The conventional wisdom on retirement planning dictates that you should aim to save 10 times your annual salary or reach a 'magic number' well past $1 million in savings to retire in comfort. However, research on actual retirees suggests that these savings targets may be far too high, at least for most of us. The typical retiree has only $126,000 in household savings, and only about half of retirees have any retirement savings at all. Despite this, most retirees say they're doing pretty well. In a Gallup poll, 82% of retirees said they have enough money to live in comfort, and in the 2025 federal Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, 83% of over-60 Americans said they were either 'living comfortably' or 'doing okay' financially. These numbers suggest that we are preparing sufficiently for retirement. However, the financial stability of American retirees is a topic of endless debate. Voices in the retirement industry and the news media overplay the notion of a retirement 'crisis', and overstate the need for every family to bank seven-figure savings for a shot at a comfortable retirement. Personally, I think that this is a dangerous narrative, as it can lead to unnecessary anxiety and financial stress for many people. In fact, most Americans retire with a lot less than $1 million, and most of them seem to be doing all right. The 2026 EBRI/Greenwald Retirement Confidence Survey found that roughly three-quarters of retirees rated their financial well-being as good, very good, or excellent, and 73% said they are confident they will have enough money in retirement. However, the same surveys also show that retirees are less confident in their savings, with only 56% of retirees saying they believe they have built a sufficient retirement nest egg. This makes sense, given that only about half of the oldest Americans have retirement accounts. The Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies found that nearly 50% of retirees said they would rely on family and friends to provide long-term care, rather than pay for professional caregivers. This highlights the fragility of financial stability for retirees, and the need for a more nuanced approach to retirement planning. In conclusion, while most retirees are making ends meet, their financial stability can be fragile. The same is true for millions of younger Americans. The answer to how much you really need to retire comfortably depends on many factors, starting with how much you earned in your working life. America's median household income is around $84,000, and even if you banked 10 times that amount, you wouldn't have $1 million. Lower-income households won't need as much income to sustain their standard of living, and most Americans rely primarily on Social Security for retirement income, which is progressive and replaces 90% of your income up to $1,286 a month. Therefore, lower-income households 'shouldn't be saving very much for retirement', and they're not saving very much for retirement. This raises a deeper question: how can we better support lower-income households in their retirement planning, and ensure that they have the financial stability they need in their golden years?
