And what's $340K going to be worth in today's dollars 40 years from now?


Good question, but the only answer I can think of that covers all cases
is "more than nothing"

SAIL LOCO wrote:
It's my understanding that if a 22 year old puts $2400 annually in an IRA for
20 years and stops he will have a million at 62.

Assuming a constant 9.45% annual interest rate, yes.... $1,001,701.95 to
be exact!

But we need to consider inflation, which is what I think Jon G. was
getting at. It's unlikely that anybody is going to earn a consistent
9.5% *over* inflation for 40 years straight... I think a realistic
long-term average is closer to 7% over inflation, which yields
$512,662.97 in today's dollars. That's a heck of a lot better than
nothing, and better than the $96,000.00 this 62YO would have if he
buried it all in mason jars in the back yard.

Sorry to inject a note of fiscal reality... I can't help what they call
"doing the math."

Freshly Printed Bank Notes-
Doug King