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85% of Gen X and Boomers Regret This Retirement Savings Mistake
By Adam Hardy MONEY RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
New survey shows most older Americans regret delaying retirement savings — as younger workers get a head start.
As popular New Year’s resolutions spur Americans to take stock of their finances, you may be feeling regret when it comes to your retirement savings.
Don’t worry; you’re far from alone. An analysis released Tuesday by insurance firm Nationwide highlights that Gen Xers and baby boomers, in particular, wish they had started saving for retirement at an earlier age.
Some 85% of respondents 45 or older wish they had contributed to a retirement plan sooner, according to a Nationwide survey in August.
It’s one advantage younger folks today have over their older counterparts. The typical age at which Gen Xers and boomers began saving for retirement was 35, Nationwide says, whereas Gen Zers and millennials started saving younger — usually between ages 24 to 30.
“A new year is a natural point to reset your financial habits,” Cathy Marasco, head of protected retirement at Nationwide, said in a news release Tuesday. “Workplace retirement plans are evolving to include many of the tools and protections needed to build long-term security.”
Many of these perks have been ushered in by SECURE 2.0, a sweeping law that made several changes to 401(k)s, individual retirement accounts and similar retirement savings plans. Thanks to that legislation, automatic 401(k) enrollment is becoming the norm — and is part of the reason why younger Americans are starting to save so early these days.
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Retirement savings by generation
While younger Americans have time — and compounding returns — on their side, retirement account balances for boomers still dwarf the balances of other age groups.
The figures above reflect average account balances as of September 2025, according to an analysis of 52 million retirement accounts at Fidelity Investments. They’re not a savings goal per se — but rather a gut check to see how you stack up with your peers.
Overall, retirement advisors largely recommend saving about 15% of your paycheck each month for retirement (including company contribution matching). Experts advise that by your 30s, you should aim to have the equivalent of one year of your annual salary saved.
As you get older, it snowballs:
- In your 40s, save three times your annual salary.
- In your 50s, save six times your salary.
- In your 60s, save eight times your salary, all the way up to 10 times as you approach retirement age.
“Building the habit early — even with modest contributions — sets the foundation for decades,” Eric Ludwig, director of the Center for Retirement Income at The American College, remarked in the Nationwide news release.
“The lesson is simple,” he said. “Don’t wait for the perfect moment or the perfect amount to start saving.”
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Adam Hardy is Money's lead data journalist. He writes news and feature stories aimed at helping everyday people manage their finances. He joined Money full-time in 2021 but has covered personal finance and economic topics since 2018. Previously, he worked for Forbes Advisor, The Penny Hoarder and Creative Loafing. In addition to those outlets, Adam’s work has been featured in a variety of local, national and international publications, including the Asia Times, Business Insider, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Yahoo! Finance, Nasdaq and several others. Adam graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida, where he studied magazine journalism and sociology. As a first-generation college graduate from a low-income, single-parent household, Adam understands firsthand the financial barriers that plague low-income Americans. His reporting aims to illuminate these issues. Since joining Money, Adam has already written over 300 articles, including a cover story on financial surveillance, a profile of Director Rohit Chopra of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and an investigation into flexible spending accounts, which found that workers forfeit billions of dollars annually through the workplace plans. He has also led data analysis on some of Money’s marquee rankings, including Best Places to Live, Best Places to Travel and Best Hospitals. He regularly contributes data reporting for Best Colleges, Best Banks and other lists as well. Adam also holds a multimedia storytelling certificate from Poynter’s News University and a data journalism certificate from the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) at the University of Missouri. In 2017, he received an English teaching certification from the University of Cambridge, which he utilized during his time in Seoul, South Korea. There, he taught students of all ages, from 5 to 65, and worked with North Korean refugees who were resettling in the area. Now, Adam lives in Saint Petersburg, Florida, with his pup Bambi. He is a card-carrying shuffleboard club member.