Saved $1 million for retirement? Here's where your money will last the longest around the U.S. (2024)

FAQs

Saved $1 million for retirement? Here's where your money will last the longest around the U.S.? ›

The key finding: Retirees can get the biggest bang for their buck in Mississippi, where the combined cost of food, utilities, housing, health care and other essentials is $44,000 per year. Saving of $1 million in the state would last you nearly 23 years, the personal finance site said.

Putting that much aside could make it easier to live your preferred lifestyle when you retire, without having to worry about running short of money. However, not a huge percentage of retirees end up having that much money. In fact, statistically, around 10% of retirees have $1 million or more in savings.

The amount of money Americans think they need to retire comfortably hits record high: study. Inflation has crept into every part of Americans' lives, including how much they now think they need to retire comfortably: a record $1.46 million, a study released on Tuesday said.

The answer depends almost entirely on you, your habits now and your plans for later,” the financial services firm noted on its website. Data from the Federal Reserve's most recent Survey of Consumer Finances (2022) indicates the median retirement savings account balance for all U.S. families stands at $87,000.

In more than 20 U.S. states, a million-dollar nest egg can cover retirees' living expenses for at least 20 years, a new analysis shows. It's worth noting that most Americans are nowhere near having that much money socked away.

Once you have $1 million in assets, you can look seriously at living entirely off the returns of a portfolio. After all, the S&P 500 alone averages 10% returns per year. Setting aside taxes and down-year investment portfolio management, a $1 million index fund could provide $100,000 annually.

As a general rule, though, financial services firm Fidelity recommends saving 10 times your final salary to retire at 67. Another strategy is to save enough so that you'll have 80% of your pre-retirement income each year in retirement.

That leads us to the second major reason why holding off until age 67 to collect Social Security benefits makes sense: Your monthly benefit will be higher. SSA will reduce your Social Security benefit by five-ninths of 1% per month for early retirement up to 36 months before your full retirement age.

For example, if you plan on 3% SWR, your nest egg will need to be 33x your annual expenses to retire. But you're much less likely to deplete your portfolio than 4%. Your time to retirement, then, is how long it will take for you to build your nest egg to sufficient size.

Can I retire at 62 with $400,000 in 401k? ›

If you have $400,000 in the bank you can retire early at age 62, but it will be tight. The good news is that if you can keep working for just five more years, you are on track for a potentially quite comfortable retirement by full retirement age.

Yes, you can.

Let's say, for example, you have £300k in a pension after taking your tax-free cash, you have no outstanding debts or mortgage to pay off, and you're entitled to the full state pension at age 67 (or 68 from 2044). For this example, let's say you take £1,500 from your pension per month.

The overall retirement savings for the wealthiest 1% stand at approximately $2.3 million. When considering a broader definition of retirement assets, the figure escalates to $5 million.

Social Security offers a monthly benefit check to many kinds of recipients. As of December 2023, the average check is $1,767.03, according to the Social Security Administration – but that amount can differ drastically depending on the type of recipient. In fact, retirees typically make more than the overall average.

The national average for retirement savings varies depending on age, but according to the Economic Policy Institute, the median retirement savings for all working age households in the US is around $95,776. This figure includes both employer-sponsored retirement accounts and individual retirement accounts (IRAs).

Key findings. In 2022, the average (median) retirement savings for American households was $87,000. Median retirement savings for Americans younger than 35 was $18,800 as of 2022.

Let's break it down with a cold splash of truth. There are about 22 million people in the US sitting on a net worth of over $1 million. That might seem like a hefty squad of millionaires to you, but let's put things into perspective. That's less than 7% of the U.S. adult population, my friend.

The number of American households with assets of one million U.S. dollars or more has been steadily increasing in the over the last decade. About 6.98 million individuals in North America had financial assets worth at least one million U.S. dollars in 2020, which was an increase of 2.67 million in comparison to 2008.

Super wealthy (99th percentile): $16.7 million. Wealthy (95th percentile): $3.2 million. Well off (90th percentile): $1.9 million. Middle class (50th percentile): $281,000.