>is this an OK amount?
Saving 15% of gross is the minimum recommefdended percentage and you should have 1x salary saved by age 30. You are considerably behind by both those measures.
>I would also like to start investing in stocks on my own
Why? Picking random stocks rarely, if ever, leads to "more money in the long run". People who literally do it for a living, with decades of experience, have trouble beating the market.
This is all true, but don’t get too down on yourself, OP. You’re actually investing and trying to learn more. Don’t stop either of these things. In fact, go harder on both. Learn about your different IRA options, learn why it’s called a 401k, learn why 15% is the recommended amount. Learn why your brokerage thinks you’ll only cover 57% of your retirement expenses. Learn how they’re even estimating your retirement expenses.
The list goes on and on. It’s a lot of info, but the whole time you’re learning you’ll also be investing. And while you’re learning, do not be too quick to make any changes. Get your employer match and put the rest of the 15% in a low-cost index fund. Everything else will come in time. Investing is very much a “the best is the enemy of the good” situation because of the value of simply *starting*.
You'll want to increase your 401k contribution to get the full match, if at all possible. It's basically free money. You would need to adjust your other expenses to make this possible, but I believe that retirement savings should always take priority over spending on anything you don't absolutely need.
As your retirement account shows, you're on track to cover 57% of your retirement expenses by 67. While your expenses in retirement may be less than they are today, you probably want it to cover significantly more than 57%. Additional contributions could also allow you to retire earlier, if that's something you're interested in.
those "on track" things are so misleading. it is based on an average life span of something like 75 years old and retiring at 65, however if you make it to 65 your life expectancy is actually into the 80's.
I would look at some other places to work on the budget. leave retirement as is for now, figure out your bill situation, build up enough cash to pay your highest deductible, then build up an emergency fund so bills don't tempt you to make poor choices in the future, then start investing.
investing skip the individual stocks, you want simple mutual funds, they aren't flashy, they aren't sexy, they aren't get rich quick, but they generally are inexpensive and have steady growth
>is this an OK amount? Saving 15% of gross is the minimum recommefdended percentage and you should have 1x salary saved by age 30. You are considerably behind by both those measures. >I would also like to start investing in stocks on my own Why? Picking random stocks rarely, if ever, leads to "more money in the long run". People who literally do it for a living, with decades of experience, have trouble beating the market.
This is all true, but don’t get too down on yourself, OP. You’re actually investing and trying to learn more. Don’t stop either of these things. In fact, go harder on both. Learn about your different IRA options, learn why it’s called a 401k, learn why 15% is the recommended amount. Learn why your brokerage thinks you’ll only cover 57% of your retirement expenses. Learn how they’re even estimating your retirement expenses. The list goes on and on. It’s a lot of info, but the whole time you’re learning you’ll also be investing. And while you’re learning, do not be too quick to make any changes. Get your employer match and put the rest of the 15% in a low-cost index fund. Everything else will come in time. Investing is very much a “the best is the enemy of the good” situation because of the value of simply *starting*.
Start here: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics.
You'll want to increase your 401k contribution to get the full match, if at all possible. It's basically free money. You would need to adjust your other expenses to make this possible, but I believe that retirement savings should always take priority over spending on anything you don't absolutely need. As your retirement account shows, you're on track to cover 57% of your retirement expenses by 67. While your expenses in retirement may be less than they are today, you probably want it to cover significantly more than 57%. Additional contributions could also allow you to retire earlier, if that's something you're interested in.
those "on track" things are so misleading. it is based on an average life span of something like 75 years old and retiring at 65, however if you make it to 65 your life expectancy is actually into the 80's. I would look at some other places to work on the budget. leave retirement as is for now, figure out your bill situation, build up enough cash to pay your highest deductible, then build up an emergency fund so bills don't tempt you to make poor choices in the future, then start investing. investing skip the individual stocks, you want simple mutual funds, they aren't flashy, they aren't sexy, they aren't get rich quick, but they generally are inexpensive and have steady growth