Most 60-year-olds are standing on the precipice of retirement. This is a happy thought for some who were able to save consistently throughout their careers. For others, it's alarming as they try to figure out how they'll get by on little more than their Social Security benefits.
The best way to ensure you can afford to retire comfortably is to save some of your income every month and check in with yourself regularly to see if you're on track for your goals. While everyone's savings target is different, here's what conventional wisdom has to say about how much you should have saved by the time you're 60.
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You should be pretty close to your goal
One popular retirement rule of thumb says that you should have an amount equal to your average salary saved by the time you're 30. This should grow to three times your average salary by 40, six times by 50, and eight times by 60. By the time you're 67, you should have 10 times your average salary.
Using a rule of thumb like this can help you get in the ballpark of what you need for retirement. Average annual earnings as of the fourth quarter of 2024 were just under $62,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If you hoped to have eight times that amount by the time you turned 60, you'd need $496,000.
However, this might be an underestimate for some. Another popular retirement savings rule -- the 4% rule -- says that you should save 25 times your estimated annual out-of-pocket retirement expenses in order to have enough to last you 30 years. If we follow this rule and assume that your estimated annual expenses in retirement will be about $60,000, you arrive at $1.5 million.
Your retirement savings target ultimately depends on your life expectancy and the type of lifestyle you hope to have. You can use the strategies listed above as a jumping-off point. But you may need to make some adjustments based on what you expect your retirement to look like. You could also try a retirement calculator to help you figure out how much you need to save.
Most 60-year-olds are coming up short
Going by our "eight times salary" rule, the average 60-year-old should have roughly $500,000 socked away for retirement. But that's not the case for the majority of Americans. Those aged 55 to 64 have just $244,750 set aside on average. The median balance, which better reflects what an ordinary person in that age group has, is $87,571.
This puts many seniors in a tight spot. If they're not able to save more for their future, they could struggle to afford their bills. Most will have some Social Security benefits to help them, and possibly a pension as well. But this still might not be enough to pay for all their expenses.
There isn't an easy solution to this. Delaying retirement is worth considering if you're able to continue working: It gives you more time to save and reduces the length and cost of your retirement. If that's not possible, you may have to look into government benefits to see if these can help you cover your essential costs.
