{"id":735896,"date":"2026-08-12T19:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T19:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/735896\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T19:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T19:48:11","slug":"heres-the-average-401k-balance-by-age-in-2026-are-you-ahead-or-behind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/735896\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s the average 401(k) balance by age in 2026 \u2013 are you ahead or behind?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The road to retirement<\/a> can be rocky, but many Americans have a decent start<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The average person has $351,242 saved in their 401(k), a workplace retirement plan<\/a> that often comes with an employer contribution match, according to a recent study<\/a> from financial services firm Empower. <\/p>\n

Data revealed that balances grow steadily from participants’ 20s to their 50s, peak in their 60s<\/a>, then decline in their 70s and 80s as they make withdrawals<\/a>. <\/p>\n

On average, 401(k)s hit the million-dollar mark when participants reach their 50s. <\/p>\n

\u201cData shows that people are reaching the million-dollar retirement milestone in their 50s, with average balances of $1,073,368,\u201d the study said. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe average American becomes a 401(k) millionaire in their 50s, grows their balance into their 60s, then sees their funds fall in their 70s and 80s as they make withdrawals in retirement (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

The study analyzed data from more than five million Empower retirement account holders and found that balances one in five people has at least $1 million saved in their 401(k) accounts.<\/p>\n

The average 401(k) balance rose 11.2 percent year-on-year, increasing by around $36,000. <\/p>\n

Compounding interest plays a key role in 401(k) balances\u2019 growth, as does the account\u2019s greatest feature \u2013 many employers match an employee\u2019s contributions up to a certain percentage. <\/p>\n

An employer match essentially supercharges an employee’s contributions, often doubling them up to a certain amount. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s critical, though, to pay attention to the required contribution amounts to get the full match \u2013 otherwise it\u2019s essentially like leaving money on the table,\u201d the study noted. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Empower study brings optimism to a retirement landscape that\u2019s laden with pessimism amid several looming factors. <\/p>\n

The average American believes they need around $1.2 million to retire comfortably, but just over half believe they\u2019ll have $500,000 or less on Day One of retirement, according to a survey<\/a> from wealth management firm Schroders. <\/p>\n

Part of the reason why consumers are skeptical about their retirement funds is that the current high-inflation economy is forcing them to temporarily stop funding retirement accounts to cover daily expenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cRising costs are forcing tough tradeoffs, and saving for retirement is often the first thing that gets deprioritized,\u201d Schroders Head of U.S. Defined Contribution Deb Boyden said in the survey. <\/p>\n

The country\u2019s tenuous Social Security situation is also driving retirement fears. Around half of all workers believe that their Social Security payments will be lower when they retire \u2013 and rightly so. <\/p>\n

The Social Security Board of Trustees projects<\/a> that key funding for the federal retirement system will end in 2032. That means that Social Security payments could fall as much as 22 percent. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo protect the promise of Social Security, it is important for lawmakers and the Social Security Administration to work together to ensure the trust funds continue to provide financial stability now and for future generations,\u201d Commissioner of Social Security Frank J. Bisignano said in the board of trustees report. <\/p>\n

This article is sponsored by Credit Karma. We may earn a commission if you engage with their services using links in this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The road to retirement can be rocky, but many Americans have a decent start. The average person has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":735897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,4176,4174,4175,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-735896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/735897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}