How to Stay on Top of Your Retirement Savings

Knowing how much to save for retirement is a two-fold challenge. First, it's difficult to estimate your expenses—and thus, your income needs—for a retirement that's years if not decades away. Second, even after you settle on a target portfolio size, it's hard to gauge if you're saving enough to reach that goal.

To bring some clarity to this retirement-savings conundrum, we've developed a guide to help you estimate how much you should have in your retirement portfolio today based on your current age and income. Once you've determined whether your portfolio is on track, behind, or ahead, you can act now to help make sure you achieve your retirement goals.

Retirement looks different for everyone. But assuming you'll maintain the same lifestyle in retirement that you currently enjoy, you can calculate how much you should have saved by now by using your current annual income and an appropriate multiplier based on your age, which you can find in the following table.

To find your multiplier, go to the row with the age closest to your own and use the multiplier given in the column to the right. If you find yourself between ages, consider averaging the lower- and higher-age multipliers. If your income is less than $100,000, focus more on the lower end of the annual income multiplier range. If you earn more than $250,000 or want to be more confident that your savings can withstand unexpected retirement expenses, think about using a higher multiplier.

Let's look at a couple of scenarios.

Ruth is 45 years old and makes $265,000 annually. Based on the table, her current estimated retirement portfolio should be around 4–5x her income, or around $1,060,000 to $1,325,000. Since her earnings are on the higher end of the income spectrum, she should consider comparing her current portfolio value to the higher estimate.

Alan is 53 years old and has an income of $100,000. Because Alan is between ages in the table, he could look at the midpoint of the multiplier ranges for age 50 (5–7x) and age 55 (7–9x) and use 6–8x to calculate his target savings, making his current estimated retirement portfolio around $600,000 to $800,000. If Alan plans to splurge on travel in retirement, then he might consider focusing on the higher end of the estimated portfolio range.

Remember, these multipliers are meant to be a quick guide to help approximate where your estimated retirement savings should be at a certain age. For more specific recommendations and guidance, we suggest that investors complete a personalized retirement saving plan and seek professional support and advice.

If your savings aren't quite in line with these multiples, don't worry—you're certainly not alone. The most important thing is to take ownership of your current situation and focus on the next best steps you can take, no matter how much you've saved for retirement—even if you're starting from scratch.

Once you know whether you're behind target, on track, or ahead of target to reach your retirement savings goal, here's what to do next:

If you're behind: Don't panic—but do take action.

• Save more now: Putting more money away is the most obvious solution, and with careful consideration, it's hopefully achievable. The sooner you boost your savings, the longer your money can potentially benefit from compound growth. Fully assess your current annual contributions to your retirement accounts and increase them where possible and remember to save at least enough to capture your full employer match, if that's available to you.
• Reassess your goal: Can you live on less? Some expenses may go away in retirement, such as commuting costs or a mortgage payment. If you feel you have the capacity to reduce your retirement spending during down markets, you might be able to work with fewer assets.
• Stay flexible: Don't get discouraged. If you work a few years longer, or if you work part time while in retirement, you may not need to tap your portfolio for income right away. That could also help delay Social Security, which could boost your benefit by as much as 8% per year after you reach full retirement age. Ultimately, every retiree works with the amounts they have. And based on our research, the key to a happy and fulfilling retirement is often not about hitting a number. More often the key is staying flexible about what kind of retirement you'll have and adapting your plans to get the most out of what you've saved.

If you're on track: Keep up the good work. Continue making contributions, and rebalance your portfolio regularly.

• Maximize your retirement contributions: For 2026, the 401(k) contribution limit is $24,500, with an additional catch-up contribution of $8,000 for individuals aged 50 or older, or $11,250 for those between ages 60 and 63. The annual IRA contribution limit is $7,500, plus an extra $1,100 catch-up contribution for those over age 50.
• Still consider stocks: Many people should tilt their portfolios toward conservativism as they near retirement, especially if they've invested 100% in stocks for most of their investment life. Depending on your risk tolerance, however, all investors, including retirees, should maintain at least some exposure to stocks to capture potential market growth … but not so much that you lose sleep at night if the market stumbles.

If you're ahead: Congratulations. Stay focused and maintain your cushion.

• Keep saving: Continue saving as much as you can for as long as you can. You never know when life—or the market—will throw you a curveball.
• Review your assumptions: Are you planning to retire early? Are you planning to spend more in retirement? Are you not planning on other income sources in retirement like Social Security or a pension to supplement your savings? Make sure your savings align to your retirement vision.
• Prepare for transition: Age 50 is a great time, in our view, to create a more personalized, up-to-date retirement plan, if you don't have one already, or if you haven't updated it for a while. From there, the 5–10 years before your target retirement—whatever that date may be for you—are particularly important. Review your plan, your assets, and your potential spending to go beyond multipliers. In these crucial, pre-retirement years, you should identify a personalized retirement number and start formulating a plan for when you transition from saving to tapping your savings.

Multipliers and rules of thumb are a place to start, and the guidelines in this article provide just a rough starting point. But no matter where you are on your journey to retirement, working with a financial planner is a great way to develop a comprehensive plan. A financial planner can help you craft or refine a path to retirement, give you the tools to pressure test your assumptions, and help you track progress toward your goal. The sooner you act, the more time you'll have to build additional savings, no matter where you are right now.