Editor's Note: "Retirement Savings on Track? How Much You Should Have by 50 and 55" is part of an ongoing series on getting your retirement on track by age. The second story is "Retirement on Track? How Much You Should Have by 55 and 60." The third is "Retirement Savings On Track? How Much You Should Have By 60 and 65."
Building solid retirement savings takes years, even decades, for good reason. You can easily spend twenty or more years without a paycheck. That’s why financial advisers encourage everybody to save early and often. But for millions of people, they are falling short on that front.
That’s particularly true of Americans aged 50 and older, as an AARP survey from last spring revealed.
The non-profit advocate for older adults found that one in five or 20% of Americans 50+, have no retirement savings at all. Even among those who are saving, 61% expressed concern that they won’t have enough money to support their lifestyle in retirement.
That's bad news. A retirement shortfall could force you to work longer, downsize, or drastically change your lifestyle to make ends meet.
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Pre-retiree retirement savings check-up
If you are in the 50 to 55 age range, now is the time to start thinking about the retirement you envision for yourself.
Sure, it may be 10, 15, or 20 years away, but between 50 and 55 is a good time to take stock of your retirement savings and make adjustments if needed.
“You are close to pre-retirement time,” in your early 50s, says Sharon Carson, executive director of J.P. Morgan Asset Management. “You have ten to fifteen more years to save. Take advantage of catch-up contributions, get the employer match and if you have a relatively low savings rate, increase that.”
Are your retirement savings on track?
Not sure if you are on track with your retirement savings? In what may be a wake-up call or elicit a sigh of relief, JPMorgan crunched the numbers to determine how much adults should have saved based on age and income.
The Wall Street bank’s model assumes the following:
Annual gross savings rate: 5%
Pre-retirement portfolio makeup: 60% equities and 40% bonds
Post-retirement portfolio makeup: 40% stocks and 60% bonds
Inflation rate: 2.4%
Retirement age: 65
Years in retirement: 35
For all you 50 to 55-year-olds out there, check to see if you are on track based on JPMorgan’s figures. Keep in mind that these amounts are a general guide. Everyone’s financial situation is different, and some may need more or less in retirement.
Age: 50
Income: $80,000
How much you should have saved: $330,000
Income: $100,000
How much should you have saved: $415,000
Income: $150,000
How much should you have saved: $590,000
Income: $200,000
How much should you have saved: $745,000
Income: $250,000
How much should you have saved: $940,000
Income: $300,000
How much should you have saved: $1.24 million
Age: 55
Income: $80,000
How much should you have saved: $420,000
Income: $100,000
How much should you have saved: $565,000
Income: $150,000
How much should you have saved: $805,000
Income: $200,000
How much should you have saved: $1.025 million
Income: $250,000
How much should you have saved: $1.295 million
Income: $300,000
How much should you have saved: $1.69 million
Feeling good or falling short? Time to act
If you are on track based on JPMorgan’s calculations, now is not the time to slow down. If possible, increase your savings rate as much as you can.
By upping it to 10% of your income, Carson says you can make up a lot of ground in a decade or more. Use this time to start thinking about when you want to retire and the type of life you envision.
It's also a good time to get your debt under control. You don't want to enter retirement with high-interest debt that will eat away at your cash flow. Don't focus on your mortgage, especially if you have a low mortgage rate. Focus on the high-interest debt.
Between 50 and 55, Carson says to start thinking about how you’ll pay for any long-term care needs in the future.
After all, health care in retirement isn't cheap. Fidelity Investments pegged the cost at $172,500 for a 65-year-old retiring this year. That doesn't take into account any accidents or stints in a long-term care facility.
Off track?
If you are facing a shortfall based on JPMorgan’s guide or your own assessment, don’t despair; you still have time to save more in your early 50s and, if need be, work longer than you anticipated.
Even an extra year in the workforce will boost your income, and you will spend one less year drawing down on your retirement savings.
Plus, you’ll benefit from compounding. Let’s say you have $3 million in your retirement account, earning a 10% return. After one extra year of working, and not drawing down from your savings, you’ll have $3.3 million for retirement instead of $3 million.
Additionally, working a little longer will give your retirement savings account time to recover from any losses.
Social Security payments will benefit
Working longer can also positively impact your Social Security benefits. If you are on the cusp of hitting your Full Retirement Age or FRA, which is typically around 67, depending on when you were born, delaying for six months, nine months, or a year will result in a 30% boost in your benefits.
If you are of FRA and delay retiring for even six months, it can result in larger payments when you begin collecting. Your Social Security benefits are calculated based on your 35 highest-earnings years, adjusted for inflation. If you are at your peak earnings and hold off, that’s more months calculated into your earnings.
At 50, you can also begin taking advantage of catch-up contributions that will allow you to save more in your tax-advantaged company-sponsored retirement account.
For 2025, the contribution limit for a 401(k), 403(b), and most 457 plans is $23,500, while IRA contributions are capped at $7,000. For 2026, limits are projected to increase to $24,500 and $7,500 for IRAs.
If you're 50 and over, you can contribute an extra $7,500 to your 401(k) and $1,000 to your IRA. In 2026, it is $8,000 for 401(k)s and $1,100 for IRAs.
It's crunch time
Your early to mid-50s should be about positioning yourself for retirement, including saving, paying down debt, and planning and plotting.
“It's starting to be crunch time when you get to 55,” says Carson. “In the pre-retiree phase, you need to start to think about what you're going to do in retirement.”
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