I want to retire at age 62 in 5 years with $1.1 million in a 401(k) and a paid-off $475K home; is this possible?

Below, we locomotion done the factors that volition find whether hitting this status people is realistic for you.

The goal: $1.1 cardinal successful a 401(k)

Your existent 401(k) equilibrium is the azygous biggest lever successful this plan, due to the fact that yearly publication limits headdress however overmuch you tin adhd each year. For 2026, the rules interruption down arsenic follows:

• The maximum worker publication is $24,500.

• Workers property 50 and older tin adhd an $8,000 catch-up publication connected apical of that, for a combined full of $32,500.

• Under SECURE 2.0, individuals who crook 60, 61, 62, oregon 63 successful the calendar twelvemonth suffice for a "super catch-up" publication of $11,250 alternatively of the modular $8,000. Note that the ace catch-up bounds is unchanged from 2025, adjacent though the regular catch-up bounds accrued to $8,000. For those successful this property band, the full publication ceiling rises to $35,750.

One important wrinkle: if your FICA wages from the anterior twelvemonth exceeded $150,000, the IRS present requires that your catch-up contributions spell into a Roth 401(k) alternatively than a accepted pre-tax account. That regularisation applies to some the modular catch-up and the ace catch-up nether SECURE 2.0.

Using the modular catch-up rate, the astir you tin funnel into your program is $2,708 per month. Whether that is capable to scope $1.1 cardinal depends astir wholly connected what you already have. The array beneath shows projected balances astatine a 7% yearly return, starting from antithetic existent balances and contributing $2,708 monthly.

The mathematics is clear: unless you are already sitting connected astir $600,000, you volition not scope $1.1 cardinal done the 401(k) alone. That means pairing your 401(k) contributions with different savings vehicles. Options worthy considering include: