Key Points
For many people, retirement isn’t the most pressing financial concern; they’re (rightfully) more worried about current day-to-day expenses. This can be especially true for people in the 35-44 age range, because retirement is at least a couple of decades away in most cases.
However, it’s never too early to start thinking about your retirement savings, because later comes eventually. That doesn’t mean it has to jump to the top of the financial priority totem pole, but it’s worth knowing where you stand so you can see what adjustments, if any, you may need to make.
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According to the latest available data from the Federal Reserve (the Fed), the average household retirement account balance for people age 35 to 44 is $141,520.
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Another way to view retirement savings
Wealthy people and high earners can often skew the average benefit of things like retirement savings, so it’s also helpful to look at the median balance to help keep things in perspective. According to the Fed, the median balance for ages 35 to 44 is $45,000, which is much more reflective of a typical household.
It helps to focus more on the median so you’re not discouraged by a slightly skewed average. In either case, this is a helpful data point, not an end-all, be-all comparison of where you have to be at this stage in your life. In this age range, there’s more career ahead of most people than behind them.
What if you feel behind on your savings?
The good news is that if you feel as though you’re behind, you still have time on your side in this age range. If you’re 44 and want to retire at 65, that’s 21 years of investing ahead of you. If you’re 35, that’s three decades to work toward your goal.
If you were to invest $500 monthly and average 8% returns over those 21 years, your investment would grow to over $302,000. If you averaged 10% annual returns, it’d grow to over $384,000. And this is while personally investing only $126,000 of your own money during that time. That’s the power of compound earnings.
The actual amount will obviously vary with how much you invest and your returns (nothing is guaranteed in the stock market), but the larger point is how powerful time can be when it comes to investing. You’d be surprised at how much ground you could make up by just starting.
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