Nothing Saved for Retirement?

Photo by Chloe Camille.

In this article, we examine a recent survey on retirement savings and consider ways to re-allocate money for savings, using a budget.

45.5% of adults may have nothing saved for retirement.

According to a Federal Reserve survey of consumer finances from 2022, almost half of survey respondents have nothing saved for retirement. With the average retirement age of 62 and average life expectancy of 77, that’s a long time to live without any retirement savings.

Won't social security will help people in retirement? 

According to the Social Security Administration, in January 2025 the average retired worker received a monthly social security payment of $1,976.

Social security likely won’t be sufficient as the sole income source in retirement. Social security says its monthly payments are expected to cover about a third of the money you’ll need in retirement.

If you ask, the biggest reason most people don’t save because they think they don’t make enough money to save.

I still recall a moment at my grandma’s home, many years ago. She died at age 90, back in 1998, so she was a depression era baby. She told me to get her some aluminum foil. I opened the cabinet where the roll of foil was kept, and she said, no no, honey, get some from the drawer in the corner. When I opened the corner drawer, it was filled with smoothed out, used sheets of aluminum foil, cleaned and ready to be re-used. Next to the stack of foil pieces was a pile of neatly re-folded and cleaned plastic baggies, also ready for re-use.

My point with this story is that from my grandma, I learned that some things can be re-used that I never would have thought to re-use. She grew up in an era of not wasting anything. And she died with cash in the bank, partly due to the careful saving she did throughout her life.

Perhaps it’s time to question the idea that you don’t have enough money to start saving.

So how can you “find” money to start saving? 

Start with looking at the amount of money your household earns in income, compared to the amount of money your household spends.  In other words, create a budget.

Here’s an article I wrote on some tips for creating a family budget. Ultimately, once you find out where you money is going, you can figure out where there is opportunity for saving. 

• Maybe there is an old subscription service or gym membership billed monthly on your credit card that you no longer use.

• Many people find they can set up a monthly or weekly transfer of funds from a checking to a savings account, creating an automatic savings tool monthly. Start with a small amount that you don’t notice, and slowly increase it over time.

• Maybe eliminating one take-out meal per week is reasonable with a little more advance meal planning.

• Whether it’s $10 or $100 per month that you can save, automating the savings can result in less decisions you need to make each month.

Note that you should consult with your financial professional on what is best suited to your personal situation, as information included here is not intended as personal advice.