Teammate 401(k): How Much Could I Save For My Retirement?

If you saved for 40 years, you could start to live on the interest alone, and make more than you made while working. Just to keep the math simple, let’s just assume you currently make $10 per hour, full time (which is $20,800 per year), and you keep your contribution at that 3% of $10/hour rate, even after you earn raises. In 40 years, you will have contributed a total of $23,040 to your 401(k). Onin would have doubled that to $46K+ with their matching contributions, and your investment would be worth $300,518.66. You turned $23K into a third of a million dollars, one cheeseburger at a time, just by being patient and consistent. Also, assuming an average 8% growth, the interest on your $300K+ would be more than $24,000, per year-- that’s $3200 more per year (just under $300 per month) than you made while working. You’d retire with a 13% raise. And you’d still have $300,518.66 invested, earning another $24,000 in interest over the next year. At $15/hour ($31,200 per year), you’d have $450,778 in your 401(k). At 8% average growth, you could live off of $36,000 per year. That’s a 15% raise.

​​​​​​​If you lived on $94 out of every $100 and contributed $6 (Onin would still contribute another $3), that 40-year total grows more than you might expect.  At $9/hr, you jump from $270K+ to more than $400K (8% there gives you $32K annually to live on). And at $21/hr, you jump from $631K+ to $946K-- that’s pushing a million dollars (8% there gives you $75K annually to live on)! And as you earn raises, if you keep contributing a full 3%, the amount you put into your 401K goes up with it, so your 40-year earnings will increase as well.