When did you start your Roth?

[TBH]

I opened a Roth when I was 20 or 21 and contributed erratically for a while, mostly putting windfalls in there. Had access to a workplace account starting when I was 25. It was certainly helpful to start so young. I've run into some bumps and haven't been able to work steadily, and those early contributions mean that at 36 I'm not behind on my retirement in spite of periods where I was working less.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

bennyhoff there is a match 6% @ 50%. This is from like 2008 actually the 2006-2007 he rolled to his Rollover IRA and we converted to Roth IRA.

January 2008
401k-$9351
Rollover $38895

January 2009
401k-$22501
Rollover $28678

January 2010
401k-$59,762
Rollover-$38,477

January 2011
401k-$100,378
Rollover moved to Roth - $75,416 so combined with old Roth IRA

January 2012
401k-$121,116
Roth - $81,579

January 2013
401k-$165,138
Roth - $97781

November 2013
401k-$239,513 - best year ever i guess, we just put it into the 4 best funds not that my DH has much choice and we leave it alone.
Roth - $130,410

Life has been good to us. I guess $500k for retirement account might be very doable next year. We are 34 and my DH is turning 36. Not bad for starting in 2006 with $2k and like I explained we are currently out of US visiting my in-laws. And my DH did not qualify for 401k or IRA with his student visa. We meet when he came for graduate school. But living frugally has allowed us a lot of opportunities.

[bennkar]

bennyhoff there is a match 6% @ 50%. This is from like 2008 actually the 2006-2007 he rolled to his Rollover IRA and we converted to Roth IRA.

Ah, the match certainly helped (and I'm sure made a big difference). If I had a match my account would certainly be much, much higher than it is now, but having a guaranteed pension instead is something I am very happy with.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Not really it's basically a 3% match which my DH has averaged $120k/year so that's $3600 extra a year. So for 5 years that's $15k. Aggresive investing and saving the maximum. AND buying when the market was tanking we kept plowing it back in. Watch the numbers

2008-2009 $13501, less than we contributed with match $18k!
2009-2010 $37261, more than we contributed $18k
2010-2011 $40761, more than we contibuted
2011-2012 $20738, barely more than we contributed $19kish
2012-2013 $44002, more than we contribued
2013 January till November 2013 $74573 this was a great year.

Like I said I think a big contributing factor was luck but also just staying the course. I rebalance our accounts in january and just make the big gains into the poorly performing and don't look at it. A lot of people I bet jump ship when the market tanks. There were MANY recent years where the market was down but my DH and I kept contributing and just bought the same as before.

Have you done DCA and never waivered? We can honestly say we don't time or even pay attention much. Just keep putting it in, buying when it's high or low doesn't matter. It's just paid for.

[Snave]

Agree with everyone that says to start as early as possible. Here's a thought: if you were to ask 100 people that are closing in on retirement or are retired to give you one piece of advice about saving for retirement, I would bet my entire retirement savings that NONE of them would say "I wish I started saving later in life." But, I bet at least 50% or more would tell you their one tip would be to start as early as possible.

I started my 401K with my 1st paycheck with my first real job out of college at 22. I maxed out what they would let me which was 15% at the time. As for Roth's, it has been many years since I first opened my Roth and my company actually has a Roth 401K option.

I'll begin as the first person out of 100 to give you one piece of advice: START EARLY!

[FrugalTexan75]

I started a Traditional IRA when I was 22, although I was 21 when I started contributing to my 403(b) account. I think I was 29? when I opened my first ROTH. If I had known better, I would have opened a ROTH my senior year of high-school.