How Many People are Actually Saving for Their Retirement?

[tobee43]

What is the rule of thumb (%) for contributions made to a retirement plan while in chapter 7 or 13?

personally, i did not experience a 13, but during our no asset 7 we were unable to contribute anything as we simply didn't have the money. now a few years down the road we are aiming high, but, have no children home with us anymore, and we are getting up there in age, so we have a ton of making up to do. we are currently saving approx. 30% of our total income. it does vary, because some months we have higher expenses so can't put as much aside as we'd like.

[chrisdfw]

I contribute 16,500 a year to my plan, which is the maximum, and here is why

For every dollar I contribute, I save:
25% federal income tax, 5% state income tax, 1% city payroll tax, 15% on my student loan payment (IBR with discharge of remaining balance after 10 years for PSLF), and it reduces the phase out of tax credits 5%

so it only costs me 49% of each dollar I contribute, next year I will contribute 17,000. I also get an employer match on the first 5%.

I'd be silly not to contribute, at least while it is saving me student loan payment money, which is based on AGI. I also go for the expensive health plan and contribute to my FSA, since gettting my AGI down saves me money, every dollar I spend on pre-tax items costs me only 49%!

[ksgirl38]

I read an article recently that recommended 15% of your salary should be contributed to your retirement. Of course if you get a company match then that would be included among the 15%. I have a 401k through work and then last year I opened a separate IRA through sharebuilder.com. It's real easy to set up and I was contributing $100 a month by just having it automatically sent from my checking once a month. I just thought of it like another bill. I've temporarily stopped that, but hope to pick that up here after I get through the BK filing and get myself organized.

My mother actually had some good advice on this. (Yes, I can't believe I'm saying that.) When you start a new job put in at least the minimum to get the free match. If you start contributing from the beginning you'll learn not to miss it and thank yourself for it later.

[tazunemono]

I contribute 6% of my paycheck, and my employer matches that amount. Comes out to around $380 into my 401(k) per check.

[JessMN]

I am too - 5% into 401k with 4% company match plus $50 into an IRA. Its not enough, but its what I can afford right now

[slk2198]

The only reason I have anything is because I am a teacher & $ is set aside monthly by the District. But I do have $43K in student loan debt. I am 61 and don't have a lot of time left. My current student loan payment is $355/mo but will balloon to $650 in a few years. So, I wouldn't have much to live on. Be eating cat food. That's why I am researching bk -- to get the credit cards off my back so that I can focus exclusively on Sallie Mae. Thoughts please.

[chrisdfw]

The only reason I have anything is because I am a teacher & $ is set aside monthly by the District. But I do have $43K in student loan debt. I am 61 and don't have a lot of time left. My current student loan payment is $355/mo but will balloon to $650 in a few years. So, I wouldn't have much to live on. Be eating cat food. That's why I am researching bk -- to get the credit cards off my back so that I can focus exclusively on Sallie Mae. Thoughts please.

Do you have the option to do income based repayment and public service loan forgiveness? Do you expect to work 10 more years?

Getting the credit cards off your back is good either way. But IBR and PSLF is a very powerful way for public employees to deal with student debt. Payments are based only on income and after 10 years the balance is forgiven. During the payment phase the payments are capped at 15% of discretionary income (AGI minus 150% of the poverty level)

[joshuagraham]

Best thing I ever did was sock it away when I was young. In fact, there was about 2 years when I wasn't socking away the max, that I now kick myself for not socking it away even more! Of course, while I was socking it away, I was steadily building up unsecured debt that I was able to roll over again and again and again with the 0% balance transfers. So was it a good move for me to sock money away while I built up unsecured debt? I got to keep the retirement account and got the unsecured debt discharged. You decide.

[slk2198]

smart!

[slk2198]

I didn't qualify for Obama's loan forgiveness program. My loans are too old. What is IBR & PSLF? Duh.......

[ValleYum]

I didn't qualify for Obama's loan forgiveness program. My loans are too old. What is IBR & PSLF? Duh.......

IBR= Income Based Repayment

PSLF= Public Service Loan Forgiveness

[ValleYum]

We opened a 401k with the railroad's plan last year after our BK closed. We put 10% in last year and bumped it to 15% this year (these pre-tax contributions allowed our taxable income to be reduced and we were within $1k of completely offsetting the difference in our having no mortgage interest/itemized deductions on our income taxes - we shouldn't have to pay anything this coming year). We also plan on opening a Roth IRA for me in July.

We are going against the grain of all the Financial Planners out there by investing in the company stock fund. We had a return on investment last year of 10%+ and it looks like we will again this year. We can't beat that anywhere else that I know of.

[tobee43]

We opened a 401k with the railroad's plan last year after our BK closed. We put 10% in last year and bumped it to 15% this year (these pre-tax contributions allowed our taxable income to be reduced and we were within $1k of completely offsetting the difference in our having no mortgage interest/itemized deductions on our income taxes - we shouldn't have to pay anything this coming year). We also plan on opening a Roth IRA for me in July.

We are going against the grain of all the Financial Planners out there by investing in the company stock fund. We had a return on investment last year of 10%+ and it looks like we will again this year. We can't beat that anywhere else that I know of.

you are SO brave!!!! but then i knew that, although i kill snakes...however, i'm much more conservative with sticking with the tax free bonds paying almost 5% should i made over 1k in my little portfolio in about 3 months and i was singing the songs!! LOL!!! we are at a different time in our lifes though, and i think that makes all the difference for us.

we are are offically i guess retired living on a pension and ss. but we take most of our money and pay off this mortgage which i thought would be 36 months but it may be less and this place is paid in full. then we put away only about 2k a month because that's all that's left. i want to save but i want to pay off the mortage! it's a hard one since we live fine actually better than when we were both working out butts off! (i am working still pt and have clients that i haven't given up since it's been YEARS) but that's not much money anymore!

[chp13]

When I filed chp 13 I was contributing $20 to my 457 plan. Since filing over a year ago, I recently increased my contribution to $100. I have since learned to live on a tighter budget and I'd like to contibute even more, about $200. When I filed my attorney told me not to worry about an increases in my salary unless it were an inheritance or winning the lotto, which most likely will NEVER happen. My question is, will the trustee even care about my increased contibution to my 457 plan? I've read that they can't deny your increase in contributions but I've also read that they cold question were the funds are coming from. If my trustee don't really care about an increase in salary why would he even care about a very small increase in my 457 plan?

[slk2198]

I am in CA. I have never heard of anyone doing either a IBR or PSL. Don't think it is an option.