retirement.

Her pension sets the contributions, so she puts in 6%, and the state puts in like 10%.  I contribute 10% of my check to my 401k, my employer matches 3%.  I started working full time at 20 for a Fortune 500 company, and always put in enough to get the match, at the minimum. 

Now, we are raising two kids under 2 years old, and having a blast.  Yes, we aren't up to MMMers standards, but we feel like we are doing pretty well at this point.  Not really into the whole retiring early thing, maybe in our 50's.  It'd like to get financially more comfortable though, which we are well on our way to doing!

[cincystache]

It's not bad at all. Congrats! Keep up the good work.

[BeHere]

You should be excited, it's a nice milestone. Just think about how excited you'll be when it hits $100k, $200k, etc!

[AM43]

I think its great accomplishment and you should be proud of yourself.
I did not even start saving till I was 27 and my net worth was 0.
Keep saving, keep educating yourself and you should be on the way to FI before you know it.

[TheAnonOne]

You should be excited, it's a nice milestone. Just think about how excited you'll be when it hits $100k, $200k, etc!

200 was pretty boring, but 250k was pretty cool. Quarter Millionaire!

[TheInsuranceMan]

Working on opening a HELOC, did my assets and liabilities, which showed a netwroth of about 73k, which I was pretty happy with.  Now, it'd be way cooler of the Zestimate on my house was even close to being accurate!  Had it valued at 103k....and I paid 31k for it 7 months ago.  Using that calculation, it had my network over 120k!

[TheAnonOne]

Working on opening a HELOC, did my assets and liabilities, which showed a netwroth of about 73k, which I was pretty happy with.  Now, it'd be way cooler of the Zestimate on my house was even close to being accurate!  Had it valued at 103k....and I paid 31k for it 7 months ago.  Using that calculation, it had my network over 120k!

Soon (a few short years) your little deviations like that (15-30k) won't even move the needle! Stay the course!

[clarkfan1979]

My wife and I got really excited about doing the same thing about 2 years ago. However, I am 37 and she is 33, so you are ahead of us.

[ender]

awww yeah, party time!

And by party I mean, staying the course and being boring. But you know. :)

[TheInsuranceMan]

Yep, probably will increase my 401k at year-end work review to match any salary increase.
I need to roll my old 401k into a traditional IRA (I'm not sure why, but I feel like it's a good idea).

Besides that, we've more than half way righted the ship, so to say, with some debts that we had and some spending issues.  So, here is to moving forward!

[Ftao93]

Nicely done!

I'm over 10 years older and just hit that milestone.  You should be in good shape!

[Runningtuff]

Nice work!

[TheInsuranceMan]

Thanks everyone.  I'm happy with where we are, and I'm just glad my 20 year-old-self decided to put 6% in to get my 3% match when I first started working at 20.  The company I worked for had an auto 1% increase each year, and I was there for 4 years, so it was always increasing a bit each year.  I didn't qualify for my new employers 401k until after a year of service, so that set me back.  Yes, I know, I could have contributed to my old one at that time, or open an IRA, but regretfully, I didn't.  However, we ended up having a kid, having my wife back in school, and trying to pay for daycare, a house, and schooling (student loans), all with a paltry 34k income, 3 years ago.

[ubermom4]

Congratulations!! The first 50k is the hardest. It numerically represents that you are on the right road.  Raising young kids is challenging. Keep your eye on the ball. Keep it up. Great job!

[Metric Mouse]

Great story! It only gets better from here!

[MrRealEstate]

I rolled my old 401k into a vanguard rollover, it's best to start the process so you can have it done in a few weeks. It was originally in a money market account because that was the default setting whenever someone left the company.

i read a post about using the rollover in your 401k to open a backdoor roth to withdraw money prior to 55, but there's a lot of details that you'll need to read to decide on that.

Coming into the last quarter of the year I'd probably ask your CPA(if you're into that sort of thing) if its best to start putting more tax sheltered 401k money away. I'm at 51% to shelter as much as possible before dec 31st and hit that 18k number. It also depends on your income now vs. later. My fiance is maxing out her roth since her tax bracket is significantly lower since shes still a student and will be moved into the same tax bracket as me next year. All just part of the game...

[TheInsuranceMan]

I rolled my old 401k into a vanguard rollover, it's best to start the process so you can have it done in a few weeks. It was originally in a money market account because that was the default setting whenever someone left the company.

i read a post about using the rollover in your 401k to open a backdoor roth to withdraw money prior to 55, but there's a lot of details that you'll need to read to decide on that.

Coming into the last quarter of the year I'd probably ask your CPA(if you're into that sort of thing) if its best to start putting more tax sheltered 401k money away. I'm at 51% to shelter as much as possible before dec 31st and hit that 18k number. It also depends on your income now vs. later. My fiance is maxing out her roth since her tax bracket is significantly lower since shes still a student and will be moved into the same tax bracket as me next year. All just part of the game...

Does Vanguard handle the rollovers themselves, or will I have to contact both Vanguard and Fidelity (where the old 401k is) to get things in motion?  I'm assuming I need to roll it to a traditional IRA, right, to not owe any taxes?  Thought I read something about that once on here, with rolling a 401k over to a ROTH IRA

[TheInsuranceMan]

My 401k contribution from this month has been put in, and I found a fun chart!
In 2015, my total dollars contributed were $2,613.12, and my employers put in $1,306.57, for a total of $3,919.69
In 2016, through the month of October, I've contributed $3,407.61 and my employer has put in $1,177.76, for a total of $4,585.37.  Now, those numbers aren't outstanding by any measure of most of the members of this site, but I'm kind of pumped about it.  I've about hit $40k in gross income this year already as well, which should put me on pace for $45-$47k depending on commissions and new policy sales between now and years end.  That should get me to $4,500 contributed along with $1,300-$1,400 by my employer, which puts me at about $6k total, more than 2 grand over last year.