Retirement funding: How much do you need to save?

How much money do you need to have saved to retire comfortably? While this number will vary from person to person based on what they want to do in retirement, the average amount American adults believe they’ll need saved to fund their retirement is $583,348, according to the latest survey by Finder.

How much do you need to retire?

However, how much people believe they’ll need to live comfortably varies widely. Close to half of those surveyed (47.4%) said that they would need less than $250,000 in the bank to be comfortable. About 16% said they’d need more than $250,000 but less than $500,000. 17% said they would need more than $1 million to retire comfortably.

How much do Americans think they need to retire?

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Men believe they need more to retire than women

American men were shown to be slightly better retirement savers, squirreling away an average of $175,795 compared to $139,010 for women.

Average retirement savings: Men and women

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Generational retirement saving trends

How much you think you’ll need in retirement differs depending on when you’re born, with millennials believing they will need to save the most at $721,845. They’re closely followed by gen X at $626,344. The silent gen brings up the rear at $377,928, followed by baby boomers at $484,390.

However, while millennials think they’ll need the most money to retire comfortably, they’re well shy of their retirement goals. That may come with an empathic “duh” since they’ve been saving for fewer years than the older generations. Millennials have managed to amass an average of $73,368 for retirement. Boomers, actually, have the second most money saved for retirement, with an average holding of $246,108, with the silent gen coming out with the highest retirement savings at $247,125.

Median savings are even lower, with millennials having saved a median of $12,047 for retirement. In comparison, baby boomers have saved a median of $100,012 for retirement.

Retirement savings by generation

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• Visual – Median
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Americans underestimating retirement funding needs.

While an amount of just over half a million dollars is a lot to squirrel away, it may not cut it. The average American lives until roughly 78 years old and if you’re looking at retiring at 63, that means that roughly $583K will need to last 15 years. That means you’ll be living off about $38.9K per year, which is roughly 57% of the average median household income in the US.

If you’re confused about retirement planning or just want to know more about techniques for funding your retirement, you can find out more on the Finder retirement planning hub.

Methodology

Finder’s data is based on an online survey of 2,059 US adults born between 1928 and 2003 commissioned by Finder and conducted by Pureprofile in April 2021. Participants were paid volunteers.

We assume the participants in our survey represent the US population of 254.7 million Americans who are at least 18 years old according to the July 2019 US Census Bureau estimate. This assumption is made at the 95% confidence level with a 2.16% margin of error.

The survey asked respondents how much they think they’ll need to retire comfortably, assuming they retire at 63 years old. Then we asked respondents how much they currently have saved for retirement.

To avoid skewing the data, we did not include extreme outliers in our calculations. Our calculations were weighted for age and gender.

We define generations by birth year according to the Pew Research Center’s generational guidelines:

Gen Z — 1997–2003
Millennials — 1981–1996
Gen X — 1965–1980
Baby boomers — 1946–1964
Silent generation — 1928–1945

Past Retirement Savings surveys

• 2019

  How much money do you need to have saved to retire comfortably? While this number ultimately varies based on your personal plans for retirement, the average American adult believes they need about $427,891 to fund their retirement, according to a new Finder survey.

  How much do you need to retire?

  How much the average American believes they need to live comfortably hits all ends of the spectrum. Close to half of those surveyed (44.25%) said they would need $346,059 in the bank to be comfortable. About 23% said they’d need approximately $1.75 million, and another 14% said they’d need $41,974.

  Women believe they need more to retire than men

  On average, women feel they need to save more than men, with women saying they need to tuck away $450,077 versus an average $415,190 for men. In addition to asking how much people they think they’ll need to retire, we also inquired as to how much they had saved to fund their retirements and once more women came out on top, squirreling away an average of $495,927 compared to $486,946 for men.

  Generational retirement saving trends

  How much you think you’ll need in retirement also depends on when you were born.

  Members of Gen Y report needing to save the highest amount at $442,461. They’re closely followed by Gen X at $437,512, with boomers bringing up the rear at $406,112.

  However, while Gen Y thinks it needs the most money to retire comfortably, those within the generation are well shy of their retirement goals. Then, they’ve been saving for the least amount of time, managing to amass on average $74,516 for retirement.

  Boomers are second among the generations for most money saved for retirement, holding an average $480,462, with Gen X leading the pack for highest retirement savings at $529,422.

  Americans underestimate retirement funding needs

  Half a million dollars is a lot to squirrel away. Still, that amount may not cut it.

  The average American is living to about 78 years old. If you plan to retire at 63, the roughly $428K the average American adult believes they’ll need must last at least 15 years. That leaves you to live off about $28,500 a year — roughly 60% of the current average median household income in the US.

  Learn more about retirement planning and the techniques for funding your retirement at Finder’s retirement planning hub.

  Methodology

  Our data is based on an August 2019 online survey of 2,068 US adults ages 18 to 91 commissioned by Finder and conducted by Pureprofile.

  We assume the 2,068 participants in our survey represent the US population of 253.9 million Americans who are at least 18 years old, according to the 2018 US Census Bureau estimate. This assumption is made at the 95% confidence level with a 2% margin of error.

  Our survey asked people how much money they think they would need to have saved to be comfortable in retirement, as well as how much they currently have in retirement savings. We asked our participants to give these figures in whole dollars, which we then grouped into brackets:

  • $0 to $999
  • $1,000 to $9,999
  • $10,000 to $99,999
  • $100,000 to $999,999
  • $1,000,000 to $9,999,999
  • $10 million+

  The number of people who responded with $10 million+ was a small sample, and so we removed these respondents from the final analysis to avoid their answers skewing the data.

  We define generations by the age of participants at the time of the survey:

  • Millennials — ages 18 to 34
  • Generation X — ages 35 to 54
  • Baby boomers — ages 55+

For media inquiries:

Allan Givens
Public Relations Manager
203-818-2928
allan.givens@finder.com

Nicole Gallina
Communications Coordinator
347-677-4931
nicole.gallina@finder.com