Shit, I’m almost 50 and I’ve been putting 10% or more of my gross pay into a 401(K) since the late 90s. For the last 10 years or so I’ve been occasionally increasing my contributions. I’m up to 16% now. Most of my employers have also done some amount of matching. I have a fair amount saved, but based on current projections, I’m still not sure I’ll have enough to retire at a reasonable age unless I drastically reduce my cost of living (which is already relatively modest). Part of the reason is that the markets have been somewhat volatile over the last 30 years. There have been at least 3 major downturns/recessions, and that means the money I have invested hasn’t grown at the rate that was projected when I started putting it away. There were several years where I saw significant losses in value. I should have a lot more than I actually do at this point. It doesn’t help that my in-laws are totally screwing us over. They retired with no savings at all, sold their home and drove around the country in an RV for 10 years. Now they’re completely out of money and their health is failing so it looks like we’re going to have to spend a significant amount of resources to support them.