I understand everyone's situation is different, but putting max into an IRA for 30 years and ending up with $50k sounds off.
No bull. My IRA took huge losses in 2008 and never recovered. The investment strategy was one offered by Ameriprise and sold to me as a viable, modest risk program. Looking back, they were loaded funds and it was a specific request of mine to not be in such a fund. There is near zero recourse when people mishandle your money. Unscrupulous investment brokers simply want the "fee" and don't care one bit what happens to your money.
I've moved to UBS in the last few years.
Yeah, I remember back in the 90's I put 2k in my IRA for about 7 years, went up to about 40k from a 14k investment. Then the market tanked, but it only dropped back down to 25k before it recovered.