How Much Should You Save for Retirement by 30? 40? 50?

Use Fidelity’s milestones—1 times salary at 30, 3 times at 40, and 6 times at 50—as an initial checkpoint, then calculate the contribution your own retirement plan requires. Spending, pensions, housing, and retirement age determine the household’s target. The tables below connect a published benchmark to a monthly saving calculation.

The benchmark comes from Fidelity’s published assumptions. The contribution projection is a separate hypothetical calculation in future dollars, with its return and timing assumptions stated. Source pages and 2026 contribution rules were checked November 3, 2026.

Published benchmarks and what they assume

Fidelity’s savings milestones are 1 times salary at 30, 3 times at 40, 6 times at 50, 8 times at 60 and 10 times at 67. Its assumptions include saving 15% annually starting at 25, including employer contributions, investing more than half of savings in stocks on average over a lifetime, retiring at 67 and maintaining the previous lifestyle.

Age	Fidelity milestone	Illustration at $80,000 salary
30	1 times salary	$80,000
40	3 times salary	$240,000
50	6 times salary	$480,000
60	8 times salary	$640,000
67	10 times salary	$800,000

Keep the salary used beside the savings balance when tracking progress. A promotion increases a salary-based target immediately, while a survey of actual balances measures something different. Use the milestone to start a review of the household’s spending and income assumptions.

Decide which assets belong in the comparison

Make a retirement inventory with account owner, balance, tax treatment and intended purpose. Include workplace retirement accounts, IRAs and taxable investments genuinely reserved for retirement. Record unvested employer contributions separately because keeping them may depend on continued employment.

Keep emergency cash, a child’s college fund and next year’s house deposit outside the retirement total if you intend to spend them elsewhere. Do not count the same joint account twice when preparing two spouses’ inventories. Home equity can support a plan, but it needs an explicit transaction: selling, downsizing or borrowing has costs and consequences. An estimated property value is not an available monthly withdrawal.

Also retain the distinction between pretax and Roth balances. A $300,000 pretax account and a $300,000 Roth account are not necessarily equal sources of spendable income. Rather than apply one guessed tax percentage to everything, show the account types and model withdrawals separately.

Calculate the contribution required from today

The following is an independent mathematical illustration. It assumes zero starting savings, retirement at 67, a $1 million nominal target, constant monthly deposits made at month-end, and a hypothetical 7% nominal annual return compounded monthly. It excludes fees, taxes, inflation and market fluctuations.

Start age	Saving years	Monthly contribution, rounded
25	42	$329
30	37	$477
35	32	$700
40	27	$1,045
45	22	$1,601
50	17	$2,563
55	12	$4,450

Use monthly contribution = target × r / ((1 + r)^n − 1), with r = 0.07 / 12 and n as months. With existing savings, subtract starting balance × (1 + r)^n from the target first. In the age-40 scenario, $120,000 already saved reduces the calculated monthly contribution from about $1,045 to $219. Enter the actual starting balance before setting a payroll target.

At zero return, divide the remaining shortfall by the months available. If existing savings are projected to meet the target, set additional contributions to zero in that scenario and test lower returns, higher spending, or an earlier retirement date before revising the real saving schedule.

Test assumptions before increasing investment risk

Run the calculation at several returns and retirement ages. A higher assumed return makes the required contribution smaller without making the goal safer. Keep fees consistent: if the return input is already after investment costs, do not subtract those costs a second time.

Then choose either today’s purchasing power or future dollars for the entire worksheet. A future $1 million does not buy what $1 million buys now. If spending is stated in today’s dollars, a real return assumption is appropriate; if spending is inflated into future dollars, use a compatible nominal return. Mixing the two can make a shortfall disappear on paper.

Use a separate stress scenario for a layoff or caregiving break. For example, compare 12 months with no deposits against the original schedule. That is more actionable than assuming a permanently higher return will compensate for interrupted saving.

Use the correct 2026 contribution ceilings

The IRS’s 2026 limits allow a regular employee 401(k) deferral of $24,500. The usual age-50 catch-up is $8,000, making $32,500; eligible participants turning 60 through 63 during the year have a higher $11,250 catch-up instead, making $35,750. A plan must permit the applicable catch-up.

The combined traditional and Roth IRA limit is $7,500, plus $1,100 at age 50 or older. An eligible 50-year-old can therefore have $41,100 of combined employee 401(k) and IRA capacity, before employer contributions. Check compensation, Roth income eligibility, and traditional IRA deductibility before choosing the account and tax treatment.

For a household with limited surplus, convert a percentage into dollars per paycheck. At $80,000 salary, an additional 1% is $800 annually, about $30.77 across 26 paychecks before considering tax effects. Set an affordable increase and review it after several pay periods rather than committing to an impossible maximum.

Translate the balance into a spending gap

Build an annual retirement budget covering housing, food, insurance, healthcare, travel, taxes and irregular replacements. Subtract expected pension and Social Security income using estimates appropriate to the intended start dates.

For someone born in 1960 or later, Social Security full retirement age is 67. Starting the worker’s benefit at exactly 62 generally provides 70% of the full-retirement-age amount. Download your own earnings record and estimates, and place the intended benefit start date in the retirement income calendar.

A household needing $64,000 annually, with $34,000 of other income, has a $30,000 portfolio gap. Dividing by 4% gives $750,000; at 3%, the target is $1 million. Use both as starting scenarios, then test retirement length, market sequence, taxes, and spending adjustments to evaluate the withdrawal plan.

Make the next review specific

Keep a dated worksheet showing balances, planned contributions, retirement age, spending estimate and assumptions. Select one action you can implement now: correct a missed employer match, raise payroll savings, reduce a recurring expense or model a later retirement date. Revisit the worksheet after material changes in employment, family responsibilities or health.

If savings are below the milestone, calculate the gap and choose a concrete adjustment: a larger monthly contribution, a later retirement date, or a lower spending target. Put its dollar effect into the worksheet and check progress after the change takes effect.