So, backstory here is that previously, I'd always heard hit 1x salary by 35 in the 401k.

Last time I had paid attention I knew I was on track to meet, or slightly exceed the 1.0x goal. However, I logged in today after a few months of not being eligible to contribute due to a job change to find that at least according to Fidelity, the goal is now 2x by age 35.

Cue panic on my part. I'm nowhere near a 2X goal, and don't think I can possibly increase my contributions enough to get anywhere close. I'd have to be putting in more than the IRS maximum, nevermind a huge percentage of my salary that I don't know how to carve out, to get from here to there (I'm currently just about to turn 33).

I have a house, but no kids, and i'm not the greatest with budgets. The house is a huge money pit repair wise, which I am currently trying to fix up in hopes of selling in the next year or two. The money I hadn't been putting into the 401k the past few months of not being eligible, has directly gone into fixing up the house. As has any thing that would normally go into savings some.

I guess my question is this, how screwed am I here? Is 2X just the way it is or are they trying to goad people into panic and putting more into their funds? I've set my contribution now to where it'll be uncomfortable, but not quite painful on my budget, with the goal of upping that percentage if I can either cut expenses or get a raise (the former being more likely, neither being terribly likely). Running some back of the envelope math, if the 401k didn't gain, but didn't loose money (which is an abysmally poor performance vs inflation but made for easy math) - and you added my contributions in, plus my employers - I'll hit about 1.2X my current @ 33 salary (which is the most i've ever earned). I figure that's a reasonably conservative estimate, and assuming there's any gains at all - i'll hit above that number.

But should I be trying to seriously curtail lifestyle (which isn't paticularly extravagent but isn't particularly sparse either), and throw more into the 401k because I'm up a creek and didn't know it?