How Much Should You Have Saved by Age?

"Am I saving enough for retirement?" It's a question that keeps people up at night, and it gets more stressful with every birthday. The challenge is that "enough" looks different for everyone depending on your income, lifestyle expectations, and when you want to retire. But there are well-researched guidelines that give you a concrete target to work toward.

The most widely cited benchmark comes from Fidelity Investments, which suggests saving specific multiples of your salary by certain ages. It's not a perfect system, but it gives you a starting point that's far better than guessing.

Fidelity's Salary Multiplier Guideline

Fidelity recommends the following retirement savings targets based on your current annual salary:

• Age 30: 1x your annual salary
• Age 35: 2x your annual salary
• Age 40: 3x your annual salary
• Age 45: 4x your annual salary
• Age 50: 6x your annual salary
• Age 55: 7x your annual salary
• Age 60: 8x your annual salary
• Age 67: 10x your annual salary

These multipliers assume you want to retire at 67, maintain roughly the same lifestyle in retirement, and that you'll rely primarily on your savings plus Social Security. They also assume you save 15% of your income starting at age 25 and invest in a diversified portfolio with a reasonable allocation of stocks and bonds.

Let's put this in dollar terms. If you earn $70,000:

• By 30: $70,000 saved
• By 35: $140,000 saved
• By 40: $210,000 saved
• By 50: $420,000 saved
• By 67: $700,000 saved

Those are big numbers, especially the later milestones. But remember that investment growth does a lot of the heavy lifting. If you consistently save 15% per year and earn an average 7% annual return, compound growth fills a significant portion of the gap between what you contribute and what you need.

How These Numbers Actually Work

The jump from 6x at age 50 to 10x at age 67 might seem enormous, but here's why it's achievable: the later years benefit from decades of compounding. Let's trace the math for someone earning $70,000 who starts saving at 25:

• Annual savings (15%): $10,500/year ($875/month)
• By age 30 (5 years of saving, ~7% return): approximately $63,000. Close to the 1x target. A few years of market returns pushes this over the line.
• By age 40 (15 years of saving): approximately $278,000. That exceeds the 3x target of $210,000 because compound growth is starting to accelerate.
• By age 50 (25 years): approximately $627,000. Well above the 6x target of $420,000. Compounding is now contributing more than your annual contributions.
• By age 67 (42 years): approximately $2.1 million. Far above the 10x target. This is the magic of starting at 25 and staying consistent.

The scenario above is idealized - it assumes no job losses, no emergencies, no market crashes, and consistent 7% returns. Real life is messier. But it shows why starting early and staying consistent matters so much.

Model Your Retirement Trajectory

Plug your current age, income, and savings into the calculator below to see whether you're on track for your target retirement age.

What If You're Behind?

According to Bankrate, the average American's retirement savings fall well short of Fidelity's guidelines at every age group. If you're behind, you're in the majority. Here's what to do about it.

Behind in your 20s

Don't stress too much. You have 35+ years of compounding ahead of you. The single best thing you can do is start. Even if you can only save 5% now, bump it up by 1% every year until you hit 15%. Get the employer 401(k) match no matter what - it's an instant 50-100% return.

Behind in your 30s

Time is still on your side, but urgency is increasing. Try to get to 15% as quickly as possible. Every dollar you save in your 30s has roughly 30 years to grow, which means it can roughly quadruple with average stock market returns. If you're at 0x salary at 35, saving 15-20% from here can still get you to 10x by 67.

Behind in your 40s

This is typically when the catch-up push begins. You're likely in your peak earning years. Consider these moves:

• Increase your savings rate to 20-25% of income
• Direct all raises and bonuses to retirement
• Reduce housing costs if possible (downsize, refinance)
• Eliminate all non-mortgage debt to free up cash flow
• Consider a side hustle with earnings directed entirely to retirement

Behind in your 50s

At 50, catch-up contributions become available. For 2025, you can contribute an extra $7,500 to your 401(k) above the standard $23,500 limit, bringing your max to $31,000. IRA catch-up is an extra $1,000 (total $8,000). Use every dollar of this extra room.

Also consider these strategies:

• Delay retirement by 2-3 years. This is the single most impactful adjustment. Each additional year means more savings, more investment growth, and fewer years of withdrawals.
• Delay Social Security to age 70. Benefits grow 8% per year for each year you delay past your full retirement age. That increase is permanent and inflation-adjusted.
• Consider part-time work in early retirement. Working even 15-20 hours per week can dramatically reduce portfolio withdrawals in the early years.
• Downsize housing. Moving to a lower-cost home or area can free up equity and reduce monthly expenses simultaneously.

See How Savings Grow Over Time

Use the savings calculator below to model different scenarios. See how starting amount, monthly contributions, and interest rates affect your total over 10, 20, or 30 years.

Beyond the Salary Multiplier

The salary multiplier approach is a good starting point, but it has limitations:

• It uses current salary, not retirement spending. If you earn $150,000 but plan to spend $60,000 in retirement, you don't need 10x of $150,000. You need enough to cover your actual spending for 25-30 years.
• It doesn't account for Social Security. Social Security replaces about 40% of pre-retirement income for average earners. Your portfolio only needs to cover the gap.
• It doesn't factor in pensions. If you have a pension or military retirement, that reduces how much you need from personal savings.
• It doesn't consider retirement lifestyle. Some people spend more in early retirement (travel, projects) and less later. Others spend less early and more later (healthcare).

A more precise approach is to estimate your annual retirement spending, subtract Social Security and pension income, and multiply the remainder by 25 (based on the 4% withdrawal rule). That gives you a more personalized savings target. For example, if you need $50,000/year and Social Security provides $24,000, your portfolio needs to generate $26,000/year. At 4% withdrawal, that requires $650,000 in savings.

The 15% Savings Rate

Fidelity's benchmarks assume a 15% savings rate starting at age 25. That 15% includes your contributions and your employer's match. So if your employer matches 5%, you need to contribute 10% yourself.

If 15% feels impossible right now, start wherever you can and increase by 1% every year (or every time you get a raise). Going from 5% to 6% on a $60,000 salary means an extra $600 per year, or $50 per month. That's barely noticeable in your budget, but it compounds dramatically over decades.

The 15% rate is designed for someone starting at 25. If you start later, you'll need a higher rate to catch up:

• Starting at 25: 15% savings rate
• Starting at 30: 18% savings rate
• Starting at 35: 23% savings rate
• Starting at 40: 30%+ savings rate (or plan for later retirement)

The Bottom Line

Having specific savings targets by age transforms retirement planning from a vague anxiety into a concrete goal. Use Fidelity's salary multipliers as a benchmark, but personalize with your own spending expectations and income sources. If you're behind, the most important thing you can do is increase your savings rate today, even if it's by just 1%. Compound growth rewards consistency over time, and every year you wait makes the catch-up harder. Start where you are, save what you can, and keep increasing.