This is probably a stupid question but I was dirt poor growing up and had no direction going into adulthood. I didn't get my life together financially until ~2016. I've had a 401k with company match (up to 4%) for 15 years but for the first 5 years I was putting maybe 4% and it wasn't even being managed so it hardly grew. I really started thinking about the future and getting my finances together in 2016, managed to build my credit and buy a house in 2018 and started pushing hard on investing.
I jumped my 401k contribution up to 8% (max match) in 2018ish and then in 2022 I bumped it up to 10%. I financed my first car in 2024 and moved it back to 8% while I adjusted to taking on a new payment but moved it back to 10% this new year.
Over the last few years, I created a HYSA (contribute twice a month) and opened an IRA (invest once a month) with a target date fund. My only debt is my home, my solar loan and my car. I carry no credit card debit.
Company 401K – $69,612
ESOP – ~$12,000
HYSA – $14,000
IRA – $16,600
Bitcoin – $4,000
Car Loan – $13,300
Solar Loan – $27,000
Home Loan – $152,000
Home "value" – $285,000
Sorry for the wall of text but I'm just looking for some insight. I look at my accounts a few times a year and just wonder how I'm doing. I feel like I started so late that I'm trying to climb out of a hole.
39, late start to investing. I feel like I'm behind. Am I?
byu/uoYredruM inpersonalfinance
Posted by uoYredruM
21 Comments
No real point in worrying if you’re behind, just try to make a good plan moving forward so you can hit your goals. You’ve got this
A general rule of thumb is having 3x your annual salary saved by 40. You didn’t say how much you make, but I’m guessing you’re not close to that mark. So yeah, you’re probably behind, but I’m not sure you can really expect anything different when you started late.
You’re behind some people and ahead of a lot of others – “ahead” and “behind” aren’t really the most productive way of looking at it. Eyeballing it and assuming your goal is to retire at 65 and have enough to support ~20 more years, you’ve got plenty of work to do. But also you made the good decision to get started, and you’ve made a good start. Keep saving as aggressively as your situation permits. You’ll be alright.
Are you behind where you would want to be at the age of 40? Yes.
Are you ahead of 90% of Americans? Yes
It looks like you have an overall low cost of living. You’re only behind if you won’t be able to retire at your target age with your target lifestyle. Check out some online retirement calculators to see if you’re behind where you’d like to be.
If you haven’t looked at it, check out the wiki and the flowchart as well. In terms of investing, I’d make sure you’re keeping it simple and either doing a target date fund or 2-3 fund portfolio. Keep out of buying individual stock and crypto.
Your debt isn’t ridiculous, you are in a home you can presumably afford, a car loan that isn’t $900/mo.
We know where you’re at today, what’s your plan moving forward? What are the specifics in $? (i.e. are you going to start maxing your 401K contributions?) You’re 39 and have a couple decades to put yourself back on track.
This is true for everybody: the best time to start investing was yesterday. The second-best time is today.
You absolutely can invest and have what you need in retirement starting at your age!
It is what it is at this point. Focus on trying to increase your income, pay down debt and save everything you can and you will get there.
At 39 years old you should have 3 x your annual salary saved by 40 minimum.
If you started at $0 at 50 years old, and maxed out your 401k from 50-67, you would retire a millionaire.
Im 50. 30g in savings. No stocks. No bonds. No 401k. No IRA. No assets. Id take a nut off with a spork to be in your position.
Doesn’t matter if you’re behind. Only matters if you are committed enough to catch up
I didn’t really start until about age 51. Just retired OCT 2025. So if get really serious about it you can still reach goals even if getting late start
You’re making solid, practical moves; not living beyond your means; and increasing your % contributions as your income increases, so you’re on your way. Just keep it up, and you’ll see the growth evolving over the next ten years. Consider a Roth IRA as a complement to your trad 401k, so you have different accounts to draw from in retirement.
Yes and no. You’re “behind” a lot of people and you’ll never get back the gift of time for growth (aka you have to put more in than younger you would’ve for the same amount). However it’s never too late to start and there are plenty of people your age with nothing or up to their eyeballs in debt who’d think you’re sitting on a goldmine.
At the end of the day just figure out what your retirement numbers need to be and adjust your investments accordingly.
I’m in a similiar boat, and thus aggressively save for retirement. I feel behind but I am still on track for a healthy retirement.
Roughly 200K net worth, at 8%/yr that can grow to 1.6M by the time you’re 64. You’ve got pretty good options. That’s what it is all about, having options/choices in life.
Yes, you are behind. Good news is you are making an effort to learn and do better. You can correct the course. I believe.
We’re in somewhat of the same boat brother as I didn’t start saving (insufficiently) until my mid 30’s and didn’t get serious about it until late last year at 47 years old. A one liner that has given me some solace is “The best time to start investing is in your 20’s, the second best time is today”. I made a very similar post to yours a few months ago and while people were trying to be helpful with comments like “you’re ahead of most people” I found it a bit irking since those “most people” are going to either be working until the day they die (like my own parents) or living at the poverty line depending entirely on social security.
Personally, Q4 2025 I bumped up my savings rate to 25% of gross income, and then on Jan 1st I bumped it up to 30%. I’m picking up extra shifts at work, selling off items around the house, creating side income streams, considering renting out a basement room again in my house. I’m playing catch-up on being financially independent but it’s the price I have to pay for not educating myself on finances/retirement earlier in life while I frivolously spent my spare income on whatever I wanted at the time. Also for my part I’m passing this knowledge on to my child early in order to not create a cycle of poverty that I was born into.
Why not have a Roth also?
It would help in retired years. When you needed extra cash and stay under the higher earning rules.
Just my thoughts.
Many people dont get into their financial footing at an early age so you are good! the car and solar loans are the only things slowing you down right now so once you get that settled you should get into investing tbh
You’re net positive so ahead of most, but yes probably behind where you’d want to be to retire with enough.
I’d bump retirement up to 15%. I like Dave Ramsey’s baby steps if you just want a plan to follow. It’s definitely not too late by any means. Also remember with retirement you should do 401k match max then Roth then traditional up to whatever 15% is.