Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnADVERTISEMENTDavid BerenSat, June 27, 2026 at 6:48 PM GMT+2 5 min readQuick ReadCharles Schwab (SCHW) pegs the 2025 retirement magic number at $1.6 million, but the median 55 to 64-year-old holds only $205,341, which is roughly one-eighth of that target.The personal savings rate has dropped from 6.2% to 3.7% even as disposable income rose, because Americans are spending faster than their earnings grow.Workers who contributed continuously for 15 years averaged $613,200, proving that staying invested through market cycles outweighs any single contribution decision.Are you ahead, or behind on retirement? SmartAsset's free tool can match you with a financial advisor in minutes to help you answer that today. Each advisor has been carefully vetted, and must act in your best interests. Don't waste another minute; learn more here.Charles Schwab's (NYSE:SCHW) most recent 401(k) Participant Survey put the retirement 'magic number' at $1.6 million in 2025, down from $1.8 million in 2024. For years, Americans have given pollsters some version of that same answer. The number is meant to represent a comfortable retirement: enough to cover housing, healthcare, travel, and the gap left by Social Security. The real problem is the distance between that target and what the typical saver has actually accumulated. That gap is the whole story.PeopleImages / Shutterstock.comWhat the Average Account Actually HoldsFidelity's Q4 2025 retirement analysis, which tracks more than 53 million IRA, 401(k), and 403(b) accounts, pegged the average 401(k) balance at $146,400 and the average IRA at $137,095. Those numbers point to another strong year for balances, but the averages only tell part of the story.The averages are misleading on their own. A mean balance gets pulled upward by a small group of high earners with decades of compounding. The median, the balance at which half of savers have more and half have less, is the more accurate read of a typical American's position. Vanguard's How America Saves 2025 report tracks both, and the gap between the two is wide at every age.Median 401(k) Balances by AgeLooking at Vanguard's 2024 participant data, the median balances tell a different story than the headline averages:Are you ahead, or behind on retirement?