Whether you’ve got decades left in your career to work or you’re already counting down until your last day on the job, you’ve probably thought about how you’d like to spend your golden years. Retirement may still be a long way off for many of us, but now’s the time we need to be putting money away for it and new research gives some insight into how that’s going.
Northwestern Mutual's 2025 Planning & Progress Study has just come out, revealing the “magic number” Americans think they’ll need for retirement. The figure has actually gone down by $200-thousand from last year, but it’s still a lot - $1.26-million - which is about the same amount it was in 2022 and 2023.
According to the research, 51% of Americans think it’s somewhat or very likely that they’ll outlive their savings.
- Only 16% say it’s very unlikely that they’ll outlive their money.
- But 35% admit they haven’t done anything to prepare for that potential outcome.
- Overall, Americans say they started saving for retirement at age 31, on average, and plan to retire at age 65.
- But younger people have started saving sooner, with Gen Z starting at age 24, with a goal to retire at 61. And 34% of them think it’s likely they’ll live to be 100.
- On the flip side, baby boomers started saving at 37 and hope to retire at 72, but only 23% think they’ll likely live to age 100.
- A lot of Gen Xers are getting close to their retirement years, but they’re the only generation with a majority (54%) saying they don’t think they’ll be financially ready to retire when the time comes.
- The top three “burning questions” about retirement for all generations are “How much money will I need to retire comfortably?,” “Will Social Security be there when I qualify for it?” and “What if inflation rises when I’m retired?”
Source: Northwestern Mutual