Everyone needs retirement savings, but not everyone has them. If you want to see how you are doing on your journey to financial security as a retiree, it can be helpful to compare your own retirement account balance to others in your age group.
Check out how your retirement account balance compares to the balances of peers of a similar age.
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This is the average retirement savings by age
Vanguard's 2025 How America Saves Report provides recent data on where Americans stand when it comes to the money in their retirement plans.
According to Vanguard, here are the average and median retirement account balances among Vanguard participants by age:
| Age | Average Balance | Median Balance |
|---|---|---|
| Under 25 | $6,899 | $1,948 |
| 25-34 | $42,640 | $16,255 |
| 35-44 | $103,552 | $39,958 |
| 45-54 | $188,643 | $67,796 |
| 55-64 | $271,320 | $95,642 |
| 65 and over | $299,442 | $95,425 |
How does your account balance compare?
If your own balance is above average, in theory, that means you are doing better than your peers when it comes to retirement planning. However, a lot depends on your income. If you make $200,000 a year and have $103,552 saved by 35, then your position isn't as good as someone who makes $100,000 a year and has saved the same amount.
Your target goal should be based on factors including:
- Your age
- The income you need to produce to supplement Social Security
- Your goals, such as whether you want to retire early or participate in expensive hobbies as a retiree.
It's helpful to set a personalized retirement savings objective, such as saving 10 times your final salary, and then break that big goal down into small ones to make sure you are saving enough each month.
How can you increase your retirement investments?
If you find that your 401(k) or other retirement investment accounts are falling short of where you need to be, you should take some steps to invest more and grow your wealth. This could include:
- Making sure you are investing at least enough in your 401(k) to earn your full match
- Automating the process of investing, so your money automatically pays you first before you get a chance to spend it
- Investing wisely, including having a good mix of investments that charge low fees and that are appropriate to your life stage and level of risk tolerance.
If you invest consistently over time and learn to become an informed investor, which is easier than you think, you should end up better off than many people your age and able to enjoy your retirement with fewer financial fears.
