Penny pinchers discuss the normal age to hit $100K in savings: 'It seems like everyone is doing it by 21'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Jul 18, 2025 8:00 AM EDT

At what age did you save your first $100K? For some of you, that question makes you laugh out loud. You barely have $ 1,000 in savings, let alone 100 times $1,000. Saving a ton of money is not always someone's top priority, especially if they're paying off debt or live in a high-cost-of-living area. My roommate is always saying she's just trying to get through her 20s without getting into debt. If she's able to do that, she'll be in a better financial position than most people. 

Other people can't stack cash quickly enough. If you've ever met someone who has saved over $ 100,000 before reaching the age of 23, you know that it takes over their life. There are worse hobbies than making as much money as quickly as possible, but there has to be some kind of middle ground between saving no money and saving all of your money.

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  • The penny pinchers in this thread all have different ideas about when someone should have at least $ 100,000 saved. While everyone's personal finances are different, there's definitely a time when you should be at least approaching $100K in savings instead of moving further away from it by going into debt.

  • 01

    What age is normal to hit 100K?

    I've heard that's one of the most important milestones and I'm just wondering about when do people hit that? Seems like everyone in this sub is doing it by 21
    via u/willage1870
  • 02
    SAVINGS
    via Towfiqu barbhuiya

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 03
    seejoshrun This sub is full of outliers and liars. I would say it's achievable by 30 for vast majority of people if you make good decisions
    via u/seejoshrun
  • 04
    zoplxc This is so true. This sub is so unrealistic. There's a million stats I could comment on most of the posts but it would be a waste of my time. I went to college and I'm 27 now and make way above average and have been working non stop out of college and I would still say it's way unlikely I would even have this by 30. And I don't even have any student loans or car loans. People in this sub saying they have 400k in investments and own a home at 23 are either straight up lying or
    via u/zoplxc
  • 05
    they inherited money or an outlier like somebody with successful business. If you went to college which you typically need for most high paying jobs your not getting out until your 22-23, so logically there is no way to have what a lot of these people say they have in their early to mid 20s unless this was 40 years ago in their 20s, straight up lying or the outlier reasons mention above and everyone can't be outliers
    via u/zoplxc
  • 06
    seejoshrun My wife and I probably hit 100k around age 26, but: • We both graduated with good degrees . . My college was paid for up front • She paid her debt off SUPER aggressively
    via u/seejoshrun
  • 07
    • We live in a relatively good COL city relative to wages • With two workers, hitting a household NW of 100k is easier than one single person And with all of that, we were still in our mid to late 20's to hit 100k. Anyone who says they did so by 21 either didn't earn it, or had a great combination of hard work and good luck.
    via u/seejoshrun
  • 08
    HIVE BOXX BOXX
    via HiveBoxx

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 09
    BG535 Hitting 100k as a couple is like hitting 50k as a single person. A fair comparison would be what age you and your wife were when you hit 200k- 250k. I add 50k to 200k there because with that time invested in the market, the gains can easily be 20% of your holdings. To OP's point, we are interested in total deposits equaling 100k for a single person.
    via u/BG535
  • 10
    localmanjl I'm 25 years old and have a net worth of around $175k. I started working post college in 2022 starting from $0 and a $20k student loan (i went to a state school). I still live at home with my parents and have no car payment and max out my retirement accounts and save money through not having rent. It's definitely possible without help but much much harder. I had help from my parents in the fact that they let me stay at their house rent free.
    via u/localmanjl
  • 11
    SGMaricelli By the time you reach 30 years old is considered great. Depends though if you mean net worth or invested assets. Invested assets of 100k at 30 is great. 100k net worth at 30 is good. Comparison is the worst thing you can do for personal finance because it's personal... But to feel good the median net worth of 30 year olds is only $23,640 according to empower late 2024
    via u/SGMaricelli
  • 12
    Imaginary-Concert392 I have just around 100k net worth at 32, but in general savings a lot less. Having all that money in stocks and retirement is do I still feel poor. I don't think great, but of my retirement and stocks as money I can/should touch until much later
    via u/Imaginary-Concert392
  • 13
    InstructionFair1454 People that have 100k at 21, had 200k at 20
    via u/InstructionFair1454
  • 14
    SillyAlternative420 100k salary or net worth? most people statistically never hit 100k salary. Also, most people don't have 100k in the bank. Ignore the noise of what others are doing, because most people are either failing upwards or failing downwards.
    via u/SillyAlternative420
  • 15
    Cheezburger Image 10531375104
    via Yunus Tuğ (Unsplash+)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 16
    Flock-of-bagels2 I'm about to hit it and then turn around and spend it on a house
    via u/Flock--bagels2
  • 17
    Sinsyxx If you're a blue collar worker who started working straight out of high school with no debt, you should be above 100k before 30 easily. If you went to medical school, you might have negative net worth at 35. There's no one size fits all answer
    via u/Sinsyxx
  • 18
    veinviewer Hitting 100k is the hardest milestone, but once you're on it, it keeps getting better. But at 21? Oh dear, I wish!!
    via u/veinviewer
  • 19
    executive-coconut MOST DONT EVER, 99% WILL NEVER SEE MORE THAN 1000K IN THEIR ACCOUNT especially in asia or poorer countries In north america, hoise and pension excluded, 100k cash/invested is rare at any age.
    via u/executive-coconut
  • 20
    DAWG13610 66% of people live paycheck to paycheck and have little or no savings. The average person has $125k saved at 65. So based on that at this point you'd hit $100k right around 60 years old. Don't believe everything you read. Just save minimum 15% of your income and you will be well above average.
    via u/DAWG13610
  • 21
    Sailor_NEWENGLAND Everyone is different so "normal" isn't really a thing. For instance, I'm 30 and just got above 51K total in savings/investments. However, I think that's pretty good for me considering at age 26 I had nothing at all
    via u/Sailor_NEWENGLAND
  • 22
    FunOther9202 i dont think its "normal" but i hit it at 25. i got married at 26 so i spent some money on that (small microwedding so nothing crazy but enough to bring me under). back to saving for me some circumstances that allowed me to do this were: • no debt (zero student loans due to scholarship. zero car payments due to parents help) • extremely frugal ⚫ lived with partner immediately after graduating so expenses were split in half
    via u/FunOther9202
  • 23
    PinkTaco243 I stayed at my first company 18 years and my second 15 years. I was laid off at $98,000. Don't do what I did. Keep switching jobs and move up every 3/4 years or you will get 2-3% raises the rest of your life.
    via u/PinkTaco243
  • 24
    I did and will save in my 401k, I have 4 houses. 3 are rentals. I have a net worth about $2 mm. My starting wage out of college was $18,500. I'm way behind my classmates who took more chances and switched jobs often.
    via u/PinkTaco243
  • 25
    No_Medium_8796 I dont know exactly how to answer your question if its by wages I did it at 24, but that was due to going to one of the few fields where you can just rack up overtime like crazy with a relatively decent hourly wage to back it,
    via u/No_Medium_8796

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