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The average retirement age in the US is 64. What will you have in your bank account when your seventh decade rolls around?
We’re looking at Americans’ average savings by age to see what we have in our savings accounts and how we can build our retirement savings to live out our golden years in peace rather than at work.
One way to gauge the health of your personal savings is to look at the average American’s savings by age according to the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances.
Understanding where most people are in their preparation for retirement can help you form your own benchmarks. But remember, your journey is your own, so in addition to numbers you should pay attention to the expert tips for each age group that can help you fine-tune your savings goals and cover daily living necessities at the same time.
Americans under the age of 35 have saved an average of $30,170 for retirement, despite the fact most 20-somethings are still recovering from student loans and establishing their careers.
As busy and occasionally unstable as this decade of life can be, it’s also the perfect time to put some financial structures in place:
Once you’re into your late 30s and early 40s, you’re typically more established in life and working in a higher-paying position. That’s likely why the average retirement savings for this age group is an impressive $131,950.
But this stage of life also comes with some costly changes. You may get married, have children and/or buy a home. You can offset expenses by being more strategic about overall spending; curbing how often you eat out, for example, or sending your kids to dance class at the rec center instead of a swanky local ballet studio.
Americans between the ages of 45 and 54 have saved an average of $254,720. This nest egg has nearly doubled in the last ten years, which is something to be proud of. But as you tip-toe toward retirement and see your kids gain independence, it’s time to think about ways you can further set yourself up financially.
Look at your bills and see what’s scheduled to be paid off soon. Almost done forking over college tuition? Are your cars almost paid off? Think about how your financial obligations are evolving and what that could mean for you in terms of finding new investment opportunities and revisiting your savings goals.
This time of life is perfect for reaching out to a financial advisor who can help you formulate a well thought-out pre-retirement plan.
Between the ages of 55 and 64, Americans have an average of $408,420 socked away from retirement. Given that the average retirement age in the U.S. is 64, depending on factors such as social security income and actual bank account balance, this is when you’ll do your final preparations for post-career living.
You may decide to set up a few sources of retirement income, such as rental properties. You may consult an investment specialist to figure out how to make your retirement savings work for you. This is a time for planning, and for adjusting the plans you already have in place if they’re not achieving the results you hoped they would.
After the age of 65, by which point the average American has retired, it’s unlikely your nest egg will continue to grow. By this point, there’s no more annual salary bolstering your checking account and social security benefits won’t make anyone a millionaire. This is why average retirement savings for this age group stand at $426,070, less than $18,000 more than you had a decade or so before.
You’re entering your “spend era,” where a lot more money is going out than is coming in. Watching your account balance slowly deplete can be disheartening, which is why it helps to have other investments working in your favor and that emergency savings account waiting in the wings too, just in case.
But now you need to think beyond your immediate needs and consider estate planning. From your car to your house to your collection of antique tea pots, everything you own has to go somewhere after you pass. Thorough and thoughtful estate planning can make it easier for your family to enjoy certain assets tax-free and distribute other items exactly as you intended.
Other savings accounts:
In the short term, you need to save money so that you have an emergency fund for things like unexpected medical expenses and house or car repairs.
In the long term, you should have retirement savings so that you can stop working full time and still have enough of a nest egg to pay for day-to-day life — and hopefully even some fun extras.
How much does the average person have in savings and how much should you have in your own account?
As we’ve covered above, what the average American saves varies considerably by age but also their situation.
Experts recommend having enough in your savings to pay for about three months of expenses without relying on additional income. That means the exact amount you should have in a transaction account depends on your bills and other financial obligations. To determine your specific savings goal you can use a savings calculator.
One of the best ways to maximize your savings is to start early.
Retirement seems a long way off when you’re 25, but time flies and you can never get back the years you spent your money instead of diverting it into savings.
You can also:
Once you start acquiring savings, you need somewhere to put that money.
Thankfully, there are different types of savings accounts to choose from.
Thanks to slow wage growth and growing inflation, Americans are saving far less than they used to.
As for June 2022, the average personal savings rate had dipped to a 15-year low of 2.7%. A 2022 survey found that 24% of Americans don’t have any money saved for emergencies, meaning they have to rely on credit cards or government assistance as a safety net.
This said, there is an overall trend of people spending below their means to save money. Some 56% of Americans with financial regret say they wish they had saved more and 57% of those proud of their financial success cite smart savings as one of their top triumphs.
The amount the average American has in savings changes depending on age. For Americans under the age of 35, the average retirement savings is $30,170. This number climbs steadily until the average retirement age of 64, when the average retirement savings amount is about $408,420.
Try managing your paycheck using the 50/30/20 rule. Use 50% to pay for essentials, 30% to address your wants and put 20% into savings.
Opening a regular savings account is intended for short-term use, with account holders able to make deposits and withdrawals whenever they like. A true retirement account like an IRA or 401k has specific rules that dictate how you deposit money and when you can take money out, with withdrawals before retirement typically subject to stiff penalties.
The 50/30/20 rule is a way to structure your budgeting, specifically by allocating 50% of your after-tax income for needs, 30% for wants and 20% for savings. Following this rule, someone who brought home $50,000 after taxes would set aside $25,000 for needs, such as rent and food; $15,000 for wants, like a vacation or luxury clothing; and $10,000 for personal savings.
Alana Luna (Musselman) is a versatile storyteller with over a decade of writing experience. She is passionate about helping people build their business through unique and engaging content. Some examples of her current freelance projects include building content strategies for small businesses, completing industry research to build case studies, crafting buyer guides and more.
She has a passion and keen ability to simplify complex ideas through storytelling to make it easier for readers to understand hard-to-digest information. As such, Alana’s writing holds strong three principles – content that educates, engages and entertains.
Apart from her contributions to LA Times Compare, Alana has freelanced and ghostwritten for large publications and prestigious brands such as Orbitz, Groupon, Amazon, JCPenney, Walmart and more.
