When did you start saving for Retirement

[97guns]

Time is indeed the key to success. For every dollar that I did not save when I was 20, I now have to save $94.

Hitting a home run is key to my success, timewise it didn't take long at all. I had a very short career, only 13 years of paying into social security

[disneysteve]

I'm not quite sure but I'm thinking I probably opened my first IRA when I was an intern, so that would have been 1990-91. That was my first "real" job. I would have been 26 at the time. Before that, my only paid work was as a summer camp counselor and I know I didn't fund retirement from that.

My daughter, on the other hand, opened her Roth (at my direction) when she was 17 with the money she earned from her babysitting job and summer job. She contributed for 3 years in a row. She didn't contribute for 2015 because she had no income, but she knows to get back to it as soon as she has income again. I've showed her projections of how just the money she has already put in can grow by the time she's 65 so she's totally onboard with the reasoning.

[dawnwes]

22, with my first teaching job. Mandatory 8% and they matched 8.5%. I worked for 17 years there. I have been home for 10 as a stay at home mom.

DH started his career around age 30 and always contributed over 10%.

[greenskeeper]

Started a 401k with company match when I was 18 and have kept adding to it ever since and I'm 36 years old. The wife is self employed (cash) so in addition to her old 401k when she was working now has a roth IRA that we contribute to monthly.

[msomnipotent]

I tried to sign up for my employer's 403B when I was 16, but they made me wait until I was 18. Still PO'D at that. I would have had 2 more years during the 1990's bull run. I maxed out at the beginning because I was living with my parents. Then I lowered it when I bought my own place. My employer let us change the percentage whenever we wanted, so one month would be 10%, one would be 1% if I had a big bill coming. I went back up to 10% once my furniture and car was paid for.

[kork13]

I started saving for retirement as a junior in college (2006), when an advisor taught me somewhat about investments. I started a Roth IRA, and have maxed it ever since (which amounted to about 30% of my meager income, but it worked out thanks to a very generous scholarship). Once I graduated & had a better income, I also got access to the TSP (401k), which after a couple years also opened up into a Roth option. I've continued to save about 25-30% for retirement, and 2015 was the first time I've been able to max the TSP.

[97guns]

It seems to me that I am the only one who has saved for retirement outside traditional retirement type funds, I see everyone saving for retirement through 401k's and IRA's for the tax shelter they provide. I had those kinds of retirement savings too but never added more than the minimum matching from the employer, I did not want my funds locked up for 40 years. I have more tax sheltering now than any of these tax friendly investments could provide.

My goal was an early retirement and it would never have been achieved if my money was in these types of investments.

[disneysteve]

It seems to me that I am the only one who has saved for retirement outside traditional retirement type funds,

Not at all. I have a big chunk of money saved for retirement in non-retirement accounts. That is primarily because of what I've had available to me. I've never had a 401k. The only "retirement" account I've had has been an IRA/Roth and the contribution limit on that isn't nearly enough. So I also have several taxable investment accounts that are earmarked for retirement.

[MonkeyMama]

It seems to me that I am the only one who has saved for retirement outside traditional retirement type funds

I just answered the question in terms of "retirement specific" funds. As to our assets and total savings rate, our IRAs are only a small portion of the total. Heck, our Traditional IRAs are only 15% of our assets. The bulk of that was a work retirement benefit that was given to me by an employer (I had no option to contribute my own money to that retirement plan). We have mostly funded ROTH IRAs, which are about 20% of our total assets. This is money that is easy to access, so not really in the same category of Traditional IRAs and 401ks. That still leaves the bulk of our assets not tied up in retirement funds at all. At the end of the day, all of these assets are part of our overall retirement plan.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I think 401k and IRAs are easiest and stuff outside can be harder to fund or used for other stuff. Our money will all be for retirement but I consider a lot of taxable stuff mostly for short or long term plans which may be retirement later.

[FLA]

I used all 403B and Roth because as a single mother nurse, it never occurred to me that I could retire young, before being allowed to access those funds. I had absolutely not a glimmer of hope for that in my eyes. And everything I read said max fund 403b and Roth, then kids' college and then non-retirement vehicles after all that. I never reached totally maxing my retirement vehicles, never mind the next two things.

now while waiting to see if I will get SSDI at 45, I'm wondering if that was the smartest advice but I'm getting by. Although, once I get SSDI, I can access my retirement funds without penalty, I just hope i don't have to.

[GrowingTheGreen]

Started when I turned 18 and saved up enough for the Vanguard $3k minimum.

[Petunia 100]

I got married at age 21 and soon thereafter discovered that I was now in a great deal of consumer debt. I spent my 20s clawing out of that. I knew I should be saving for retirement, but did not know where that money would come from. We also bought our first house within a year of being married, which was a mistake.

At age 31 I began saving for retirement for the first time, with just $20 per paycheck. It was probably a year before I was able to increase that at all.

Eventually I began contributing more and the for the last 8 years have been enjoying a 3% match in my employer's plan.

Now at age 48 I expect I will be able to supplement my eventual SS benefits to cover basic living costs, even if I stop contributing now, as long as I leave my nest egg alone until age 65. It's not wealth, but it's enough to give me some measure of financial security.

[bennkar]

Good question and thread. I too was always a saver but only saved enough in my emergency fund to last about 6 months to one year but never contributed into my retirement fund until about 38 years old. Like tomhole I started late. Once I hit 40 and saw retirement on the horizon in 25 years, I went into panic mode saving as much as possible into my retirement accounts. I'm currently 50. I guess it is better late than never but how I wished I had started my retirement accounts much sooner. These are my totals;

457, $120,000
Roth IRA, $40,000
Pension contributory plan, $65,000

I too wanted to save when young, but life (and a very spendy now ex wife) conspired against it. I started in earnest around 36 at almost zero. I put the pedal to the metal after I finally got divorced at 44, and now at 53 I have:

A paid off house in a HCOL area
457 plan at $360,000
Roth IRA at $95,000
Other savings/investments around $85,000
Pension vested at $25,000/year
(and a GF with more investments than I have )

[phantom]

When I graduated college, I decided I'd rather get my student loans paid down and start saving for a house before saving for retirement. I told myself that as long as I started saving for retirement by 30, I'd be fine.

My mom finally convinced me to open an IRA with her financial advisor when I was about 24. It was early 2007, and I was leery about the stock market. So, I only put in a couple thousand and limited my contributions to $100/month. Later than year, when everything blew up, I wished I hadn't started that IRA, but I kept my minimal contributions going anyway.

After I got married in 2009, my husband convinced me to move my IRA and to start maxing it out. In 2011, I finally got a job that offered a 401k and started contributing to that too. That was the first time I contributed to retirement accounts in the 15-20% of my salary range. By then I was 28.

I sometimes wish I'd started saving for retirement sooner. But, since I took care of other financial goals, like getting rid of my student loans, and since I still started somewhat early, I think I'm doing alright.