Many Americans aren’t saving enough for retirement. The reasons for this vary, but the obvious one is that it’s challenging to find extra money in your paycheck for retirement if you’re battling the rising costs of living and unprecedented levels of household debt.
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Although it might seem like there’s no room in your budget to save for retirement, even a little bit goes a long way. To help you see the power of putting aside a small sum for retirement each month, GOBankingRates determined how much you’d have if you put $100 in an investment account each month, with an annual rate of return of 6.5%.
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Your Retirement Savings If You Save $100 a Month in a 401(k)
Saving $100 a month in a very conservative vehicle, like a basic savings account, results in much lower retirement savings than investing in the stock market via a 401(k). If you’re age 25 and have 40 years to save until retirement, depositing $100 a month into a savings account earning the current average U.S. interest rate of 0.42% APY would get you to just $52,367 in retirement savings — not great.
Around 86% of employers with 401(k) plans offer some kind of employee match, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. But even if your employer doesn’t offer a match, the retirement savings you earn from investing in stocks through a 401(k) is considerably higher. Using a slightly conservative rate of return of 6.5% — the historical average for the S&P 500 is higher, more like 7%-10% — results in far more savings down the road.
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If you started putting your money into a 401(k) today at age 25 and saved for 40 years, you’d have $218,107 saved by age 65, and that’s with no employer contribution. If you received a 3% match from your employer, your 401(k) savings would jump to $436,215.
Take a look below at how much you’d have saved by 65, based on which age you started saving.
Age at Start of Investing
Birth Year
401(k) Retirement Savings
Savings With 3% 401(k) Matching
25
1998
$218,107
$436,215
30
1993
$154,032
$308,063
35
1988
$107,264
$214,528
40
1983
$73,129
$146,259
45
1978
$48,215
$96,430
50
1973
$30,030
$60,061
55
1968
$16,758
$33,516
60
1963
$7,071
$14,141
Less frequent than no match is employers who offer a partial match — for example, 50 cents on the dollar up to 6% of employee salary. The median match is 3% of employee salary, according to a Vanguard study. Based on the same parameters above, you’d save approximately $327,161 by age 65 if you put away $100 a month with a 3% partial employer match of your salary.
How To Save for Retirement
The simplest way to increase your retirement savings is to increase your monthly contribution. For the purposes of this study, $100 contributed a month was used, for an annual contribution of $1,200.
You could certainly crank that up if you wish by contributing more — depending on what your budget permits — contributing every paycheck and getting your employer’s maximum contribution match.
Another strategy is to open and maintain several vehicles for retirement savings. For instance, you can have a 401(k) through your employer while at the same time contributing to an IRA outside of work. Plus, IRAs tend to offer a wider variety of investment options than the average 401(k) plan.
The good news is, retirement costs can be modified and reduced based on geography. The basic fact is that some states and cities have cheaper costs of living than others, better taxes on retirees, more affordable homes or many other factors. Some states even tax Social Security, so where you choose to retire certainly affects how quickly you use up your savings.
James Holbach contributed to the reporting for this article.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How Much Would You Have for Retirement If You Saved $100 a Month?
If you're age 25 and have 40 years to save until retirement, depositing $100 a month into a savings account earning the current average U.S. interest rate of 0.42% APY would get you to just $52,367 in retirement savings — not great.
Rather than hitting it big with speculative investments, the real key is consistent investment from as early an age as possible. If you do that, investing just $100 per month may be enough to get you to a seven-digit retirement account.
Investing $100 per month, with an average return rate of 10%, will yield $200,000 after 30 years. Due to compound interest, your investment will yield $535,000 after 40 years. These numbers can grow exponentially with an extra $100. If you make a monthly investment of $200, your 30-year yield will be close to $400,000.
If you were to invest $200 per month over the course of the next 30 years, that would equate to a total investment of $72,000. That's significant, but it's through the effects of compounding that would get your portfolio to a more than $1 million valuation.
“Retiring on $100,000 is quite a challenge, especially considering the average length of retirement and cost of living,” said Jeff Rose, CFP and founder of Good Financial Cents. “According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average yearly expenses for those age 65 and older hover around $50,000.”
If you're focused on long-term growth, investing $100 each month could be a good move for you. Many people invest through an IRA account. Check out our list of the best IRA accounts to learn more about how these investment accounts function.
Investing $500 a month could make you a millionaire in 30 or 40 years. You don't need to be a financial expert, but understanding how to build a balanced portfolio will go a long way.
Is saving £500 a month good? Saving £500 each month is a great goal if you can manage it. Over the course of a year, you would save £6,000, which could be used for things like emergency funds, retirement savings, or big purchases like a house or car.
In that case, investing $100 a month over 40 years will leave you with an ending balance of around $531,000. Meanwhile, you'll only be contributing a total of $48,000 to get to that point. So all told, you're looking at a $483,000 gain, which is pretty impressive.
The Rule of 72 is focused on compounding interest that compounds annually. For simple interest, you'd simply divide 1 by the interest rate expressed as a decimal. If you had $100 with a 10 percent simple interest rate with no compounding, you'd divide 1 by 0.1, yielding a doubling rate of 10 years.
If you save $100 every two weeks for a year, you will have a total of $2,600 [1]. Here's the breakdown: There are 52 weeks in a year, and if you save every two weeks, you will save 26 times in a year. Each time you save $100, you will accumulate a total of $2,600 over the course of the year.
You plan to invest $100 per month for five years and expect a 6% return. In this case, you would contribute $6,000 over your investment timeline. At the end of the term, your portfolio would be worth $6,949. With that, your portfolio would earn around $950 in returns during your five years of contributions.
A $200,000 annuity can provide livable income if you purchase it earlier in life, such as at age 45. However, waiting until retirement age to purchase an annuity of that size will likely provide less than $1,000 of monthly income. So, this strategy is feasible if you save up $200,000 early in your career.
In a world in which the average monthly Social Security benefit is just over $1,792, it may seem like a pipe dream to live off $10,000 per month in retirement. But the truth is that with some preparation, dedication and resolve, many Americans can reach this impressive level of retirement income.
Assuming you'll live to be 85 and won't want to work after retiring, you can anticipate a need for 20 years of income. If you're able to retire with $200,000 at 65, that will equate to $10,000 a year, or approximately $833 a month.
Many retirees fall far short of that amount, but their savings may be supplemented with other forms of income. According to data from the BLS, average 2022 incomes after taxes were as follows for older households: 65-74 years: $63,187 per year or $5,266 per month. 75 and older: $47,928 per year or $3,994 per month.
Let's say you consider yourself the typical retiree. Between you and your spouse, you currently have an annual income of $120,000. Based on the 80% principle, you can expect to need about $96,000 in annual income after you retire, which is $8,000 per month.
To have sufficient savings for a lifestyle in retirement that covers your annual retirement expenses of $49,000, we recommend saving a minimum of $867 a month.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average income of someone 65 and older in 2021 was $55,335, and the average expenses were $52,141, or $4,345 per month.
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