A $10,000 Investment in This S&P 500 ETF 20 Years Ago Is Worth More Than Most Americans Have in Retirement Savings

2026-03-03 07:41:00 ET

The average American has a little over $148,000 in retirement savings, according to the latest edition of Vanguard's How America Saves report. But this figure is a bit skewed by higher-balance accounts. In fact, only three in 10 defined contribution plan accounts held at Vanguard have a balance of more than $100,000.

On the other hand, the median balance of a Vanguard retirement account, which means that half of accounts have more and half have less, is $38,176. Of course, this includes some accounts where the balance should be low, such as 401(k) accounts owned by employees who recently started working, or old accounts from former employees who only stayed at their job for a few years. But this is still an alarmingly low figure.

You might be surprised how effectively you can build retirement savings without saving money aggressively or taking outsized risks with individual stocks.

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