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    Approaching 38 and not sure if I’m doing ok for retirement

    So here's the deal, I spent most of my 20's travelling, living care free, and putting nothing away for retirement/savings until opening an RRSP account when I turned 31. I don't regret my choices as I think the memories and friends I've made will be good to look back at when I'm old and can't do things, but it did get me thinking of HOW I will be doing financially at old age…

    I have a good paying job and like to think I live within my means now – owe $180k for my mortgage on a townhome, and $10k for my truck – outside of that I have no other debts. Now at 38 I'm looking at $100k in RPP through work, $60k in my RRSP and I have a 6-month emergency fund which I keep in my TFSA.

    Annually I'm putting away about $12k from my $110k salary, even split between RPP (employer matches my contribution amount) and RRSP.

    Given that I lost 10+ years of compound interest for retirement which I know I can't out save at this point, am I going to be fine at 65+?

    Approaching 38 and not sure if I'm doing ok for retirement
    byu/DigtlCaviar inpersonalfinance



    Posted by DigtlCaviar

    7 Comments

    2. rifleshooter on

      You never mentioned how much you’re saving annually now. That, and how it’s invested, really, really matters.

    3. gear123456789 on

      Can’t take money to the grave. You’ll be fine. My finanail advisor had told me stories of 55 year old nurses who come in with zero to their retirement. They still make it. Remember, even at 40, you can still have a full 25 year career and retire at 65! You are probably nearing the max amount of money you will start making.

      Reddit really makes people feel like they missed a huge window in their 20s (and ya sure you did, and also your 30s…) but can be overcome by leveraging your inflated income through your 40s.

      You don’t really give enough info here for people to make suggestions. Starting with current income. Depending on your home rate, it might make more sense to pay that down quickly so you don’t need to worry about mortgage when you are older, but really just depends what you make.

    4. bikes_cookies on

      I spent 7 years living abroad and traveling to 50+ countries in my 20s. even after that barely making ends meet in my early 30s… now in my 40s after only starting to save the last 6-7 years.

      i have zero concerns. no way i’d be able to do in retirement what i did in my 20s. i’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.

      all that to say, it’s still a long time until retirement. once you can start saving more than 1k a month, do it. don’t fret, though.

    5. Eltex on

      I the US, a good 20-30 years saving 15% or slightly more makes for a good retirement. I can’t speak for other countries.

    6. Lanky_Ad_9605 on

      You can go into chat gpt or other ai and say “here’s what I have saved in which accounts, here’s what I expect to contribute moving forward. What would retiring at 65 likely look like for me?”

    7. Next_Instruction_528 on

      Bro your fine you have 25 years to stack investments.

      I recommend living way below your means and just invest everything.

      I also spent my twenties fucking off and didn’t get serious until my 30s

      Good thing is living in a van and shit like that made it so I can live perfectly happy and thrive with like 1/3rd the money most people spend

      I invest over half of all the money I make and sometimes even more.

      Cut expenses increase income and invest.

      Most people your age have nothing put away and are in massive debt

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