How much should you have saved for retirement by age?

A widely cited 2026 Fidelity retirement savings analysis suggests aiming for roughly 1x your salary saved by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, and 10x by 67. These are useful checkpoints, not a scorecard — the savings rate that gets you from one milestone to the next matters more than where you land on any single birthday.

The age-based multiplier benchmarks

The takeaway: these are checkpoints assuming steady saving from your 20s or 30s onward, not hard requirements.

Age	Savings target (x annual salary)
30	1x
35	2x
40	3x
45	4x
50	6x
55	7x
60	8x
67	10x

These figures, from Fidelity's 2026 retirement savings guidelines, come from modeling a hypothetical earner who saves consistently starting in their 20s, invests mostly in stocks early on and more conservatively over time, and plans to retire around 67 while also collecting Social Security. If your career path, income growth, or planned retirement age looks different, your own realistic multiple will too.

The savings rate that gets you there

The takeaway: a savings rate in the 10-15% range (including any employer match) starting in your 20s or 30s is the most commonly cited target to reach these benchmarks by a traditional retirement age.

• Starting earlier lowers the required rate. Money saved in your 20s has decades to compound, so reaching the same milestone requires a smaller percentage of income than starting in your 40s.
• Starting later raises it. Someone beginning in their 40s often needs a meaningfully higher rate, sometimes 20% or more, to catch up to the same relative benchmark.
• Employer matching counts toward the rate, but not toward your take-home savings discipline — many benchmarks assume it's included in the 10-15% figure.
• Raises are a natural opportunity to increase your savings rate before lifestyle spending absorbs the extra income.

Catch-up contributions

The takeaway: after 50, the IRS generally allows you to contribute more per year to tax-advantaged retirement accounts.

Catch-up contribution limits are set (and periodically adjusted) by the IRS and apply on top of standard annual contribution limits for 401(k)s and IRAs. They exist specifically to help people closer to retirement make up ground, and can meaningfully accelerate progress toward a savings benchmark in your 50s and early 60s when income is often at its highest.

By-decade guidance

In your 20s and 30s

• Prioritize getting the full employer match if one is offered — it's an immediate, guaranteed return on that portion of savings.
• Favor a higher allocation to stocks given the long time horizon before withdrawals begin.
• Small increases now compound enormously by retirement age due to time in the market.

In your 40s and 50s

• This is typically peak earning years — a natural point to push savings rate higher if it slipped earlier.
• Start paying attention to catch-up contribution eligibility as 50 approaches.
• Begin thinking about a gradual shift toward more conservative investments as retirement gets closer, though the right pace depends on individual risk tolerance and time horizon.

In your 60s

• Get a clearer picture of expected Social Security timing (claiming between 62 and 70 changes the benefit significantly).
• Model healthcare costs, especially any gap between retiring and Medicare eligibility at 65.
• Revisit the withdrawal strategy — how the saved multiple will actually convert into sustainable annual income.

Nuance and common mistakes

• Comparing gross multiples across very different incomes. A high earner and a modest earner reaching the "same" multiple may have very different actual lifestyles funded.
• Ignoring career breaks or income volatility — the benchmarks assume smooth, continuous saving, which doesn't reflect caregiving gaps, self-employment, or job loss that many people experience.
• Panicking over being behind at one age. A single snapshot doesn't account for a raise, an inheritance, paying off debt, or years of catch-up ahead.
• Not adjusting for a non-traditional retirement age. Someone planning to retire earlier than 67 needs to reach a higher multiple sooner; someone planning to work longer has more runway.
• Forgetting non-retirement assets like home equity or a taxable brokerage account, which some people count toward overall net worth but not toward these retirement-specific benchmarks.

A worked example

This is illustrative only. Consider a hypothetical 45-year-old earning $90,000 a year with $270,000 saved for retirement — that's a 3x multiple, below the commonly cited 4x benchmark for that age. Raising their savings rate from 10% to 15% of income going forward, while leaving time and compounding to work, is one illustrative way that gap could be closed by their mid-50s, though actual results depend on investment returns, income changes, and market performance that can't be predicted in advance.