Here's how much the average US family has saved for retirement
Nearly half of American families have no retirement account savings at all.
That's what the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found in a new report, "The State of American Retirement," which dives into retirement preparedness of American workers.
The EPI broke down the percentage of families with retirement savings by age. Those aged between 56 and 61 are more likely to have an account (61%), while those between 32 and 37 are least likely to have an account (51%). Scroll over the chart to see how the percentages have changed for different age groups over time:
The average retirement savings of all American families is $95,776, but there is more to that number than meets the eye. Since so many families have zero savings, the median (50th percentile) family has just $5,000 saved.
The median for families with savings accounts is $60,000:
Here's the average amount families have saved broken down by age, ranging from about $32,000 to about $164,000:
A chart illustrating the median savings of all families, again segmented by age, is very different.
Whereas the average savings of a family with members in the 32-37 age range is $31,644, the median savings is a bleak $480. At the other end of the age range, the average savings of families age 56-61 — those nearest to retirement — is $163,557. The median is $17,000.
Not surprisingly, high-income families are much more likely to have savings. "Participation in retirement savings plans is highly unequal across income groups," the EPI reports. "In 2013, nearly nine in 10 families in the top income fifth had retirement account savings, compared with fewer than one in 10 families in the bottom income fifth ... While it is normal for higher-income families to have more savings, the fact that most families in the bottom half of the income distribution have no retirement account savings at all is a serious policy failure."
The amount you should have in your retirement fund is highly personal, but to get a general idea of how big your nest egg should be by now, check out this handy retirement savings checkpoint guide from JPMorgan.
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