What is a good 401k balance at age 65?

A common guideline is about 10 times your salary saved across all retirement accounts by your late 60s, so roughly $700,000 on a $70,000 salary. Real-world median balances for people 65 and older are far lower, often under $250,000, so 'good' is really whatever covers your spending gap.

Can I retire at 60 with $500,000?

Possibly, if your spending is modest. At the 4% rule, $500,000 supports about $20,000 a year, and Social Security can be claimed starting at 62. In a low-cost area with around $40,000 of spending it can work; in a high-cost area it is tight, and you would bridge several years before Social Security and Medicare.

Is $2 million enough to retire at 65?

For most households, yes. $2 million supports about $80,000 a year at the 4% rule, and adding Social Security puts total income comfortably above the average US household. It is more than enough in most of the country unless your spending is high.

How many retirees have $1,000,000 in savings?

Only about 10 percent or fewer of near-retirement households have $1 million or more. Most retire on smaller balances supplemented by Social Security.

How Much Money Do You Need to Retire? (By Income and Age)

By Jessica Martinez, Contributing Writer, Business & Finance
Updated July 1, 2026

A common target is about 25 times the annual spending you cannot cover with other income, which is the flip side of the 4% rule. If you expect to spend $60,000 a year and Social Security covers $24,000 of it, you need to fund the remaining $36,000, or about $900,000. The exact number depends on your spending, your other income, and how long your retirement lasts.

The quick math: 25x your spending gap

Start with what you plan to spend in a year. Subtract guaranteed income (Social Security, any pension). Multiply the leftover by 25. That is roughly the nest egg you need, because withdrawing 4% of it covers that gap with a good chance of lasting 30 years. See the 4% rule for why 25x.

The income-replacement shortcut

Most people need about 70 to 85 percent of their pre-retirement income to keep the same lifestyle, because some costs (commuting, payroll taxes, saving itself) go away. If you earn $100,000 now, plan for roughly $70,000 to $85,000 a year in retirement, then subtract Social Security to find what your savings must produce.

Subtract your guaranteed income

The average Social Security retirement benefit was about $1,900 a month in 2025, or roughly $23,000 a year, and a couple may collect more. A pension reduces the number further. Only the spending those sources do not cover needs to come from your savings, which is why two people with the same nest egg can be in very different shape.

A worked example

Say you want $70,000 a year and expect $25,000 from Social Security. Your savings need to cover $45,000. At the 4% rule that is $45,000 x 25, or about $1.13 million. Retiring earlier, before Social Security starts, means your savings carry the full load for those gap years, so you need more.

How your retirement age changes the number

Retiring at 55 or 60 means more years of spending, more years before Social Security and Medicare begin, and a longer horizon for your money to last, so you need a bigger cushion. Waiting until 67 to 70 shrinks the number, because Social Security is larger and the money has fewer years to cover. Use the calculator to test different retirement ages against your savings.

Do most people actually hit $1 million?

No. Only around 1 in 10 near-retirement households have $1 million or more saved. Most people retire on a mix of more modest savings plus Social Security, and a lower-cost lifestyle. The goal is not a round number, it is covering your spending sustainably.

Turn this into your own number

Plug in your spending and expected Social Security to get a real target instead of a rule of thumb.

Open the Retirement Calculator →

How Much Money Do You Need to Retire?