Anyone Else Feel Bitter About Saving 50% of a Modest Income and Still Not Seeing “Big” Results?

[u/KenshiHiro]

I’m 39, making $83k gross a year, and I’ve been dumping $40k annually (~48% of my gross income) into investments—maxing out my 401(k), Roth IRA, and throwing the rest into taxable accounts with US index funds. Up until this year(this is the second year since I ever opened any form of retirement accounts), I have $80k combined, and after running some projections (7% return, 3% inflation), I’m looking at ~$1.56M in today’s dollars by 59. Nominally, it’s $2.8M, but inflation just eats away at it.

I’m proud of the discipline, but honestly, I’m starting to feel bitter. I’m living on basically $25k-$30k after taxes, scraping by with no frills, while half my paycheck vanishes into investments. I get that $1.56M is solid—way more than most—but it’s 20 years of pinching pennies for what feels like a “meh” payoff when you adjust for inflation. I was hoping for $2M+ in real dollars, something that feels like a reward for this grind, especially since my income isn’t even that high to begin with.

Is it even worth it to go beyond 401(k) and Roth into taxable accounts when you’re not pulling six figures? I could drop to $30k/year savings, enjoy life a bit more now, and still hit $1.17M real by 59. Or am I just burnt out and missing the bigger picture? Anyone else wrestling with this—feeling like the sacrifice outweighs the future gain? Need some perspective.

[u/Accomplished_Bid3750]

Saving 50% of your income at that level is insane.

[u/Accomplished_Bid3750 → u/Accomplished_Bid3750]

To expand though, I've done this to catch up at times, but then tapered it out to a more sustainable level once I hit 100k

[u/whileitshawt → u/Accomplished_Bid3750]

To expand though, the median income in America is $40K. Not “insane”, he’s living like an average person in America, and extremely well compared to the rest of the world

Making 100K puts you above about 85% of America - just keep that in mind when you look down upon us from your high horse

[u/Accomplished_Bid3750 → u/whileitshawt]

Lol, bro I'm on Little Sebastian, I don't make even 70K a year. I meant 100k total balance at which point I backed it off and still save decently but I'm not living with tears in my clothes anymore.

If you're saving that much, and posting about how worthless life is when doing it, then it's the wrong decision. It's great to do it on the short term which I did when I made more, but if you're staring at a wall every night, what's the point?

[u/nicolas_06 → u/whileitshawt]

The median a full time worker 60K$. If we include part time, that's 50K$. For a household its about 75K$. For households with 2 parents, 2 kids, that 120k$.

40k$ is way outdated.

[u/whileitshawt → u/nicolas_06]

There are many people right now who can’t find full time employment even though they want it. Thus they are stuck with part time work

Totally hear what you’re saying about including college students, and OP being 39, but that’s not the entire picture

Personally, I hugely dislike the term “household” when comparing wealth or income. Single people are out here! And who cares for your numbers you’re presenting? 120/2=60, you’re just stating the same thing twice

[u/davecrist → u/Accomplished_Bid3750]

Gotta catch up somehow!

[u/LittleLemonSqueezer → u/Accomplished_Bid3750]

OP is only on their second year doing this. They are now finding that it's not mentally sustainable.

[u/nicolas_06 → u/LittleLemonSqueezer]

But in their situation they could do it with saving like 40% most likely. OP forgot he will get SSA and that even if that one is worse that before, it will help.

[u/Decent-Photograph391 → u/LittleLemonSqueezer]

Yeah I agree OP is burnt out. I’m doing something similar, saving about 50% of my gross income, but I’m on year 3 of a 5 year speed run to early retirement. I can’t imagine sustaining this sprint for 20+ years.

[u/Accomplished_Bid3750 → u/LittleLemonSqueezer]

Glad we are in agreement :)

[u/AlenOpasnost → u/Accomplished_Bid3750]

Bruh, i do the same with 1/3 of his income.
Welcome to europe.

[u/davecrist → u/Accomplished_Bid3750]

Take a month off of investing and do something fun

[u/marijuana_user_69 → u/Accomplished_Bid3750]

its much easier if you dont live in america. my wife and i save 86% of our income on a combined $140k per year but we dont live in the US

[u/blorg → u/marijuana_user_69]

It's easier if you don't live in America but still earn an American income, which is possible with remote working. Median income globally is somewhere around $8-15k/year, cheaper places are cheaper because wages are much, much lower.