ichimunki said that she makes 80K a year for a nonprofit/403b plan at 31. Even in Manhattan, those are some high odds.

Go to another web site for help.

I have been saving since I was 22 and turning 30 in April. I made around 75k at 22 and now make a shade over/under 100k depending on annual bonus payout.

I now have 160k. It is a slow and steady process. Knowing I will have no tax bill at the end of it all is important to me as well.

Now: 32 – about 70K combined saved. About 130K combined student loans, no other debt other then a 650K mortgage (relocated into the SF Bay Area and there is no cheap housing unless you are willing to give up 1-2 hours of your day on a commute and have to drive everywhere). 1 daughter, 1 other (TBD) on the way. Any financial regrets? Still haven’t seen Australia or Antarctica.

The Punchline: Assuming 12% savings increasing by 1% a year, an 8% ROI, my and my wifes current post grad school salaries (180k), inflation of 3.5%, not wasting excess money (e.g. not buying a new car ever, vacationing by actually traveling as locals do instead of like tourists), saving everything above the amount I use, paying for my kids first 4 years of college, home cost increasing in line with inflation, SSN reduced by 20% and no medicare and my companies retirement plan I project an age 65 net worth of between $17-24 million roughly 2-4 times what I would need if I live to 100 and lived at what I use now (inflation adjusted of course) + 30% . Of course lots of variability because of promotions, keeping my job, how much I actually spend (way below my salary and paying off those student loans) etc. but still even without the pension, without SSN, salary increasing with inflation and no increase in value in the house we would still be more then okay.

My point: Playing a little bit of catch- up isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially if you are planning on having kids. Now with kids I couldn’t spend 2 months traveling through Southeast Asia or stay up all night finishing a paper or any number of other things. My father passed away prior to retirement so I know there is no guarantee you can do these things later either. I think better financial advice is to set general goals for things you would like to do in life (a bucket list so to speak) and prioritize for before kids, after kids, retirement and other (i.e. professional, family, etc.). Figure out when you’re going to do each and what you have to do to make it happen. Find your passions.

WORK AND EDUCATION: I am 39. I started working at 16 technically then moved to the west from the east. I had to work FT at the age of 18 for a year in order to avoid out of state tuition as I hadn’t taken my SAT. Our family had 5 siblings, mom, dad, dog, cat, mortgage and a car so we couldn’t afford much other than the essentials. We didn’t even have real furniture just the basics like a dinner table, a couch and beds. After working full time at age 18 for a year to establish residency. I made about $18K a year as a receptionist at a high end bank. I went to a JC at 19, and worked somewhere else making a little more and lived at home doing marketing and sales. I bought a car for $6K and my dad helped with that and with school. I had to pay him back for both and I did, roughly $8K. I then transferred to a PAC 10 private school using loans and gov’t subsidy to get a degree in mktg/fin while working full time in the marketing and sales job. My school loans were $80K, dad paid for half, myself the other and it is paid off now. Going to a private school has made a huge difference in how much I make and the connections I have made in life, i.e. it was worth the $80K. I was promoted when I graduated into a marketing/corp sales job, with a free car and cell phone. I thought I was ballin making $26K a year! I then moved into telecom sales and made a closer to $35K. Then went into marketing in the mortgage industry making $50K, then led a marketing dept as a VP at a credit union making $65K, then moved into the Fortune 46 role making $135K a year as a VP in Marketing, plus a 20% annual bonus and had a 401K whereby I was contributing 15%, stocks and a pension plan with the Fortune 46 company I was employed by. Now I make $150K a year, plus an annual $20K bonus (net) minimum, stock options, pension plan, 401K max contributions, mortgage is $27K paid off and has about 8% equity in a bad economy. I have about $56K in savings. My next step is stocks and bonds.

CAR: My 1st car got stolen twice and stripped completely. I couldn’t use insurance as it was too expensive. So bought a car for $4k and got hit by an 18 wheeler. Continued to drive it through JC as I couldn’t afford to do anything else. THEN my dad gave me his clunker when I went to the PAC 10. I rolled that until I was 27. Since then I bought 2 Fords, a BMW and a Benz and sold them all back. I got my money back for both the Benz and BMW because they were both lemons. So those depreciating costs were recouped. I went carless from 2006-2009, renting cars as needed for no more than $450 a month all in. January of this year I bought a Saturn Aura for $23K before they went out of business and got $10K off. The car is worth more than I paid for it even after drive off and extended warranty. I will drive it until the wheels fall off.

PROPERTY: As for a home, I rented until the age of 34. I bought a condo conversion 2/2 unit with 1630sqft for $430K after a 10% condo conversion discount. I took the cash out vs the discount and got a jumbo loan for $395 and a 2nd for $90. I invested the cash into other real estate and made 25% off of it, which is a net gain of about 15% if you factor the interest being paid on the money. I should have used the money to immediately pay down the mortgage to offset the interest, but I was into “new money” and got a little excited about that. I then lost my job and was without work for 2 yrs, but had 10 months of severance that I immediately invested to carry me through and allow me to hold on to my property until I landed a job that would relo me and pay for the sale of my property. I deferred the sale of my property until this year as the economy was terrible. I now have 8% equity in it and can keep it and hold out for the big payday which could be as much as $300K including a $50K investment into remodeling, paying down the mortgage in the meantime and the gain as the economy gets better. The pros of selling now are I get 8% and can likely gain a lot more by investing that into something with a larger profit margin and I will have a $485K loan paid off on my credit which will boost it even higher than it is (700s).

DEBT: I have about $20K in debt of which I will pay off with my tax refunds this year.

I am and have been single with no kids. I still am nowhere near where I need to be because with all that I am still only holding a net worth of $210K (using equity in mortgage, 401K, and savings vs including the entire value of the home asset). And only $100K of that is in 401K. I am nearly 40, I should be at $450K plus in net worth according to standard which will get me “very limited retirement living after 65″. So I say invest and save all you can (interest gain), get married as early as you can (write offs and de-dupes living costs), wait on kids as long as you can, take risks at younger ages to yield higher returns, and spend as little as you can…or take the easy route and marry rich if you weren’t …born into it, lucky enough to have won something or worked hard and achieved financial success already.

Assuming I live to at least 85 and live from 65-85 at a $100k a year income and am able to work FT at my salary or more until the age of 65, I will need to have saved at least $2MM to get me by. If I live longer than 85, obviously I need $100K more saved per year I live. At the rate I am going, I will only save about $1MM. And none of this assumes illness or other things that come into life like kids! So be safe and plan $100K min for everyone in your household come retirement. Also, keep in mind that 30-50 years from now the cost of living will be drastically higher and $100K may not get you more than poverty! But then again, you would be lucky to live that long…so thank God none the less.

I rambeled, but share the level of insight that I would like to have and hope someone can gain from this and make some “right” turns instead of left turns!!