The average amount that U.S. adults have saved for retirement dropped slightly from US$89,300 in 2023 to $88,400 in 2024 and more than $10,000 from its five-year peak of $98,800 in 2021, according to a new survey by Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.
The survey, which polled more than 4,500 U.S. adults aged 18 or older, found a third (33 per cent) said they don’t feel financially secure, up from 27 per cent in 2023. More than half (54 per cent) said they expect inflation to increase this year, compared to just nine per cent who said their household income is outpacing it.
On average, respondents said they started saving for retirement at age 31. However, generation Z said they’ve started saving at age 22, followed by millennials (age 27), generation X (age 31) and baby boomers (age 37). Respondents indicated they’ll need an average of US$1.46 million to retire comfortably, a 15 per cent increase over the $1.27 million reported last year.
Employees said they expect to work to age 65, on average. While gen-Zers and millennials said they expect to retire earlier (ages 60 and 64, respectively), gen-Xers and baby boomers said they expect to retire later (ages 67 and 72, respectively).
Three in 10 millennials and gen-Zers said they believe it’s likely or highly likely they’ll live to age 100, while just a fifth of gen-Xers (22 per cent) and baby boomers (21per cent) agreed with this statement. Roughly half of boomers (49 per cent) and gen-Xers (48 per cent) said they’ll be financially prepared when they reach retirement. Gen-Xers said there’s a 42 per cent chance they could outlive their savings, while boomers put the probability at 37 per cent. Across both generations, more than a third (37 per cent and 38 per cent, respectively) said they’ve not taken any steps to address this possibility.
Read: 64% of Americans wish they’d started saving for retirement earlier: survey