A baby boomer who saved over $2 million for retirement explains what he thinks he did right to make the system work for him

Mark, 65, is one of them.

Mark — whose last name is known to Business Insider but withheld for privacy purposes — retired three years ago at age 62. Throughout his nearly 40-year-long career in geology, he was able to sock away over $2 million for his retirement, even after putting multiple kids through college.

“You just leave it alone, and you look up 40 years later, and it’s a really nice number,” he said.

The first company he worked for in the 1980s had a pension plan, which quickly transitioned to a 401(k) in the first year he was there. He read some articles on how to maximize the new benefit, and, from that point forward, he said he just essentially maxed it out. He heard the advice that you should aggressively save into a 401(k), and so that’s what he did. Then, he said, he just left it there and tried not to worry about it.

“Every once in a while when there was a downturn in the market, it was a little alarming, but whether I was a procrastinator or whatever the thing was, I didn’t move the money. I just left it in the same stuff,” Mark said.

Mark is the embodiment of what happens when retirement saving does what it’s supposed to do. He also was able to have everything fall into place: He said he’s been very blessed not to have any long stints of unemployment and to earn enough that he was always able to max out his 401(k). He lived in low cost of living areas, and didn’t have kids right away — meaning he was able to accrue some savings before embarking on parenthood.

“When it’s all said and done, I ended up with two-plus million dollars,” he said. “Never putting extra in, never taking anything out, never taking any loans on the money or any of those sorts of things.”

What Mark did right — and what he thinks others should do

In his earlier years of work, Mark was surprised by the people who didn’t contribute to their 401(k) accounts, even if it was just a small amount to get the match. He thinks some just didn’t know much about 401(k)s during the switch from a pension or didn’t understand them.

“I did hear plenty of people that didn’t even take advantage of that, and it just seemed like a no-brainer,” he said.

Of course, not every American has access to a retirement account. As of 2023, just under three-quarters of Americans had access to some form of retirement benefits, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And of those who do, a solid chunk still doesn’t participate in benefits.

Some of that could be chalked up to how benefits have changed. While Mark is a big proponent of the 401(k) and it’s worked well for him, other workers might have been used to pension plans. Mark is part of the cohort that saw the retirement economy transition from defined benefits, plans like pensions that pay out fixed amounts, to defined contribution plans, which pay out based on how much you put in — and how the stock market fares.

For instance, after a downturn in the 1980’s, Mark said that “it was pretty alarming to me that I lost so much money on paper — but it came back.”

“From that point on, I figured any other recession after that, it’s going to come back — and it did,” he said.

Mark’s advice for retirement savings would include taking advantage of some benefits that exist now that didn’t really exist when he was doing his retirement planning, things like index funds and Roth accounts — post-tax savings plans that can be offered by employers, in the case of 401(ks), or generally open to Americans making under a certain amount.

“If I was starting now, I would be putting more money into Roth accounts,” he said. He also acknowledged that he lives in a low cost-of-living area — and said that if workers can, they should try to lower their living costs. He does realize that certain places cost “a heck of a lot more” than other spots.

But overall, Mark said that he’s a “pretty big proponent of the 401(k).” He said that while he knows some people have their own issues with it, he thinks that what he calls the almost-forced savings — the ability to get it out of the person’s hands before they have a chance to spend it — is one of the “wisest things there is.”

For him, his savings have meant tremendous peace of mind. Unless something very unforeseen comes up, they won’t run out of money. If there’s something that they need to spend money on or help their kids out with, they can — and that’s thanks to their savings.

“If I had to tell people what to do, there’s save big and save early — or save early, and it doesn’t have to be big, but save early and you get all that compounding,” Mark said. “It makes a huge difference. I realize it’s the toughest time to save for a lot of people, but if you can get the money saved before it gets into your hands, I guess that’s a big deal.”

Are you a boomer doing well in retirement? Contact this reporter at jkaplan@businessinsider.com.