How much should you have saved for retirement by age?
Rough milestones by age, and why the amount matters less than when you start.
Estimate the nest egg you will have at retirement, and the income it could provide.
There is no single right amount to have saved for retirement, because it depends on the life you want and the age you plan to stop working. But rough milestones by age are still useful, because they turn a distant, fuzzy goal into a number you can check yourself against today.
Milestones as a multiple of salary
A widely used shortcut expresses savings as a multiple of your yearly salary. It is not a promise, just a yardstick:
- By age 30: about one times your salary saved.
- By age 40: about three times.
- By age 50: about six times.
- By age 60: about eight times.
- By retirement: roughly ten times your final salary.
So someone earning 50,000 might aim for around 50,000 saved by 30, 150,000 by 40, and so on. If those numbers feel high, that is normal, and it is exactly why the next point matters so much.
Why starting early beats saving more
The single biggest factor in retirement saving is not how much you put away, it is how long that money has to grow. This is compound interest doing the heavy lifting: returns earn their own returns, and given enough years the growth dwarfs the original contributions.
Consider two savers. Ana puts away 200 a month from age 25 to 35, then stops and never adds another cent. Ben waits until 35, then saves 200 a month all the way to 65. Ana contributed for ten years, Ben for thirty. Yet at a typical long-term return, Ana often ends up with a similar pot or more, purely because her money had an extra decade to compound. Time in the market did what Ben's larger total contributions could not.
The lesson is blunt: the best time to start was years ago, and the second best time is now. Our guide on simple versus compound interest shows exactly why this happens.
How to check if you are on track
Milestones tell you where you should be. To see where you are actually heading, you need to project your current savings and monthly contributions forward to your retirement age, using a sensible growth rate. That is what a retirement calculator does. Put in your age, what you have saved, what you add each month, and a modest expected return, and it shows the pot you are on course for.
If the projection falls short, you have three levers: save a little more each month, work a little longer, or aim for a slightly higher return by reviewing where the money sits. Small increases early are far more powerful than large ones late, thanks again to compounding.
A realistic note
These multiples assume your retirement savings will be topped up by a state pension or similar, which varies a lot by country. Treat the milestones as a personal yardstick, not a global truth, and adjust for your own situation. The habit of checking once a year matters more than hitting any exact figure.
The bottom line
Use the salary multiples as a quick gut check, then run your real numbers through a retirement calculator to see your actual path. Above all, start now and let time do the work. When it comes to retirement, the calendar is a bigger ally than your paycheck.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I have saved by 30?
A common yardstick is about one times your annual salary by 30. It is only a guide, and starting the habit early matters far more than hitting the figure exactly, because early savings have the most time to compound.
Is it too late to start saving at 40?
No. Later starts need higher monthly contributions to catch up, but compounding still works in your favour over 20 plus years. The worst choice is to wait longer. Run your numbers through a retirement calculator to see what monthly amount gets you on track.
What return should I assume?
A modest long-term figure is more honest than an optimistic one. Many people use a conservative real return for planning and treat anything higher as a bonus. Always sanity-check with a lower rate too, so a good decade does not become your only plan.