How Much Should You Have Saved for Retirement by Age?
Quick answer
Fidelity's widely quoted retirement savings guideline suggests having 1× your salary saved by age 30, 3× by 40, 6× by 50, 8× by 60 and 10× by age 67. It assumes you save 15% throughout your career, retire at 67, and replace 45% of your income from before retirement. Change any of those and the target changes with it. It's a published rule of thumb, not personal advice or a guarantee.
"You should have 3 times your salary saved by 40" is one of the most repeated numbers in personal finance. It didn't come from nowhere: it has a real, named source and a specific set of assumptions behind it. Knowing those assumptions is what turns the number into something useful rather than just a source of worry.
This guide sets out the benchmark as it's published, what it depends on, and how to use it properly when your salary has changed over the years.
The published benchmark
Fidelity's savings targets by age, as a multiple of your yearly salary, are: 1× by age 30, 3× by 40, 6× by 50, 8× by 60 and 10× by age 67.
They're guidelines from a particular model, not a universal law. The model assumes you save 15% of your pay throughout your career (counting any employer match), retire at 67, replace about 45% of your pre-retirement income, plan for money to last to age 93, and succeed in 90% of historical market scenarios. Change the savings rate, retirement age or income target, and the right multiple changes too.
Using the multiple when your salary rises
The multiple applies to your salary now, at each age, not to what you earned years ago when you first heard about the benchmark. Someone earning $60,000 at 40 (target: 3× = $180,000) who's earning $85,000 by 50 has a new target of 6× that $85,000, or $510,000, not 6× the $60,000 from ten years before.
That matters because pay rises and inflation both push the target up over time, even if you're saving steadily. Falling short of a target worked out on today's higher salary doesn't necessarily mean your saving has gone backwards. It may just mean your salary, and so the goalpost, has moved.
- Work out the dollar target against your current salary each time you check, rather than comparing today's balance with a target you set years ago.
- A raise moves the target for every age from then on, not just the age you were when you got it.
- The Retirement Calculator and FIRE Number Calculator both let you work this through with your own numbers and timeline, rather than reading one multiple off a table.
Where the benchmark can mislead
The 45% income-replacement figure is a good deal lower than the 70-80% you'll often see elsewhere in retirement planning. That's mainly because Fidelity's model assumes Social Security covers a sizeable share of your retirement income on top of your savings. If you're comparing your plan against a different replacement figure, you're not comparing like with like.
The benchmark also assumes you've saved 15% steadily from early in your career. If you started later, took a career break or saved less for some years, you'll sit below the published multiple at a given age for reasons the multiple can't explain. That gap describes your saving history. It isn't a verdict on whether you'll have enough.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is falling short of the benchmark a problem?
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That depends on the assumptions behind your own plan (how much you save, when you plan to retire and how much income you'll need), which may be quite different from Fidelity's model. The Retirement Calculator lets you check your own numbers directly, rather than treating a shortfall against a general benchmark as a verdict.
Does the multiple include a pension or Social Security?
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The savings multiple itself doesn't include Social Security, but the model's 45% income-replacement target assumes Social Security fills a good part of the rest. A traditional defined-benefit pension isn't part of the standard model, so you'd need to allow for it separately.
What if I plan to retire earlier than 67?
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The published targets assume you retire at 67. Retiring earlier means fewer years to save and more years of retirement to fund from the same pot, so it generally calls for a higher multiple at every age, not the same one reached sooner.
Where does this benchmark come from?
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It's published by Fidelity and widely quoted by other financial publications. It's a guideline built on a particular model and set of assumptions, not an official government or regulatory requirement.
Sources
- Fidelity — Average retirement savings by age — Publishes the age-based salary-multiple savings factors and the assumptions behind them (15% savings rate, retirement at 67, 45% income replacement).