Retirement savings of richest population by age U.S. | Statista (2024)

FAQs

Do most Americans have enough money saved for retirement? ›

But most people are far from reaching that objective, with the study finding that the average amount held in a retirement account today is just $88,400. That means that the typical worker has a $1.37 million gap between their actual savings and their retirement aspirations.

The top 10% of American households by net worth had an average of $1.29 million in their retirement accounts in 2022, according to the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances. This is almost four times the average retirement savings for all American families that year.

Putting that much aside could make it easier to live your preferred lifestyle when you retire, without having to worry about running short of money. However, not a huge percentage of retirees end up having that much money. In fact, statistically, around 10% of retirees have $1 million or more in savings.

Data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute, based on the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances, reveals that a mere 0.1% of retirees manage to accumulate over $5 million in their retirement accounts, whereas only 3.2% amass over $1 million.

Specifically, those with over $1 million in retirement accounts are in the top 3% of retirees. The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) estimates that 3.2% of retirees have over $1 million, and a mere 0.1% have $5 million or more, based on data from the Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances.

In 2019, about 63 percent of white households had a retirement account balance compared to about 41 percent of households of all other races. Among households that had retirement savings in 2019, white households had double the median balance of all other races ($164,000 to $80,300, respectively).

Wealthy: To be considered well off, a person must be in the 90th percentile, possessing a household net worth of $1.9 million. This level of wealth affords trips, charity donations and college funds for children.

Per the Federal Reserve about 6% of households have over $2,000,000 in wealth in 2020. What is let like to have a net worth of 2 million dollars? Depending on your lifestyle, not that different from the lives of most people.

Someone who has $1 million in liquid assets, for instance, is usually considered to be a high net worth (HNW) individual. You might need $5 million to $10 million to qualify as having a very high net worth while it may take $30 million or more to be considered ultra-high net worth.

This number has been cited so often that investors may feel as if they're failing if they don't reach it. But that shouldn't be the case. In fact, statistically, just 10% of Americans have saved $1 million or more for retirement. Don't feel like a failure if your nest egg isn't quite up to the seven-figure level.

Can I live off interest on a million dollars? ›

Once you have $1 million in assets, you can look seriously at living entirely off the returns of a portfolio. After all, the S&P 500 alone averages 10% returns per year. Setting aside taxes and down-year investment portfolio management, a $1 million index fund could provide $100,000 annually.

The answer depends almost entirely on you, your habits now and your plans for later,” the financial services firm noted on its website. Data from the Federal Reserve's most recent Survey of Consumer Finances (2022) indicates the median retirement savings account balance for all U.S. families stands at $87,000.

Contributions to Social Security are not linked to how much money you make. Once someone reaches an income of $168,600 or more, they stop paying in. This means a millionaire's effective tax rate is less than 1 percent — and they aren't required to pay anything for their unearned investment income.

The answer depends almost entirely on you, your habits now and your plans for later,” the financial services firm noted on its website. Data from the Federal Reserve's most recent Survey of Consumer Finances (2022) indicates the median retirement savings account balance for all U.S. families stands at $87,000.

Here is how much they will need to save each month to get there by age 65. U.S. adults believe they will need $1.46 million to retire comfortably, a 15% increase over the $1.27 million reported last year, far outpacing today's inflation rate which currently hovers between 2% and 3%.

In the bad news category: 36.84% of Californians surveyed have less than $10,000 saved, putting the state in the top 10 in that category.

Only 1 in 4 People Age 55 and Over Has More Than $300K Saved

26% report retirement savings with balances of under $50,000, an amount that is insufficient for people nearing retirement age. Over half (54%) of people age 55 and over have balances far behind typical retirement fund benchmarks for their age group.