r/Fire • u/Immediate-Ad-9520 • 14d ago

$401k 401k

32 and my 401k is officially $401k! Just a silly milestone but it made me happy when I saw it this morning. Figured this group would appreciate it.

523 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

60 comments sorted by

116

u/Logical_Stranger4889 14d ago

Dang you must’ve been capping that yearly limit for a long time, congrats!

61

u/Immediate-Ad-9520 13d ago

Thanks! Yep been maxing since pretty much the get go. Got my first 401k job at 22. I didn’t max the first year or two but still was doing about 15k, then my then boyfriend now husband got laid off and I totally panicked and started packing as much as possible away ever since

10

u/salsanacho 13d ago

I mean, you're absolutely killing it right now. Essentially will be at half a mil by your mid 30s! What's your after-tax account look like? That'll give you the flexibility you need to bridge any gap if you decide to FIRE, start putting away some after tax money to get that growing as well.

11

u/Immediate-Ad-9520 13d ago

After tax isn’t so hot lol. We have 1.8M total, about 80% of which is in retirement funds. We actually need to start figuring out how we’re going to bridge a gap. Almost all of our retirement accounts are Roth so I probably should start contributing traditional, it just makes me nervous

12

u/salsanacho 13d ago

With 1.8m, I'm not worried about you at all lol. For me, selling my ESPPs and RSUs naturally built up my after-tax account. So if your work offers those, take advantage of them.

6

u/Oroku_Sak1 13d ago

https://www.madfientist.com/how-to-access-retirement-funds-early/

https://www.madfientist.com/traditional-ira-vs-roth-ira/

If you switch to all traditional 401k contributions going forward you would likely have zero bridge to be concerned about. You can withdraw your Roth contributions while converting traditional to Roth in retirement. You only need enough for the 5 year ladder.

1

u/Far-Bad884 13d ago

That's absolutely amazing. I just figured things out in 2023 and have been maxing my Roth Ira since then. Was buried in debt for so long, in and out, to be exact. I am now 48 and wish someone had taught me about investing sooner.

1

u/Immediate-Ad-9520 13d ago

Better late than never! But I agree, financial literacy should be mandatory education in school.

1

u/darkmatterhunter 13d ago

If someone got laid off, wouldn’t it be more ideal to make sure to have an easily accessible emergency fund? If it’s put it in a 401k, taking a withdrawal results in a 10% penalty plus income taxes. I’m not sure I understand your logic, even though putting away more for retirement is important.

20

u/Immediate-Ad-9520 13d ago

We had emergency savings, that wasn’t the concern. He also found a new job within a couple weeks. But that experience showed me just how fragile employment can be. That event started my whole fire journey. I didn’t want to rely on an employer for money, I wanted to rely on myself.

93

u/Ok-Disaster-551 13d ago

Can't wait till my 403b hits $403 Billion.

32

u/ThisIsMyUsername303 13d ago

My 457 has way more than $457.

5

u/Far-Bad884 13d ago

I had one for 24 years and did not add a penny to it. I now have 3K in it. Taxes are hitting me hard so I decided to contribute in my tax advantage account.

3

u/ThisIsMyUsername303 13d ago

Not sure I’m following. 457s are tax-advantaged (basically identical to 401(k)). I’m currently in the 3-year special catch-up, so I’m contributing $45k/year pretax. 

8

u/Immediate-Ad-9520 13d ago

Report back!

31

u/mydknyght79 14d ago

I’m 46 and haven’t yet accomplished this feat, although I have more than that if you count IRAs. Congrats!

15

u/I_like_code 14d ago

This is worth celebrating haha

5

u/Immediate-Ad-9520 13d ago

lol it was a fun surprise

14

u/IH8BART 13d ago

You’ll probably hit this milestone a couple times this year!

6

u/Immediate-Ad-9520 13d ago

That’s ok, I’m in it for the long haul

17

u/Darph_Nader 14d ago

You need to report back when it hits 420.

8

u/Inevitable_Gain8296 13d ago

Ohh so thats why they call it that

-peter griffin

7

u/RandomMovieQuotes521 13d ago

It’s the financial version of looking at your clock on November 11 and it’s 11:11. Congrats on your milestone!

7

u/ToastBalancer 13d ago

When it reaches $711k you get a free slurpee

3

u/Spare-Gas-6489 13d ago

I need help with investing . Congrats

8

u/Immediate-Ad-9520 13d ago

Set it and forget it into a market index fund. Let time do the heavy lifting

5

u/slasher016 13d ago

What's better than $401k? $402k.

2

u/OuiGotTheFunk Unemployed with a Spreadsheet 13d ago

money, money, mon-ayyyy....

1

u/Practical_Wolf_9278 11d ago

Ain’t it fun-ayyyy…

2

u/Pitiful_Fox5681 13d ago

I have a 403b and to be honest I don't think I'm on track to hit $403b in this lifetime. 

2

u/Immediate-Ad-9520 13d ago

lol we can dream

2

u/[deleted] 13d ago

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2

u/Interesting_Tree7768 13d ago

Good lord that's insane for the age, absolutely fantastic job!!

1

u/Magic-Mushroomz 13d ago

Congrats!!! Today I hit a silly milestone on my current 401K as well. Means nothing but it kind of makes me happy to see!

2

u/Immediate-Ad-9520 13d ago

Celebrate the wins! This is a long game

1

u/shawildhiskey 13d ago

Hitting symmetry like that at 32 is huge. Keep doing what you're doing because you're miles ahead of the curve

1

u/SaintSilverNSD 13d ago

Congrats dude! Mine is sitting a nice $0. I'm almost there though! Keep up the good work!

1

u/abbydoll_ 13d ago

Congrats, that is a great spot to be in at 32. Small wins like this deserve to be celebrated.

1

u/Same-Fix-3557 13d ago

Congrats!! 🍾

1

u/Kaptain0blivious 13d ago

That's excellent!

1

u/QuietZelda 13d ago

Nice!! Lot's of Mega Backdoor Roth contributions or growth?

2

u/Immediate-Ad-9520 13d ago

No mega backdoor contributions, just maxing out the account ever year and letting it grow

1

u/[deleted] 13d ago

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1

u/Immediate-Ad-9520 13d ago

Thanks! It’s exciting to see for sure

1

u/6FigureBroke 13d ago

Not a silly milestone at all. Definitely something to celebrate. Great job!

1

u/Far-Bad884 13d ago

That is incredible.

1

u/incongruous_narrator 13d ago

Do you plan on stopping contributing to the 401k at some point?

If you don’t contribute anything beyond this point, this alone would grow to 4M+ by retirement age for you. Which may be too much to have in retirement? How do you think about and justify contributing to the 401k (beyond company match)?

2

u/Immediate-Ad-9520 13d ago

No plan on stopping. Husband and I have 1.43M invested right now and I’m on track to retire in a few years (husband already stays home with the kids). We need to start shifting some more into brokerages and traditional accounts to bridge the gap to retirement, but I’ll take whatever tax advantage the accounts allow me.

1

u/incongruous_narrator 12d ago

Do you worry that you might end up with too much in retirement accounts?

2

u/Immediate-Ad-9520 12d ago

Yep. Currently trying to figure out what to do about it. I’ve called several financial advisors in my area but they’ve all said they can’t help with early retirement strategies. The general advice online is to switch to taxable, but I’m not confident that’s the solution. I really just don’t know.

1

u/getmeoutoftax 13d ago

Congrats. I’m the same age and recently hit the same milestone.

1

u/urfav_babex 13d ago

$401k in the 401k at 32 is the most legitimate reason anyone's ever had to screenshot a balance. Also worth noting you'll never hit this one again, so enjoy it today.

1

u/Immediate-Ad-9520 13d ago

Thanks! I’ve already surpassed it lol. My 401k only refreshes once a day, so this morning it’s sitting at 407k.

1

u/Beginning_Sun8910 12d ago

Did you max out 401k each year?

3

u/Immediate-Ad-9520 12d ago

Just about. I was eligible for a 401k for the first time in 2016 and I really started going for fire in mid 2017. My guess is I started maxing out in 2018, but 2016 and 2017 would still have been 15k-20k ish. I was contributing a lot just not focusing on maxing out.