My wife and I diligently saved to our IRAs through our work but still had only amassed $120k in savings into our 30s. We both came from families that paid for our college educations and we got small gifts to help with the down payment for our home. The privilege of no debt and generous boomer parents with pensions has allowed us that savings.

In 2020, a large inheritance has potentially set us up for life. I was left as the residuary to a $2m+ estate. I’ll probably net approximately $1.2m in addition to the $400,000 IRA that was willed to me (and I received almost immediately upon death). Pure, pure luck from someone who really cared about me despite not being related.

Neither of us work super high income jobs though we are definitely way above median for our household size. We would clearly be working into our 60s to save for retirement if not for sheer circumstance and luck.