Many of us set aside a portion of our income, such as 15% or more, for retirement and call it a day. That might be great if you have 30 years left to save, but what if you're just catching up to saving for retirement now or you've started saving much earlier? Fidelity's age-based savings milestones offer one way to see if you're on track.


They break the saving retirement goals by the amount of your current salary you should have saved up:

For example, by age 35, Fidelity suggests that you should have saved 1X your current salary, then 3X by 45, and 5X by 55. "Setting up clear goals linked to your salary can help simplify your planning, and help you determine if you are on track throughout your working life," says Fidelity Executive Vice President John Sweeney. "Having such guideposts is particularly important in today's workplace, where layoffs, job switching, longer life expectancy, and escalating health care costs can complicate your efforts to save for retirement."


By retirement age, you should have at least 8 times your ending salary. This will help you replace 85% of your pre-retirement income, which is a better rule than saving up a million dollars.

Here's a chart via BenefitsPro:


Of course, as with any rule of thumb, your particular circumstances may vary. This 8X rule has many assumptions, including: a retirement age of 67, living until age 92, 3% employer contribution, and a 5.5% average anuual portfolio growth rate.

Still, it's a general yardstick for checking out if you're on track. For a more detailed, personalized retirement checkup, consider the tools we've listed before or play with Fidelity's calculator in the link below to see an adjusted savings factor.


How much do you need to retire? | Fidelity