What percentage of your income do you save and/or invest?

I know many people out there want a rule of thumb to how much they need to save every month. Obviously each situation is unique, but I thought if people could respond it might give those that need some guidance a start.

My wife and I try to save 1/3 of our after-tax income.

Nagel
http://finance.webaplex.com/

Last fall, I watched the Frontline show "can you afford to retire?". What a wake up call - I must have been in a coma, not just sleeping. Actually, I really don't know what I was thinking, that my retirement would just magically appear..."Here's a couple mil to tide you over!"
Anyway, I have made a goal to start saving 27 % pre-tax income to be able to retire semi-comfortably, at 65, assuming 3% inflation and a 9% return. So far, so good, but it sure makes for a frugal lifestyle, and regret for stupid expenditures in years past.
Oh well, at least I have a profession I love and can do for a long time.
I do not include any social security income in my retirement income planning - I think it will be almost gone when my golden years are upon me.

DH and I both have state pensions, so the only thing we save in addition to that is our ROTHs. So, just that $4k a year, each, or about 15% of our income.

About 25% of gross.

Better Late Than Never is right. At least you know and can begin to catch up. I know a lot of older Boomers who are nearing retirement with very little saved up.

I read (on Musings on Personal Finance (http://musingsonpersonalfinance.blogspot.com) ) that as a nation we actually saved less than we made last year. I think it was the first time since the Great Depression that it has occurred. Now, there are some caveats in that we (again, as a nation) have more assets today than during the Great Depression, but either way, it seems like a terrible trend.

Personally, we try to save as much as possible: some months that hits 50%, others, it's roughly about 30%. My wife and I each contribute 10% pre-tax to our 401k plans and my wife contributes 10% after tax to her employee stock purchase plan, so at worst, we know even if we spend every penny of our paychecks (which we don't, of course), we'll be saving at least 30%.

I don't know the percentage, I have a retirement check from the Military around $2,200 a month and of that $1,900 is invested, I also have 15% of my current pay going into the TSP. My wife and I both max out our Roth every year (8K) and we try to put $1000 a month or more into our mutual fund accounts. I don't know how much we will need in our golden years, but we are trying to stash as much away as we can while staying debt free except our home.

We are saving about 20% of our pre-tax income. We are trying to save more for retirement and use opportunities like raises to stash that away.

Starting next month, I'm aiming to save 60% of my take home pay towards buying a home. This is not impossible considering I am single, and living with my parents.

I put 10% into my 401k, which my employer puts in another 5% (the max they do).

I live at home, so don't have much in terms of expenses, so I save at least 1/2 of my net on top of that. Its adds up in a hurry.

Wife and I each put 6% into our 401(k) and our employer puts in an additional 9% (not a bad deal, huh?!). In addition, we're maxing out our Roth IRAs as well, bringing our total retirement savings (incl. employer match) up to a little over 20% of gross.

In addition to that, we save at least 10% of our after-tax income for rainy day expenses, mortgage pre-payment, paying cash for our next car, etc. We need to actually increase that to 15-20%, but have had a couple rather indulgent months (furniture, landscaping, and a weekend in Vegas) that have made that extra 5-10% a little difficult. We'll get there, though -- considering that most people our age are saving NOTHING, I'm ok with a little financial indiscretion every now and then. :)

I think if you start out at age 18 saving 10% of what you take home rain or shine then you are doing pretty well. Investing that in an average returning fund over 40 years can be very helpful.

4k to my Roth
3k to wife's 401k
6k to my 401k
3k to wife's Roth

This is more than 16% of our gross pay.

This does NOT include the matches each of our companies puts in (3% for me, 5% for wife).

13% for my 401K plus 6.5% company match.
16% for my wife's 401k plus she gets a pension.
I also contribute to a Roth and a 529 plan for my son. And I buy CDs whenever we get a few extra thousand in our money market account.

So estimating we save around 18-20% pretax. We could easily, easily be saving more but my wife likes to spent $30 every where she goes, mostly on our son. And we take 2 or 3 vacations a year.

18% pre-tax 401k(started Jan1/2007)
Max Roth(4k this year) post tax

I suggest you google the 60% solution. It is a great article for advice on how to budget and where to put savings and ensure the money stays in your retirement accounts. It even mentions being debt free which I endorse whole heartedly. And even say is a key to financial well being.

I contribute 18% each month to my retirement account. Thanks.

Harrine Freeman
CEO, H.E. Freeman Enterprises
www.hefreemanenterprises.com
Speaker, Author of How to Get Out of Debt: Get an "A" Credit Rating for Free

I'm not sure of the %. We're still working on the "often and early" formula.

$15500 Roth 401k
$2500 Employer match
$8000 Traditional IRAs

My wife stays at home now, so we have make every bit count since we don't have a dual income anymore.

Next year my goal is to max my Roth 401k, both Roth IRAs, start a 529, and a HSA; we'll see... it might be too lofty.

I remember a quote from Einstein that I'll paraphrase... the most amazing formula is compounding interest.

I make 3K per month after taxes and all of that stuff.

I save 1100$. I still live with parents

That's the way to do it...if you stick to saving 60% of your take home pay..you'll have a house in no time!

Starting next month, I'm aiming to save 60% of my take home pay towards buying a home. This is not impossible considering I am single, and living with my parents.

We are saving about 18% of our pre-tax income. We are trying to save more for retirement.

This is a good post because it is great to see so many people saving at the levels you all are but it is kind of depressing to know I'm going to post the lowest pretax retirement percentage of 10% (our contribution) or 13% (with employer match).

We are going to start putting into our Roth's starting 2008 since right now it's all going to pre-taxed accounts. My focus won't be to increase retirement savings much in the near term since we're focusing on some debt.

My 401K - 15K + company match
Wifes 401K - 15K + company match
HSA - 5,600
My traditional IRA - 4K
Wifes traditional IRA - 4k

Total is roughly 50% of our gross

I just started working so most of my income goes to pay my loans and to my needs. But I make it a point that I keep between 10% to 15% of my income as savings.

Another variable that should be tossed in is how many years from retirement we are at. If someone posts they are saving 50% but are only 5 years out while someone posts a 10% savings but are 35 years out that might be a significant factor. Just a thought.

25-30 years out.

Myself, 19% of base pay in company retirement plans (including match), max Roth IRA (under 50), set aside everything else after taxes, expenses, and fun (in that order).

Spouse, 10-12% base pay in company retirement plans, plus 33% match.

I've just turned 42 & can pull early retirement at 55. I daydream about leaving even earlier, but I'm to "responsible' to leave without going straight into my pension. My plan is to be fully prepared to go out at 45 as far as net worth goes - then 'hang around' till I can go out at 55. It's already getting hard to stay motivated in my cubicle. If I had any guts I would leave this corporate job, find something I love to do, and work it either P/T or F/T with no intention of fully retiring. Full retirement is way over rated I believe.

Off the subject of the original post but the pecentage's I'm seeing is very impressive to me and would like to know how you do this. Obviously you obligations to creditors are well below the income you make but do you have any personal secrets to share. Or maybe give a quick diddy on your situation (married no kids, single, large inheritance, windfall of some type, a penny pincher, etc.).

I've captured how I got started under the Real Estate post some time back. Before having kids we did some building of houses, renting & sellling them. We moved back to one of our first homes - a 1,300 sq ft home that we paid off with savings and proceeds from the other investments. I was able to pay it off at age 35 & put about 180K into Vanguard mutual funds which performed fairly well until I sold off 1 1/2 years ago as I forsaw trouble in the housing bubble and assumed It would transfer over into stocks. We were able to put about 240K into CDs/MM account and have been getting 5.56% on most of the money since that time. Since paying the house off we have maximized all retirement accounts as noted above. This leaves our income tax at a very minimal level. We have always avoided ALL payments (cars/credit cards) as I hate to pay interest. We are currently running WAY too conservative, but plan to deversify back into stocks in the near future. I do enjoy the steady flow of interest that comes from our CD's monthly at about $1,175. By having this money come in guaranteed it allows for us to put so much away into the investment vehicles that I noted. Currently our money is doled out this way:

Home equity: $320,000 (no payment)
CDs/MM accounts: $260K
401K's: 140K
IRAs: 120K
HSA: 3K (just started this year)
Vehicles: 26K (no payments)
Daughter's Educational IRA: 17K (she is 11/ the other won't be going as she is disabled)
Misc: 20K

We have two kids, my wife works two days a week, I've inherited $1,000 from grandma & likely will see no more. We just watch our money and have no interest in being the Jones's

bjk7799;
You're my hero! Seriously, You are doing what I'm trying to get to. It isn't easy to watch your friends buy all the bells and whistles and go without. I do take trips and do buy nice things when I actually spend the money. But I currently drive a 1993 Honda Accord with 230,000 miles (currently looking to update, a retirement present to myself). The rest of what I make goes toward mutual funds and two houses I own. I'm slowly getting ahead but I'm afraid I missed the big real estate rally for the most part. I do manage to save that 40% with 10 % to long term savings (MUTUAL FUND), 20% towards my houses, and another 10% towards annual trips or miscelaneous things. The exact percentages don't always work the same but these are pretty close. I also give to my local church and CFC to keep my charitable side alive. Something I don't see many people mention. I don't feel it's right to get without giving. You know what goes around comes around. I'm way behind you financially but hopefully some day I will be comfortable. Truth be told, isnt that all we really need. I just don't want to worry about making money. And I want my money to work for me. Sounds fair and doable. I've read your story and was impressed, maybe a little enviable but all the same happy for you. I think the best definition of lucky I ever heard was: luck is when preparedness meets opportunity. You my friend were prepared!

Ref,
Thanks for the kind words. I must have pulled up my previous post four times and almost deleted those monetary amounts as it seemed inappropriate to post ones net worth. But I would love to 'catch' one young person starting out and let them see that you can put away pretty good money with a very average income if you just stay focused. I have to say though that you have more discipline than me ... 230,000 miles? - I sold my 1993 Toyota two years ago. You outlasted me..ha. It is very tough living frugally as your friends live "the life" - I agree. Most of my friends are builders with huge incomes and huge expenses (although that is changing now and I believe they are in trouble - way over extended). They live on lakes with beautiful houses. One asks me how I can live a modest life and I tell them that I'm not focused on others; just myself. I joke that compared to those in covered wagons, I live an luxurious life - it's all in how you see it. The 'snowball' affect can really take off as you begin to accumulate some net worth. We have never made more than 75K a year (household), although this year we should beat that by 5K. We had two years in 2002 & 2003, when I was laid off, that we made a whopping 30K a year. As we were stocks, are net worth continued to grow - quite well in fact. Compounding is incredible... Congrats on your success as well. Living modestly helps our net worths grow today and sustain tomorrow. It's the only-way-to-go. We do as well donate. We have a child in Africa that we sponsor. My wife, I admit, is behind that. As I need to justify all expenses, running a $12 cable bill helps me do this. Giving to those in need should take no justifying, but I guess it is just too ingrained in me. Anyway, he is doing well and I do enjoy the letters that he writes to us.

BJK -- thanks for your recent note. I think it's incredibly important that people just starting out realize that you CAN do a lot with very little income -- but that it takes discipline. It takes rejecting the modern lifestyle that urges runaway consumption (like trading cars every three years, or buying the latest in new technologies, etc), and it takes ignoring the voice of jealousy in your own breast, as you watch your friends getting new cars, new furniture, new flat screen TVs, etc.

My husband also balks at my sponsoring a woman in Afghanistan (Women for Women International -- you sponsor a woman who learns about her rights, gets job training and/or receives micro-loans to start a business, etc). But it makes me feel so good that I'm helping an adult revamp her own life, especially in war-torn countries. I suppose I could invest that $26/mo in something that returns actual dollars, but I see it as an investment in a human being, one that will pay off elsewhere.

33%+ saved/invested

I have always heard that what is most important is to be sure you have a cushion of from 3 to 6 months of your net income in savings. This helps protect you from potential issues like loss of job or health issues that keep you out of work before any disability might start. Once you have your savings up to par, then no matter how young you are starting to save 10% of you income towards retirement--what you have left over above and beyond your other bills is great to invest. If you want additional info on this and other matters you can visit my blog at www.taxconsultant4u.com.