How much do you contribute to your 401k?

• OneBuckeye

  

  Simple question. What other retirement investments do you have? Roth IRA, Pension, Real Estate?
  
  I only contribute up to what the company matches and put more into a Roth IRA. I still feel like that big number you need to have when you retire will be hard to reach.
• FatHobbit

  

  I only contribute what the company matches. No other investment contributions at the moment. (I do have a Roth IRA that my neighbor convinced me to invest in, but the stock selection was shady and it's worth next to nothing now.)
• justincredible

  

  I'm another that only contributes what I need to get the maximum match from the company. I'm gonna start contributing into my IRA that I rolled my old 401k's into at some point.
• fan_from_texas

  I contribute to the limit, primarily for tax reasons. I also contribute to a Roth while I can. Currently, our primary means of "saving" for retirement, though, is paying off our student loans. Once those are gone, we'll get more serious about investing.
• j_crazy

  

  I do 15% for 6 months and 10% for 6 months. This keeps be below the limit for contributions. What's wierd is if I contribute at least 2% the company contributes 8%, if I contribute 10%, they still only contribute 8%, so a lot of guys my age are only doing 2% now and letting the company match 8%.
• McFly1955

  

  Was around 7%, just lowered it to 5% --- company-wide salary freeze for this year until at least mid-year....We are doing well but they are being cautious. Income staying the same, cost of everything else is going up......I'm not eligible for a match either until June, so everything I've been deferring has been just me...
  
  Wife and I are only 23 and well ahead of our goals at this time, so I'm fine with the temporary decrease.
• queencitybuckeye

  ^^^^ Congrats on being wise enough to start that young. You'll be very comfortable at a pretty young age.
• HitsRus

  

  We started late so we max out. I am the 'company' LOL so it does me little good to match....in fact we pay each employee a 3% safe harbor contribution. Most of my employees put nothing else away.
  
  We came out of the crash pretty good. Dollar cost averaging really works...actually I wish the market would have stayed low for a little longer so we could have piled up some cheap shares of mutual funds. When the market was low, we were getting double the shares for our money, so when the market went back up to 10,000 all the ones we bought at 6500 went up 50%. All in all, our portfolio adjusted for our contributions is up about 4% despite the crash....better than I would have got if I would have pulled everything out at the peak and went with cash or CD's. Of course, Gold would have done better.LOL
• ZWICK 4 PREZ

  

  OneBuckeye wrote: Simple question. What other retirement investments do you have? Roth IRA, Pension, Real Estate?
  
  I only contribute up to what the company matches and put more into a Roth IRA. I still feel like that big number you need to have when you retire will be hard to reach.

  Did you not contribute at the end of the year?
• OneBuckeye

  

  I contributed the same % even though it wasn't being matched. You?
• ZWICK 4 PREZ

  

  OneBuckeye wrote: I contributed the same % even though it wasn't being matched. You?

  I dropped it down to 6%. I thought about dropping it completely but did not.
• Thunder70

  

  I contribute 6% because that's what my company matches...
• Mr. 300

  

  At 9%, with match at 6%. The wife is at 10%, not sure on their match??
• jmog

  To the 401k I contribute to the tax limits.
  
  As more funds become available as I get some debts paid off and the like, I'll start contributing to my IRA again, but for now its just moving with the market.
• slingshot4ever

  I just have a 401k. My company matches 50 cents to a dollar up to 6%, meaning they only give a max of 3%. I put in 10% plus the 3% from the company for a total of 13%. I am 27 years old. So I feel like I am in good shape for when I want to retire.
• Cat Food Flambe'

  

  Both wife and I put away the full amount that our employers will match, and not one cent more. Any extra we have (half of any bonuses or windfalls, and -soon- the money we've shelling out for college tuition) goes into the self-directed IRA's we rolled over from our previous jobs.
  
  Much as like my employer, I don't want them between myself and any of more of my money that is absolutely necessary.