How to Tell If Your Retirement Savings Are on Track -- a Simple Spring 2026 Checkup

Spring is a popular time to clean and get your home in order. If you're looking for a reason not to clear out the garage or basement, why not do a little healthy procrastination by prioritizing a financial checkup instead? Here are a few ways to know if your retirement savings are on track or not.

1. Benchmark your savings against your age

There's no absolute rule of thumb stating you must have a certain amount of money in your IRA or 401(k) at different ages. But there's general guidance out there that's helpful.

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Fidelity, for example, recommends having 3x your salary by 40, 6x by 50, and 8x by 60. You don't have to panic if you haven't met these milestones, but they can give you a basic idea as to whether your savings are in a good place so far.

For example, say you're 49 earning $100,000 a year. If you have a $575,000 balance in your 401(k) plan, you're in pretty good shape as your 50th birthday approaches according to Fidelity's recommendation. If you only have a $525,000 balance, it's a sign that you should consider increasing your retirement plan contributions.

2. Make sure your investments are age-appropriate and diversified

Saving for retirement isn't just about contributing to an IRA or 401(k). It's also a matter of making strategic investment decisions.

The way your retirement account is invested should hinge on how many more working years you expect to have left. If you're 59 and plan to retire at 62, it's generally time to start shifting your portfolio into more conservative assets, like bonds. If you're 45 and think you'll retire at 65, now's not the time to get conservative.

Diversification is just as important as asset allocation, though. If you're in your early 30s and decide to keep 90% of your retirement savings in stocks, that's not necessarily a reckless move. But in that case, don't keep all of your stocks in the same segment of the market.

If you have a lot of tech stocks, for example, you risk serious losses in your portfolio if that industry experiences a shake-up. A better bet is to branch out across multiple market sectors. Or, to make things even easier, invest in some S&P 500 or total stock market ETFs (exchange-traded funds).

3. Run projections to see if you're saving at the right pace

It's hard to land on an optimal retirement savings target. But if you can do your best to estimate your annual spending needs in retirement, it could help you figure out if you're on track.

Imagine you expect to need a $100,000 annual retirement income to live comfortably, and you're confident Social Security will provide $36,000 a year in benefits. That means you need $64,000 a year from your savings. If you plan to use a 4% withdrawal rate for managing your nest egg, you'll need $1.6 million to support $64,000 annual distributions.

Now, let's say you're 54 and want to retire at 63. You have nine more years to grow your money.

If you have $850,000 saved now, but you expect to contribute another $500 a month toward savings between now and retirement, your nest egg could hit $1.6 million if your portfolio gives you an annual 7% return, which is a bit below the stock market's average.

However, if your plan is to only contribute $200 a month toward retirement over the next nine years, you might fall slightly short of your $1.6 million goal. Running projections like these can help you figure out whether you need to adjust your IRA or 401(k) contributions.

A spring retirement savings checkup is a great idea -- even if it doesn't let you off the hook from actual cleaning. Tackle these tasks specifically so you can feel better about the progress you're making or implement changes as necessary to meet your goals.

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