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In 2026, the average American believes the \u201cmagic number\u201d for a comfortable retirement is $1.46 million, according to Northwestern Mutual (1). Unfortunately, most workers are nowhere close to that lofty target.<\/p>\n
In fact, as of 2022, only 4.6% of Americans had retirement assets greater than $1 million, according to a study by the Congressional Research Service (2). Put another way, less than 1 in 20 people in America are in the seven-figure retirement club.<\/p>\n
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Despite all the headlines and braggarts you see on social media, this is still a rare and exclusive club.<\/p>\n
So, if you\u2019re falling short of this target but still determined to break into this golden tier, here are three simple steps you can take to improve your odds of success.<\/p>\n
Step 1: Measure your progress <\/p>\n
You can\u2019t get to any destination if you don\u2019t know where you are starting from. That\u2019s why the first step to a million-dollar retirement is to find data on retirement savings and compare your progress to your peers.<\/p>\n
According to Empower, the typical American has roughly $532,291 in retirement accounts as of early 2026 (3), meaning that the average person is already halfway to a million. However, in order to get a true sense of your financial progress, it\u2019s a good idea to dig deeper into the numbers to find the median \u2014 not the average, or mean \u2014 retirement savings for someone in your age group.<\/p>\n
If you were to look at a set of numbers \u2014 such as the retirement savings of the American population \u2014 and then sort them into smallest to biggest, the median would be the number in the very middle of that dataset, separating one half from the other. Unlike the mean (or average), the median is less skewed by outliers \u2014 billionaires, for instance \u2014 so that it arguably gives a clearer picture of a \u201ctypical\u201d value in certain sets of numbers.<\/p>\n
Looking at retirement savings, the median balance for someone in their 20s is just $42,502, according to the same research from Empower. Older Americans who have potentially had longer careers and more time to save generally have higher balances. So, the median balance for someone in their 50s and 60s is $438,886 and $536,748, respectively.<\/p>\n
With data like this in mind, you can accurately track your progress and compare it to your peers as you craft a long-term plan for retirement.<\/p>\n
Read More: Here\u2019s the average income of Americans by age in 2026. Are you falling behind?<\/a><\/p>\n Step 2: Boost savings <\/p>\n If your retirement target is significantly above average (or the median), your savings rate probably needs to be far above average as well.<\/p>\n And it doesn\u2019t take much to beat the average saver. As of March 2026, the typical personal savings rate is just 3.6%, according to Federal Reserve data (4). That means saving just 5% of your income could put you above average. Hit 10% or more and you\u2019re in an elite club of super savers.<\/p>\n But that also means changing your spending habits. By simply resisting indulgences, you could put that extra cash into your savings, setting you on a clearer path to financial freedom. But it\u2019s easier said than done. According to a survey conducted by Clever Real Estate, 74% of those surveyed reported having a spending problem, with 55% admitting that they often spend recklessly.<\/p>\n If you find it difficult to stop overindulging, you can start by building savings habits into everyday spending. With Acorns<\/a>, you can automatically invest spare change from your everyday purchases into a diversified portfolio of ETFs managed by experts at leading investment firms like Vanguard and BlackRock.<\/p>\n For instance, if you buy a donut for $3.25, Acorns will round up the purchase to $4 and invest the change in a smart investment portfolio. So a $3.25 purchase automatically becomes a 75-cent investment in your future.<\/p>\n Sign up today and get a $20 bonus investment<\/a>.<\/p>\n Step 3: Invest for growth <\/p>\n Savings, contributions and the power of compound interest can all help you build wealth. But only if you have enough time. These factors work best over the course of decades.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, many Americans are approaching retirement with a less-than-ideal nest egg. As of 2024, roughly 20% of adults over the age of 50 years had no retirement savings, and 61% were worried their savings were insufficient for retirement, according to the AARP (5).<\/p>\n For those in their 50s and 60s, there\u2019s little time to accumulate wealth. But that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s impossible.<\/p>\n One way to mitigate this issue is to delay retirement. Not only does that give you more room to earn income and save money, but it also potentially boosts the size of your Social Security benefit check (6).<\/p>\n Another way to reach $1 million faster is to look for aggressive investment opportunities. For instance, the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, which tracks the performance of the world\u2019s most popular cryptocurrency, has delivered a compounded annual return of over 20% since its inception (7).<\/p>\n To be clear, cryptoassets are notoriously volatile and risky \u2014 and an ETF like the iShares Bitcoin Trust has only been around since 2024. However, a few good bets in this emerging asset class could help you rapidly close the gap between your nest egg and your $1 million target.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re looking for a straightforward way to invest in this space, you can get direct exposure on platforms like Kraken<\/a>, which lets you buy and trade cryptocurrencies whether you\u2019re on desktop or using the mobile app.<\/p>\n Using this platform, you can invest in 600+ cryptocurrencies<\/a>*, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP and more, or set up recurring buys to invest automatically. There\u2019s also the option to add price conditions, so your trades only execute when the market hits your target.<\/p>\n Plus, if you\u2019re still unsure about cryptocurrencies, Kraken offers guides on popular coins, helping you understand what you\u2019re buying and how to navigate the process from start to finish. If you have questions, 24\/7 support is available via live chat, phone or email.<\/p>\n Opening an account<\/a> is quick and easy. All you have to do is sign up and get verified, then create a short investor profile to get started.<\/p>\n Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. View legal disclosures at kraken.com\/legal\/disclosures (1) . The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Kraken or its management.<\/p>\n You May Also Like <\/p>\n Join 250,000+ readers and get Moneywise\u2019s best stories and exclusive interviews first \u2014 clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now.<\/a><\/p>\n Article sources <\/p>\n We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines<\/a> .<\/p>\n Northwestern Mutual (1) (2); Congress.gov (2) (3); Empower (3) (4); Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (4) (5); AARP (5) (6); Social Security Administration (6) (7); iShares (7) (8)<\/p>\n Article Sources <\/p>\n We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kraken (1)<\/a>; Northwestern Mutual (2)<\/a>; Congress.gov (3)<\/a>; Empower (4)<\/a>; FRED, Federal Reserve Economic Data (5)<\/a>; AARP (6)<\/a>; Social Security Administration (7)<\/a>; iShares (8)<\/a><\/p>\n This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moneywise and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue through links in the content below. In 2026,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[72,26329,1890,1961,176,7316,61,60,15617,174,175,1830,1615,75845],"class_list":["post-476300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-congressional-research-service","tag-dave-ramsey","tag-federal-reserve","tag-finance","tag-goldman-sachs","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-northwestern-mutual","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-retirement-savings","tag-social-security","tag-typical-american"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}