When asked how to become a millionaire, most people would say “Invest in Real Estate!” While this may partially get you there, you might have the position where you have a Cash Rich house but a Cash Stripped bank account. In order to retire with a good standard of living, you need to balance out real estate investments and have enough 401k retirement plan savings.
In the year 2014, the average household savings in USA averaged 4.5%. In order to reach your goal of having $1 million upon retirement, here are a few suggestions:
Make Maximum 401k Contributions Every Year
Utilize your 401k Retirement Plan to the max by contributing as much as you can. The maximum 401k contribution limit for 2020 is $19,500. Furthermore, you can also contribute $6000 to a Roth IRA or a Traditional IRA for the year 2020 ($7000 for people over the age of 50 under the Catch Up Provision).
For example, lets take an average investor by the name Peter. Peter is 40 years old and makes $60,000 a year Gross Salary. Peter contributes $4000 a year into a Roth IRA account, and contributes 5% of his salary to a 401k plan. He also takes advantage of the fact that his employer is willing to make a 5% Match Up Contribution of his Gross Wage into his 401k Retirement Plan. Here is a summary of the above data:
| 401k Contributions | Roth IRA Contributions |
| Self Contributions: 5% x $60,000 = $3000 |
Annual Contributions of $4000 |
| Employer Match Up Contributions: 5% x $60,000 = $3000 |
No Employer Match Up Contributions |
| $6000 Per Year x 25 years @ 10% Interest Compounded Annually = $649,090.59 |
$4000 Per Year x 25 Years @ 10% Interest Compounded Annually = $432,727.06 |
Therefore, if you add $649,090 + $432, 727 = $1,081,817
You are now officially a Millionaire!
Now lets look at a different scenario. Imagine Peter had started saving towards his retirement at a very young age. Here is a table summarizing the data:
| Starting Age | Annual Contributions | Annual Return | Value at Age 65 |
| 25 | $10,000 | 10% | $4,868,518.11 |
| 30 | $10,000 | 10% | $2,981,268.05 |
| 35 | $10,000 | 10% | $1,809,434.25 |
| 40 | $10,000 | 10% | $1,081,817.65 |
| 45 | $10,000 | 10% | $630,024.99 |
| 50 | $10,000 | 10% | $349,497.30 |
| 55 | $10,000 | 10% | $175,311.67 |
From the above table, you can see that if Peter started contributing $10,000 from the age of 25, he would have a huge lump sum of $4,868,518 at the age of 65 (upon retirement). You bet, $4.8 million is a huge sum of money to have upon retirement!
However, if Peter started investing at only 45 years old, he would only have $630,024 at the age of retirement (65).