How do your savings compare to your age group?

This calculator is benchmarked against liquid savings data (checking, savings, money market accounts, CDs). To compare accurately, enter only your accessible cash savings, not 401(k), IRA, or other retirement account balances. If you want to include retirement accounts, the Federal Reserve SCF reports median retirement account balances separately: approximately $27,000 for under-35 households, $65,000 for 35-44, $134,000 for 45-54, $185,000 for 55-64, and $200,000 for 65-74.

Liquid savings are funds you can access within a few days without penalty: current accounts, savings accounts, high-yield savings accounts, money market accounts, and short-term certificates of deposit. They do not include home equity, investment portfolios (stocks, bonds, ETFs), retirement accounts (401k, IRA), or other illiquid assets. Some people also exclude emergency funds from their "savings" mentally, but they should be included for the purposes of this comparison.

Fidelity's milestone is designed as a target, not a description of what people typically achieve. Fidelity suggests 1x salary by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, and 10x by retirement. These figures combine liquid and retirement savings. The Federal Reserve SCF data shows that median total savings (liquid plus retirement) for 35-44 year olds is well below the 3x salary target for most earners. The benchmarks are useful aspirational guides but should not be used to measure yourself against "what most people have."

The Fed SCF 2022 data captures an unusual period. Pandemic-era transfer payments, reduced consumer spending, and stimulus checks temporarily boosted savings rates to record highs in 2020 and 2021 before declining sharply in 2022 and 2023 as inflation eroded purchasing power. The 2022 SCF therefore reflects somewhat elevated savings balances for some cohorts compared to the long-run trend. The 2025 picture, after two years of high inflation, is likely to show lower median liquid savings for many age groups.

According to the Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances (2022), the median liquid savings for Americans under 35 is $5,400. That is the real midpoint: half have more, half have less. Fidelity recommends having 1x your annual salary saved by 30, which at the median salary of approximately $56,000 would mean $56,000 in savings. The gap between the Fidelity target and reality is large. This does not mean most people are failing. The Fidelity benchmark assumes consistent saving from your first job, employer matching, and no disruptions like student debt, medical bills, or career changes. The median reflects what people actually manage given real-world constraints.

The median liquid savings for Americans aged 35-44 is $7,500 according to the Fed SCF (2022). Including retirement accounts, the median total financial assets for this group are approximately $27,000. Fidelity recommends 3x your salary by 40, which at the median household income would be roughly $168,000. The aspirational benchmark is roughly 6x the actual median. If you have $20,000-$30,000 in combined savings and retirement accounts at 40, you are near or above the national median. Americans who reach Fidelity benchmarks tend to have higher incomes, employer-matched 401(k) plans, and no major financial disruptions in their 20s and 30s.

Savings distributions are extremely right-skewed, meaning a small number of households hold very large balances while the majority hold modest amounts. For Americans aged 55-64, the median liquid savings is $12,000 while the mean is $57,800, nearly 5x higher. This skew is driven by wealth concentration: the top 10% of households hold approximately 70% of all financial assets. When you see headlines about "average savings," they almost always report the mean, which creates the false impression that most people have far more than they actually do. The median is the statistically appropriate benchmark for individual comparison.

No. According to Bankrate's 2024 survey, 27% of US adults have zero emergency savings. An additional 29% have less than three months of expenses saved. That means 56% of Americans do not meet the standard financial advice of maintaining 3-6 months of emergency savings. In the UK, approximately 25% of adults have less than £100 in savings. While having no savings creates financial vulnerability, it is statistically common and driven by systemic factors including wage stagnation, housing costs, healthcare expenses, and student debt, not personal failure.

UK median financial wealth (excluding property and pensions) is lower than US liquid savings at most age groups. The ONS Wealth and Assets Survey (Wave 7) shows UK adults aged 25-34 have a median financial wealth of just £2,100, compared to $5,400 for Americans under 35. At 55-64, the UK median is £25,900 versus $12,000 in the US (though the US figure excludes pensions, which would push the UK figure higher if pensions were included). UK savings rates are constrained by high London rents, the absence of employer 401(k)-equivalent matching at the same scale as the US, and historically lower wages outside the capital.