A financial expert's decade-by-decade guide to saving enough to retire comfortably in your 60s

Experts agree: You have to save many times your salary to retire in your 60s.

A financial educator broke down the ideal amount of money you should have saved at each decade of your life to make that a reality.

Consumer credit agency Equifax recommends that you have eight times your salary in a 401(k) or IRA and regular savings and checking accounts by age 60 to retire.

Financial services firm Fidelity Investments recommends saving 10 times your salary by age 67 if you hope to retire and maintain the same lifestyle. To achieve this, you should have saved 15% of your income each year since you were 25, including any employer contributions, and invested over 50% of your savings in stocks.

Simran Kaur, the host of the "Friends That Invest" podcast and a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree in 2023, used this model in a recent episode to work out the benchmark for each stage of your career.

20s

In your 20s, you should have at least one month, and up to six months of living costs saved, Kaur said.

"The focus is to get good money habits in your little toolkit right now, even when you don't have a lot of money," she said.

Kaur recommended two ways to reach this figure: starting to invest and putting as much money in a retirement account as your employer puts in to your 401(k).

30s

Those between the ages of 35 and 44 held $141,520 for retirement, per the Fed survey. To retire by 67, you should have the equivalent of your annual salary in a retirement account, investments, or savings in your 30s, Kaur said.

She advised prioritizing clearing "bad" debt, unrelated to assets, like credit card payments and loans. Kaur also said that you shouldn't dramatically increase spending on non-essentials, like clothing, even if your income is higher.

40s

In your 40s, you should aim for your savings to be three times your salary, Kaur said.

Don't give in to temptation to use your savings to splash out on things you don't need, she added, saying you should keep finding ways to increase your income and invest more.

50s

Kaur recommended having six times your salary saved by the time you're in your 50s.

She acknowledged that "life happens" and that things can drain your savings, but said, even if you only have half of what you'd like in an account, it's still a good place to start.

60s

To retire before you're 70, you would ideally have eight times your salary saved, she said.

"It sounds like a lot," Kaur said, "but remember, over the decades, we've slowly been building this up."

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