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How much does the average American have in savings? Age tends to have a lot to do with it. Generally, as people get older, they are likely to have more savings.

But what the average person has in a savings account also depends on their financial goals and personal circumstances.

If you’re looking for a benchmark of just how much you should save by a specific age, or how much you should start contributing right now, read on for average savings by age and some tips that could help.

The Importance of Saving for the Future

Life can happen fast. For example, the average cost of having a new baby is almost $19,000, including approximately $3,000 in out-of-pocket expenses for pregnancy and delivery. And then there’s the cost of caring for a child, which some estimates put at more than $310,605 for raising them through age 17.

And, if that baby wants to get a college degree, you’re looking at a whole new realm of savings. The cost of a four-year public college education can range from about $108,584 to $182,832, according to the Education Data Initiative.

There’s one other big reason to save for the future: People are living longer. According to a 2025 survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, only 28% of American workers are “very confident they will be able to retire comfortably.” Thirty-two percent of workers say their lack of confidence is because they have less than $25,000 in savings and investments.

Fortunately, the concept of saving for the future seems to be resonating with people at younger ages. According to the SoFi 2024 Retirement Survey, more than half (51%) of respondents started saving for retirement before age 35, with many of that group starting by age 25.

Source: SoFi 2024 Retirement Survey

A Savings Shortfall

Still, Americans’ savings strategy has a way to go. More than half of Americans can’t cover an unexpected $1,000 expense, according to Bankrate’s 2025 emergency savings report. Only 41% say they could cover it.

And 37% of all Americans don’t have enough cash in savings to cover even a $400 emergency, the Federal Reserve found in its “Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2024” report.

Average Savings by Age in the USA

The Federal Reserve’s latest (2022) Survey of Consumer Finances shows that the typical American household has an average savings balance of $62,410.

But average savings varies greatly by age and number of people in a household. Here’s what savings by age looks like.

Average Savings for Those 35 and Younger

Americans under the age of 35 had an average savings account balance of $20,540, according to the Fed’s survey.

This is a large age bracket that can range from those just graduating high school to recent college grads to young professionals well into a decade’s worth of work.

It’s wise to have three to six months of expenses in an emergency fund. At the very least, aiming to have $1,000 handy in a savings account for unexpected expenses is recommended.

Use our emergency fund calculator to see how much you should ideally have stashed away.

For those who have started their careers, employer-sponsored retirement funds such as a 401(k) plan can be good options to start saving for long-term retirement goals.

It makes sense to contribute at least enough to get matching funds from an employer, if that’s an option with your company’s plan. For reference, the average 401(k) savings for those ages 25 to 34 is $42,640, according to Vanguard’s “How America Saves 2025” report.

Recommended: Why You Should Start Retirement Planning in Your 20s

Average Savings by Age: 35 to 44

Americans ages 35 to 44 had an average savings account balance of $41,540, according to the Federal Reserve survey. Those in this age bracket are now well into adulthood. At this stage of life, it’s prudent to have that three-to six-months’ worth of savings in an emergency fund, to cover the cost of everything from an accident to a lost job.

This may also be the time to think about diversifying a financial portfolio and possibly investing in the stock or bond market.

And, of course, keep contributing to your 401(k). For reference, the average 401(k) savings for those ages 35 to 44 is $103,552, according to the Vanguard report.

Average Savings by Age: 45 to 54

People ages 45 to 54 had an average savings account balance of $71,130, according to the Fed’s survey.

At this point, general financial advice dictates that a 50-year-old should have at least six times their annual salary if their intention is to retire at 67.

Those in this age group have an average 401(k) savings of $188,643.

Average Savings by Age: 55 to 64

The Fed survey found that Americans ages 55 to 64 had an average savings account balance of $72,520.

Since this is the time when most Americans are staring down retirement in a few years, it’s generally a good idea to boost retirement savings into high gear.

That’s because while younger people in 2025 are capped at contributing $23,500 a year to a 401(k) account, those age 50 and up are allowed to contribute an additional $7,500.This is known as a catch-up contribution. Also for 2026, those under age 50 can contribute up to $24,500, and those 50 and up can contribute an additional $8,000. And those aged 60 to 63 may again contribute an additional $11,250 instead of $8,000.

The average retirement savings account for a person aged 55 to 64 is $271,230. It’s important to note that taking a withdrawal from such a plan before the age of 59 ½ could mean paying taxes and penalties.

Average Savings by Age: 65 and Older

This is when savings really peaks for the average American. The latest Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances found that Americans ages 65 to 74 had an average savings account balance of $100,250.

However, that savings number does drop over time. According to the survey, Americans ages 75 and up had an average savings account balance of $82,800.

This underscores the importance of creating a retirement budget and sticking to it in order to have enough savings for as long as needed.

But before retirement, try to hit the average retirement savings amount for those ages 65 and up, which is $299,442.

This chart offers an at-a-glance comparison of the average American savings by age.

Median Savings by Age

Median savings is different from average savings. The median is the number in the middle of all the other numbers, meaning half the numbers are higher and half are lower. So with median savings, half the people in an age category will have saved more and half will have saved less.

These are the median savings by age, according to the latest Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances:

•   Under 35: $5,400

•   35-44: $7,500

•   45-54: $8,700

•   55-64: $8,000

•   65-74: $13,400

Savings vs Retirement Savings

What Americans have saved for emergencies, expenses, and other near-future goals is different from what they have in their retirement savings accounts, as you can see from all the information above. It’s critical to have both types of savings at the same time.

And keep this in mind: As you get older, and closer to retirement, it’s important that your retirement savings grow even more. It’s a good idea to contribute the maximum amount allowed to your retirement accounts at this time, if you can. This is one of the ways to save for retirement.

Saving a Little Bit More

Reaching specific savings goals doesn’t have to be complicated. It just means doing a bit of homework, strategizing, and staying diligent about personal finances.

The first step in saving more is to analyze current expenses to see what can be cut back on or cut out altogether to make more room for saving. This means creating a personal budget and tracking current spending.

To track spending, a person could create an excel spreadsheet and list all expenditures by categories like groceries, phone bill, car expenses, housing, medical, entertainment and others over the course of a month, filling it in with every single dollar spent to see where the money is going. Or you can use an online tracker like SoFi’s tracker, which allows users to connect all their accounts to one dashboard and track spending habits in real time.

After the month is up, the next step is to look back on the expenditures list. Was there anything that surprised you? Do you need all those streaming subscriptions? How about that gym membership — did it actually get used? This is the time to get a little ruthless.

After figuring out what’s left, try implementing a general budget outline like the 50/30/20 rule. This means that approximately 50% of your after-tax income goes toward essential expenses like food and rent, while 30% goes toward discretionary expenses like nights out at the movies or concerts. The last 20% belongs to savings and retirement account goals.

Next, it’s time to get creative about saving even more for the future. This can be done by putting more cash into a high-yield savings account via direct deposit right from a paycheck.

Those looking to save a few more bucks every month could also do so by getting rid of unnecessary expenses. But, instead of pocketing that cash, consider using mobile banking to direct that cash right to savings.

Still feeling the pinch and don’t really have room to save more from a budget? Working part-time for, say, a ride-sharing company could allow you to set your own hours and earn extra income based on how much time you can dedicate to it. Other options might include freelance work in photography, writing, or other creative arts.

The Takeaway

Saving for goals in the near term — such as a house or a car — along with putting away money for an emergency savings fund to cover unexpected expenses, is important at every age. And so is investing in your future, including for retirement. The earlier you start saving for all your goals, the better.

Interested in opening an online bank account? When you sign up for a SoFi Checking and Savings account with direct deposit, you’ll get a competitive annual percentage yield (APY), pay zero account fees, and enjoy an array of rewards, such as access to the Allpoint Network of 55,000+ fee-free ATMs globally. Qualifying accounts can even access their paycheck up to two days early.

FAQ

How much should a 30 year old have in savings?

By age 30, you should have the equivalent of your annual salary saved. So if you make $60,000 a year, you should have $60,000 in savings.

How much money does an average person have in savings?

The average American has a savings balance of $62,410, according to the 2022 Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, which is the latest data available.

How many Americans have $100,000 in savings?

According to one 2023 survey, only 14% of Americans have at least $100,000 in savings.

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Investing for the long term is a time-honored way to help manage certain market risks so you can reach financial goals, like saving for a downpayment on a house and retirement.

When it comes to building a nest egg for bigger life expenses, saving alone may not get you where you need to go. If this is the case, the boost of potential investment returns over time may help you reach your savings goal. That’s where long-term investing, also called buy-and-hold, comes in.

That said, long-term investing isn’t a risk-free endeavor, and there are also tax implications for holding investments long term. Knowing the ins and outs can make all the difference to your portfolio over time.

10 Tips for Long-Term Investing

An advantage of a long-term investing strategy is that “time in the market beats timing the market,” as the saying goes. In other words, by sticking to an investment plan for the long term, your portfolio is more likely to weather its ups and downs, and fluctuations in different securities.

So how do you go about establishing a long-term investment plan? These tips should help.

1. Set Goals and a Time Horizon

Your financial goals will largely determine whether or not long-term investing is the right choice for you. Spend time outlining what you want to achieve and how much money you’ll need to achieve it, whether that’s paying for your child’s college tuition, retirement, or another big goal.

Once you’ve done that, you can think about your time horizon — when you’ll need the cash — which can help you determine what types of investments are suited to your goals.

For example, stock market investing can be appropriate for big goals in the distant future, such as saving for a child’s education or your own retirement, which could be 20 or 30 or more years down the line. This relatively long time horizon not only gives your investments a chance to grow, but it means that you also have the time to ride out market downturns that may occur along the way. That may translate to a more favorable return on investment, although there are no guarantees.

2. Determine Your Risk Tolerance

Your risk tolerance is essentially a measure of your ability to stomach volatile markets. It can help you determine the mix of investments that you may choose for your portfolio. But your risk tolerance also depends on (or interacts with) your goals and time horizon.

Longer time horizons may allow you to take on more risk in some cases, because you’re not focused on quick gains. Which in turn means you might be more inclined to hold a greater proportion of stocks inside your portfolio, for example.

How long should you hold stocks? Generally speaking, holding stocks longer could be beneficial from a tax perspective, and from a risk perspective. Theoretically, the longer you stay invested, the longer you have to recover should markets take a dive.

Setting your risk tolerance also means knowing yourself. If you’re somebody who won’t be able to sleep at night when the market takes a downward turn, even if your goal is still 20 years away, then you may not want a portfolio that’s aggressively allocated to stocks. While there are no safe investments per se, it’s possible to have a more conservative allocation.

On the other hand, if short-term market volatility doesn’t bother you, a more aggressive allocation may be an option to help you achieve your long-term goals.

3. Set an Appropriate Asset Allocation

Understanding your goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance can help give you an an idea of the mix of assets, such as stocks, bonds, and cash equivalents you may want to hold in your portfolio.

As a general rule of thumb, the longer your time horizon, the more stocks you may want to hold. That’s because stocks tend to be drivers of long-term growth — although they also come with higher levels of risk.

As you approach your goal, you may want to consider shifting some of your assets into fixed-income investments like bonds. The reason for this shift? As you get closer to the time when you’ll need your money, you’ll be more vulnerable to market downturns, and you may not want to risk losing any of your cash.

For example, if the market experiences a big drop, you may be left without enough money to meet your goal. By gradually shifting your money to bonds, cash, or cash equivalents like CDs or a money market account, you can help protect it from potential stock market swings. That way, by the time you need your cash, you may have a more stable source of income to draw upon.

4. Diversifying Your Investment Portfolio

A key factor of investing is portfolio diversification. The idea is that holding many different types of assets helps reduce risk inside your portfolio in the long and short term. Imagine briefly that your portfolio consists of stock from only one company.

If that stock drops, your whole portfolio drops. However, if your portfolio contains stocks from 100 different companies, if one company does poorly, the effect on the rest of your portfolio will be relatively small.

A diverse portfolio generally contains many different asset classes, such as stocks, bonds, and cash equivalents, as mentioned above. And within those asset classes a diverse portfolio holds many different types of assets across size, geographies, and sectors, for example.

Different types of stocks

The basic principle behind diversification is that assets in a diverse portfolio are not perfectly correlated. In other words, they react differently to different market conditions.

Domestic stocks for example, might react differently than European stocks should U.S. markets start to struggle. Or investing in energy stocks will be different from tech-stock investing. So, if oil prices drop, energy sector stocks might take a hit, while tech might be less affected.

Many investors may choose to add diversification to their portfolios by using mutual funds, index funds, and exchange-traded funds ETFs, which themselves hold diverse baskets of assets.

5. Starting Investing Early

Increasing your time horizon gives you the opportunity to invest for longer. Take stocks, for example. Though risky, stocks typically offer higher earning potential than other types of investments, such as bonds. Consider that the average stock market return annually is about 10% (or 7% when adjusted for inflation).

Second, the sooner you start investing, the sooner you are able to take advantage of compound growth, one of the most potentially powerful tools in your investing toolkit. The idea here is that as your money grows, and you reinvest your returns, you steadily keep increasing the amount of money on which you earn returns.

As a result, your returns may keep getting bigger and your investments could start to grow exponentially.

💡 Quick Tip: If you’re opening a brokerage account for the first time, consider starting with an amount of money you’re prepared to lose. Investing always includes the risk of loss, and until you’ve gained some experience, it’s probably wise to start small.

6. Leaving Emotions Out of It

Humans are emotional creatures and sometimes those emotions can get the better of us, leading us to make decisions that aren’t always in our best interest. Letting emotions dictate our investing behavior can result in costly mistakes, as behavioral finance studies have shown.

For example, if you’re investing during a recession and the stock market starts to drop, you may panic and be tempted to sell your stocks. However, doing so can actually lock in your losses and means that you miss a potential subsequent rally.

On the other end of the spectrum, when the stock market is roaring, you may be tempted to jump on the bandwagon and overbuy stocks. Yet, doing so opens you up to the risk that you are jumping on a bubble that may soon burst.

There are a number of strategies that can help these mistakes be avoided. First, fight the urge to constantly check how your investments are doing. There are natural cycles of ups and downs that can happen even on a daily basis. To help reduce potential anxiety, you might want to avoid constant checking in and instead keep your eye on the big picture of achieving your long-term goals.

Tinkering with your asset allocation based on emotions and spur-of-the-moment decisions can throw off your allocation and make it difficult to achieve your goals.

7. Reducing Fees and Taxes

Taxes and fees can take a hefty bite out of your potential earnings over time. Many investment fees are expressed as a small percentage (e.g. less than 1% of the money you have invested) that may seem negligible, but it’s not.

Also, many investment costs can be hard to track. Meanwhile, various expenses can add up over time, reducing any overall gains.

Expense ratios

To cover the cost of management, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds charge an expense ratio — a percentage of the total assets invested in the fund each year. An actively managed mutual fund might charge 0.75% or more. A passively managed ETF or index fund may charge an average of 0.12%. So you may want to choose mutual funds with the lowest expense ratios, or you may consider passive ETFs or index funds that charge very low fees.

The expense ratio is deducted directly from your returns. You may also encounter annual fees, custodian fees, and other expenses.

Advisory fees

You can also be charged fees for buying and selling assets as well as commissions that are paid to brokers and/or financial advisors for their services. It’s important to manage these costs as well. One of the best lines of defense is doing your research to understand what fees you will be charged and what your alternatives are.

8. Taking Advantage of Tax-Advantaged Accounts

There are a few long-term goals that the government generally encourages you to save for, including higher education and retirement. As a result, the government offers special tax-advantaged accounts to help you achieve these goals.

Saving for Education

A 529 savings plan can help you save for your child’s college or grad school tuition. Contributions can be made to these accounts with after-tax dollars. This money can be invested inside the account where it grows tax-free. You can then make tax-free withdrawals to cover your child’s qualified education expenses.

Saving for Retirement

Your employer may offer you a 401(k) retirement account through your job. These accounts allow you to contribute pre-tax dollars, which lower your taxable income and can grow tax-deferred inside the account. If your employer offers matching funds, you could try to contribute enough to receive the maximum match. When you withdraw money from your 401(k) at age 59 ½ or later, it is subject to income tax.

You may also take advantage of traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs. Traditional IRAs use pre-tax dollars and allow tax-deferred growth inside your account. You pay tax on withdrawals in retirement.

Roth IRAs are funded with after-tax dollars, so money in your account grows tax-free, and withdrawals are not subject to income tax.

There are other tax-advantaged accounts that can work favorably for long-term investors, including SEP IRAs for self-employed people, and health savings accounts (or HSAs), in addition to other options.

9. Making Saving Automatic

You can continually add to your investments by making saving a regular activity. One easy way to do this is through automation. If you have a workplace retirement account, you can usually automate contributions through your employer.

If you’re saving in a brokerage account you can set it up so that a fixed amount of money is transferred to your brokerage account each month and invested according to your predetermined allocation.

Automation can take the burden off of you to remember to invest. And with the money automatically flowing from your bank account to your investments accounts, you probably won’t be as tempted to spend it on other things.

10. Checking In on Your Investments

You may want to periodically check in on your portfolio to make sure your asset allocation is still on track. If it’s not, it may be time to rebalance your portfolio.

This could occur, for example, if the stock market does really well over a given period, upping the portion of your portfolio taken up by stocks.

If this is the case, you might consider selling some stocks and purchasing bonds to bring your portfolio back in line with your goals. Periodic check-ins can also provide opportunities to examine fees and other costs (like taxes) and their impact on your portfolio.

💡 Quick Tip: How to manage potential risk factors in a self-directed investment account? Doing your research and employing strategies like dollar-cost averaging and diversification may help mitigate financial risk when trading stocks.

What Is Long-Term Investing?

Long-term investing is a strategy of investing for years. A long-term investment is an asset that’s expected to generate income or appreciate in value over a longer time period, typically five years or more. Long-term investments often gain value slowly, weathering short- to medium-term fluctuations in the market, and (ideally) coming out ahead over time.

Short-term investments are those that can be converted to cash in a few weeks or months, but they’re generally held for less than five years. Some investors trade these assets in short periods, like days, weeks, or months, to profit from short-term price movements.

However, a short-term investing strategy can be highly risky and volatile, resulting in losses in a short period.

Long-term Investments and Taxes

It’s also worth noting that for tax purposes, the IRS considers long-term investments to be investments held for more than a year. This is another important consideration when developing a longer-term strategy.

Investments sold after more than a year are subject to the long-term capital gains rate, which is equal to 0%, 15%, or 20%, depending on an investor’s income and the type of investment. The long-term capital gains rate is typically much lower than their income tax rate, which can help incentivize investors to hang on to their investments over the long run.

Why Is Long-Term Investing Important?

Long-term investing can be beneficial for the three reasons noted above:

•  Holding investments long-term may allow certain securities to weather market fluctuations and, ideally, still see some gains over time. While there are no guarantees, and being a long-term investor doesn’t mean you’re immune to all risks, this strategy may help your portfolio recover from periods of volatility and continue to gain value.

•  In the case of bigger financial goals, such as saving for retirement or for college tuition, embracing a long-term investment plan may help your savings to grow and better enable you to reach those larger goals.

•  Last, there may be tax benefits to holding onto your investments for a longer period of time.

Investing With SoFi

The most important tips for long-term investing involve setting financial goals, understanding your time horizon and risk tolerance,diversifying your holdings, minimizing taxes and fees, starting early so your portfolio can benefit from compounding, and understanding how tax-advantaged accounts can be part of a long-term plan.

These strategies can help you build an investment plan to match your financial situation.

Ready to invest in your goals? It’s easy to get started when you open an investment account with SoFi Invest. You can invest in stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, alternative funds, and more. SoFi doesn’t charge commissions, but other fees apply (full fee disclosure here).

FAQ

What is a realistic long-term investment return?

A realistic long-term investment return will ultimately depend on the investments you choose, how long you hold them, as well as the fees and taxes you pay. To give some perspective, the average historical return of the U.S. stock market is about 10% (or 7% with inflation taken into account), but that’s an average over about a century. Different years had higher or lower returns.

Where is the safest place to invest long-term?

All investments come with some degree of risk. One lower-risk way to invest for the long-term might be with fixed-income securities like bonds, which pay a set return over a period of time. Money market accounts and certificates of deposit (CDs) generally also have fixed rates. But remember, there is always some risk involved. Also, generally, the lower the risk, the lower the return.

What is the biggest threat to long-term investments?

Long-term investments, like all investments, are vulnerable to market changes. Even when investing for the long haul, it’s possible to lose money. Another threat is the risk of inflation. As inflation rises, your money doesn’t go as far. So even if you save and invest for decades, if inflation is also rising at the same time, your money may have less purchasing power than you expected.

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