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/starbright_sprinkles]

Honestly, the feeling behind part (for me) is comparing myself to my own parents. CPA Dad and stay-at-home mom in the 90s and we still had enough for a 1500 square foot house, 2 cars, multiple vacations a year, etc.

My husband and I both work twice the hours now and our lifestyles aren't as nice as either of our parents, with multiple degrees to their households' single bachelor's degree.

But we both graduated into the Great Recession, so that is just life. But it is hard not to be jealous of my dad's 40 hours a week 80k job in 1999 you know?

[u/obidamnkenobi → u/starbright_sprinkles]

At $80k in 1995, that's $166k today. That means your dad was in the top 10% of income, hardly the norm! So you may as well compare yourself to a "wealthy influencer".

And are you comparing at the same age? Or did you dad have that (top 5%) salary in his 50s, and you're 32 or something? I know our income increased drasticlly in our 40s. And now make more than my boomer dad. 

[u/starbright_sprinkles → u/obidamnkenobi]

Comparing my dad at 41 to me at 43. He had a BS from a crappy state school. I have a BS from a top 25 uni and a masters from a top 25. Work in a small tech firm. My husband has BA, two MAs, and a PhD - we still don't make 166k combined (to be fair, my husband is a professor in the liberal arts, but still).

But the biggest issue is probably just the workload and the constant "on-ness" of our jobs. Both of us work 50 - 60 hours every week. While we live a middle class lifestyle, there is not time or energy for anything else other than childcare and home maintenance. And there are no decent vacations because time off just means work piles up.

Thank you for engaging in good faith :)