How Much Money Most People Have Saved By Age 60

According to The Federal Reserve, the median retirement account savings for households between ages 55 and 64 is roughly $185,000. While this is a considerable amount of money, it’s probably not enough to secure a comfortable retirement for most people. A standard household making the median income will likely want between $415,000 and $825,000 in assets as they enter their 60’s to maintain their standard of living in retirement. With full retirement age at 67, at age 60 there’s still some time left to accelerate your savings, but it will take some work. Here’s what you need to know.

If you’ve fallen behind on your retirement savings, a financial advisor can help adjust your retirement plan for your needs and goals.

Measuring an ordinary household’s savings can be difficult. Among other issues, it’s difficult to know exactly which assets to measure. For example, should economists consider just tax-advantaged retirement accounts? Should they include private portfolios? Cash? Potentially valuable personal property?

Then, there’s the question of statistical analysis. The Federal Reserve provides data on the median and the average assets of American households. Median is the measure of a data set’s midpoint. So, the median savings is the number at which half of all households have more than this amount and half of all households have less. Average is the measure of a data set’s trend and tendency. So, the average savings is the number at which half of all money saved is above this amount and half of all money saved is below it. 

According to the Federal Reserve, households between the ages of 55 and 64 have the following median assets:

• Retirement Accounts – $185,000
• Other Financial Assets – $67,700
• Home Equity – $350,000
• Total Net Worth – $364,270

According to the Federal Reserve, households between the ages of 55 and 64 have the following average assets: 

• Retirement Accounts – $537,560
• Other Financial Assets – $150,660
• Home Equity – $504,420
• Total Net Worth – $1.56 million

The difference is important, because averages are relatively easy to skew with outlying data. In the case of the U.S. economy, a small number of households hold vastly more wealth and assets than most others. This skews the average result upwards, making it look like most Americans have more money saved than they actually do. 

When the Federal Reserve looked at how much money Americans have saved for retirement, it found a mid-range of around $185,000. This is the most representative number for how much a mid-range U.S. household has saved by age 60. About half of all households have more saved than that, about half of all households hold less. 

Among the households with more in savings, some have such large retirement accounts that they bring the average savings up to $537,560.