Comments on: Compare Our 401k Balances With Others In America

By: Buy XOM

Buy XOM — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:01:07 +0000

02/15/2010:

Down to $330,000 in XOM, but the lower price per share allows me to PURCHASE more shares, which will benefit me when the price per share recovers…

Still looking at over $1,000,000 in stock by 2024 averaging 10% growth after Obama and his fellow socialists/democrats are voted out and businesses are not afraid to spend their Capital and expand their businesses.

BTW: Did I mention that SOCIAL SECURITY IS A SCAM?!?!

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:00:26 +0000

One reason why you might see a smaller median account balance for earners over 100K in their 60’s than that of those in their 50’s is: income tends to increase over time for many people. Those in their 60’s earning over 100K may not have earned that much in their 50’s. Those in their 50’s earning over 100K are more likely to have been high earners for a greater period, meaning they have the ability to save more.

By: Jazz

Jazz — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 02:05:11 +0000

Uh….me thinks the term “median account balance is being mistaken for “average account balance”. Perhaps someone has already pointed this out………if so I missed it.

Example
Employee Account Balance
Bill 1000
Joe 1000
Mary 3000
Bob 4000
Susan 4000
In this example, the AVERAGE account balance is 2600, but the MEDIAN account balance is 3000. The median is the mid-point of the disribution (50% of the participants and more than the median and 50% have less).

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:47:06 +0000

Here’s something else nobody is talking about: this doesn’t count the IRA balances people have! How much average IRA balance does an average person have?

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:19:07 +0000

I would disagree that employees should distribute contributions to their 401(k) to company stock, but there’s a catch. If the employees can get a discount on stock, or if they get preferred shares, or if their company offers healthy (3.5% or higher) dividends, then go for it. If however the company already gives stock to their employees as a benefit of working there, or if they do not offer the incentives I listed, then I would consider to plow the 60% of equities to the other funds available in the 401k that invest in stocks. An additional 15% of their distributions should be to international stock funds or indices, and then the rest in GICs and bonds.

Of course this advice are only for those who still have 30-40 years of investing left, and are aggressive growth. For those who are more conservative but have a similar timeline, 50% goes to large cap stock, 35% goes to bonds and GICs, and the rest to small-cap stock and international.

By: ricky

ricky — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:41:27 +0000

And then came 2009………………………………………………………

By: Promotional Companies

Promotional Companies — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:14:10 +0000

Interesting article and some good replies to it to continue the debate….We are going through scary times!!

By: Buy XOM

Buy XOM — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:11:48 +0000

Folks / Moneyning,

I am living proof of the greatness of 401k plans. Niethe rof my parents graduated from HIGH SCHOOL and neither ever owned stocks or funds until very late in life.

1) It’s not hard to imagine a person in their 20s earning $20-$40k per year having MORE than $6,700 in their plan. I saved about 10% of my salary (usually around $30k per year) in my 401k and was matched with 7% by ExxonMobil. By the time I was 30 (in 1994), my account was valued at $53,000!

2) My account hit $100k in 1997 (I was earning around $35k per year).

3) My account today (5/03/2008) is 4,993 shares at $89.68 per share is worth $447,772.24! I also have other ROTH IRAs worth about $60,000. So at age 44, I am at over $500,000 in investments!

4) Using the “rule of 72″, where one’s money doubles when years are divided by return percentage; If I get 12% average return, my money will double every 6 years (72/12=6), so in 18 years (2026) when I am 62 and can get to my 401k, my $500k should have turned into $4,000,000! I will then withdraw 10% per year ($400k) and even with inflation and taxes factored in , I will be living quite well.

5) Do NOT believe politicians and DEMAND to privatize Social Security, which is the biggest impedement to you and your family’s financial freedom!

By: Frugal MoneyMan

Frugal MoneyMan — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 01:34:48 +0000

The article is quite useless. A well written article would have considered the current worth of all retirement accounts (401k, IRA, Roth, 403b, etc.) And even if the article had been based on total retirement savings, does comparing oneself to others really matter? What matters is whether your current balance and future contributions will grow to allow you to have the lifestyle you want when you retire. If you’re not saving enough, you either need to save more or change your expectations.

By: Mark @ TheLocoMono

Mark @ TheLocoMono — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:58:36 +0000

CNN has a similar calculator where you can compare your assets and income with your age group. I tried it out and the stats were kind of hard to believe either. For one, it was based on age range like 25 to 35 and those who made 30k or less only had a few thousand dollars. I have triple the amount but I am closer to 35. When I was 25 I had a car loan so my net was a negative so that’s a pretty broad range to average out by.

I think the stats would be more accurate if it was broken down into 5 year ranges instead of 10 year ranges.

In other words, someone at the bottom of the age range saving 1K a year would have 1K where as someone at the top who saved 1K a year for ten years would have 10K but if you divide the total, 11K by 2 people you would have an average of 5.5K for both people regardless of their age in a ten year range.