[Crystal]

I earn $143,000 annually and am trying to plan my retirement savings strategy.

Given that my employer does not offer matching contributions, what percentage of my salary should I allocate to my 401(k) and 457(b) plans?

I’m looking for advice on balancing these contributions to maximize my retirement savings while still maintaining my current lifestyle.

Any insights or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated!

[Inna]

If you can afford to maximize both I would, otherwise do as much as you can but 457 has no penalty if you leave the employer and want to start drawing from it.

[Wade]

Maxing Roth would be a good move before you contribute to a non matched 401k

[Matty]

As much as you can if you want out early. However, most research suggests 15% of your income.

[Cecile]

Do you have at least 6 months of your expenses saved for emergency fund?

Do you also have savings buckets or sinking funds for such things like vacation, car maintenance, car insurance?

If you do, you can contribute at least 6% of your gross salary to your 401k or 457 and then 9% towards Roth IRA.

[Dominique]

As much as you can sustain without your budget feeling too tight. I often started at 5-10% and then if I felt I had more room in my cash flow, I’d increase it by 1-2% each month until I’d settled on a good percentage, and then I’d also automatically set to increase it 1-2% with each pay raise.

So, if you wanted to, you could start out at 5% each, and then adjust.

[Kyle]

16% will be close to maxing out the benefit. If you can fund your IRA fully, and this additional 23k a year, you’ll be well on your way to FIRE.

[Colin]

At that salary I’d max out my annual contribution of $23k and live off the remaining $120k.

[Author]

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