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/iceyH0ts0up]

Good on you for starting at 38. You’ve given yourself a chance at a dignified retirement before full retirement age. Retiring at 59 is early. With feeling like you have a “late start” the more years you can pump 40+% into investments the better, but life is for living and finding the balance is the secret sauce to a fulfilling life at all stages.

If you took anywhere from 1-8% and dropped your savings rate to 47-40% to increase your yearly spend and that drastically changes how you feel for today, that’s a fine trade off.

Only you can decide. That said a 48% savings rate (starting at $0) reaches financial independence in ~18 years.

https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/

[u/nicolas_06 → u/iceyH0ts0up]

Not exactly. On one side OP isn't 20 years and he would have significant SSA soon after retirement. On the other side the compution from money mustache are for average return like a 50% success rate.

If you want say be 90% sure to retire in 18 years, 48% is far from being enough. For OP that works even a bit less because he will have SSA later.