How much will you need to retire? Surprisingly, most of us have a precise dollar figure in mind.
However, that doesn’t mean we are on track to reach our goals.
Recently, Transamerica released its 26th annual retirement survey. As part of the research, Transamerica asked more than 10,000 respondents to name the amount of money they will need to retire. These shares of respondents gave the following replies:
- $2 million or more: 24%
- $1 million to $1.9 million: 17%
- $500,000 to $999,000: 17%
- $100,000 to $499,000: 22%
- Less than $100,000: 20%
That means that 42% of workers believe they can retire with less than $500,000 in savings. Such a number is far below what most experts recommend, but it doesn’t mean those workers are necessarily wrong.
After all, as we reported in “8 Essential Moves for Retiring Comfortably on Social Security Alone,” it is possible — although not easy — to retire on nothing more than benefit payments from the federal retirement program.
Still, your retirement is likely to be far brighter if you save more cash. Unfortunately, many of us are doing a poor job of saving for our golden years.
Here is how much survey respondents say they actually have saved for retirement:
- $1 million or more: 8%
- $500,000 to less than $1 million: 10%
- $250,000 to less than $500,000: 9%
- $100,000 to less than $250,000: 11%
- $50,000 to less than $100,000: 10%
- $25,000 to less than $50,000: 8%
- $1,000 to less than $25,000: 19%
- None: 12%
In total, nearly half of respondents — 49% — have less than $100,000 saved for retirement. So, it’s clear that Americans have some work to do if they plan to retire comfortably.
If you have fallen behind on your savings goals, know that it is never too late to make a fresh start. To begin your journey, check out “7 Retirement Moves to Make If You’re Over 50 and Behind (It’s Not Too Late).”