Career By Design

Plot Points is a podcast by ASCE that tells the robust story of civil engineering one episode at a time. The podcast is in Season 3 and is looking for answers for their Member Memo questions. This week's question is the following: What percentage of your salary do you put towards retirement, and how early in your career did you start saving?

If interested in a chance to be featured on a future episode of the podcast, record your answer as a voice memo on your phone (60 seconds or so) and email it to <maskemail>ascenews (at ) asce.org</maskemail> with "Member Memo" in the subject line! I submitted an answer to one of the featured questions during Season 1 so feel free to respond here or message me with any questions about the process. 

If not interested in recording a voice memo for the podcast, I would love to hear about what about your tips for personal finance and retirement savings in the thread below. I started saving at 23 when I graduated from college. I, unfortunately, am still paying off student loans, so my savings towards retirement right now is less than ideal but will be more aggressive once my student loans are all paid off! Also, here is the link to this episode in which this Member Memo question was asked: https://news.asce.org/asce-plot-points-season-3-episode-3-money-talks-part-1/ 

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Danielle Schroeder EIT, A.M.ASCE
Associate Engineer
Pennoni Associates
Philadelphia PA
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I started saving for retirement when I was 26. I started with a traditional IRA because I worked a seasonal position with a consulting firm so I didn't qualify for the 401k program.  The following year I was hired full time and got the 401k benefit. I have always contributed the minimum amount to my 401k to get the maximum company match. If the company you work for has a 401k program with a match you're throwing money away if you don't take full advantage of it. I have also continued contributing to both a traditional IRA and Roth IRA. Between 10-15% of my income goes into a retirement account. Normally you shouldn't have to put that much away unless you want a really lavish retirement. I'm trying to make up for 4 years of lost time contributing to a retirement account to hit the savings benchmarks recommended by Fedelity, TD Ameritrade, Sotttrade, ect.

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Dustin Leduc A.M.ASCE
Field Engineer
Sambatek
Shakopee MN
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I try and maintain between a 30-40% savings rate, though it doesn't always happen each month.  Approximately 20-25% of that goes towards funding my retirement accounts.  My goal is to slowly maximize all retirement accounts (i.e., my work 401k, my IRA and my wife's IRA) each year over time.  

I view savings as an expense each month and treat is as a bill that needs to be paid.  I think this approach with prove to be successful in the ensuing decades.

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Aaron Van Aken P.E., A.M.ASCE
Transportation Engineer
Puyallup WA
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Great topic! I started saving for retirement after graduating college at 22 in 2014.  I started with a  Traditional 401k at about 10% and transitioned to a Roth 401k once that was available.  I've tried to raise that by 1% a year and depending on how things are going will cap that off around 20% if I can still afford that.  Right now I'm at 15%, which is what I've been told is the recommended amount by the two investment firms I've put funds into (my last and current companies).

So while generally 15% is the goal, they say going above or below that depending on your circumstances (student loan debt, having kids, etc.) is best.  But as others have said, even if things are hard, at a bare minimum you should ALWAYS at LEAST do your companies match limit.  As Civil Engineers we've all had to learn at least a little economics, and the more you put away sooner, the better.  That money will go in value dramatically, and putting in $1 today could be equivalent to putting in $100 a year from now by the time you retire (don't quote those figures, I'm speaking in generalities).

I started a thread on a similar topic, but focused on millennials on this discord here:

Millenial Retirement

As I said there I'm planning for the worst and hoping for the best.  People coming into the workforce need to be thinking about retirement investing now, not when they retire.  Even a little bit now, will be a LOT by the time you retire.

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James Smith P.E., M.ASCE
Project Engineer
Bergmann
Grand Rapids MI
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