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Comment by saryant | Hacker News Reader

I'll give you an example:

You're 23. Retiring with $3,000,000 at a 4% withdrawal rate would give you an annual "salary" of $120k. You make $80k right now, in order to save that much by 55, you would need to contribute ~30% of your gross income to retirement, assuming an 8% return, 5% annual salary increase and no employer match.

If you work to 65, the required contribution ratio goes down considerably.

The math is a little more complicated than in my example since I assumed all retirement savings are pre-tax but there's really no substitute for spending less than you earn.

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That's one way, I hope it works for you. There are other ways to get to our correct number.

What I am asking is, why so negative for one persons way, offered freely. We all have a different path. Mine could still not lead me where I think it will. But it's more likely to get me close if I am methodical (boring but fun in its own way) and consistent (repetitive like refactoring that annoying method and throwing a unit test onto it for good measure) in checking the roths -and 401k's twice a year, buying and selling my house when it make sense to and not panicking when the market takes a shit.

For all the naysayers about the articles specifics are you really not planning for later on, when thing change as the inevitably do? Instead if tearing down what kinda sorta worked for the random old person - why not discuss other, more relevant strategies for your place and times. What works for one person surely will not work for another but if you don't explore all the options and how will you learn what works for you? How will you learn from the past? Are you willing to repeat it just to tear someone down who is not perfect?

>You make $80k right now, in order to save that much by 55, you would need to contribute ~30% of your gross income to retirement, assuming an 8% return, 5% annual salary increase and no employer match.

That would be $24,000 in just the first year, well over the federal limit for 401(k) contributions. For 2014: $17,500 ($23,000 if age 50 or older)

http://taxes.about.com/od/retirementtaxes/qt/401k-contributi...

That's why I said the math was actually more complicated than in my example. ;)

In reality, you'd want to max out your 401k and IRA options while also setting money aside in savings or regular brokerage accounts.

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