How much should I have saved for retirement by age?

How it works in detail

Fidelity's widely cited savings benchmarks provide age-based targets expressed as multiples of your current annual salary. These assume you retire at 67, replace about 45% of pre-retirement income from savings (with Social Security covering the rest), and maintain a balanced investment mix throughout your career. The multipliers — 1x at 30, 3x at 40, 6x at 50, 8x at 60, 10x at 67 — are useful guardrails, but they have real limitations. Higher earners need larger multiples because Social Security replaces a smaller share of their income. FIRE seekers targeting retirement before 65 need dramatically more — often 25x to 33x annual expenses — and cannot rely on Social Security to fill the gap. Researchers like Wade Pfau have shown that sequence-of-returns risk makes the timing of accumulation matter as much as the total amount saved. Saving aggressively in your 30s compounds far more powerfully than catching up in your 50s. Think of these benchmarks as a progress check, not a destination. Your actual number depends on your target retirement age, expected Social Security benefit, planned spending, and withdrawal rate. Run your own projection rather than relying solely on salary multiples.