Slow and Steady Saving Still Pays

[Onward]

Just some encouragement for you young dreamers.

The path toward having enough money to enjoy a comfortable retirement is a long one. And as the recent decade in the U.S. stock market shows, it's one where patience pays off.

Slow and Steady Saving Still Pays - WSJ.com

 

[freebird5825]

Yes, indeed.
I contributed 5%, then 10%, then 11-15% in 1% increments per year, then as much as 20% of my salary for the final 2 years, all during the time period 1988-2007. My salary grew from $29K in 1988 to almost $80K in 2007.
My "match" from my employer was always 5%.
I consistently invested it at 60/40 AA using low cost funds avaiable through the federal TSP 401(k) plan.
I won't tell you what the final dollar figure was , but it was enough to accelerate the timing so that I was able to FIRE with at age 48 instead of taking the early out at age 50.

 

[Nords]

Nice chart. For those nearing retirement it'd be interesting to see one that started in 1980 and followed a 30-year scale.

 

[growing_older]

Oh, re-read the article more carefully. Lots of employer matching going on.

 

[dex]

Just some encouragement for you young dreamers.

I agree with the concept. The question above all our heads is inflation. When you take into account taxes I do not know any way to preserve your capital's buying power.

I would change Nords' starting time from 80's to 1970 and look at the results at a tax and inflation adjusted basis.

http://econ161.berkeley.edu/Econ_Articles/theinflationofthes.html

http://inflationdata.com/inflation/Inflation_Rate/HistoricalInflation.aspx?dsInflation_currentPage=2