Most workers who aren’t saving for retirement through their employers aren’t saving at all, the study found
New data suggests the average American worker has under $1,000 saved for retirement.
A report from the National Institute on Retirement Security found that the median savings for all employed adults between the ages of 21 and 64 were approximately $955. The study includes workers with 401(k) and other retirement savings plans, as well as the approximately 56 million workers who do not have access to employer-sponsored retirement plans.
Workers with retirement savings plans have a median balance of approximately $40,000 saved, according to the report. That figure is nowhere near the $1.5 million that Americans say they need to feel comfortable fully retiring.
They’ve done that in the research, it’s just a clickbait headline with very, very light details. After following a few clicks I found the PDF [1] in which they break it apart by many groups and factors (age, race, savings plan, income, student loan debt, all sorts of stuff) and that $955 figure falls under the “workers who do not have $1 in a DC” (meaning workers with no access to a savings plan). For those with access, the number is $40,000 average.
[1] https://www.nirsonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/NIRS_2026-Retirement-in-America-FINAL.pdf
Which is both in the article and OP summary.
$40,000 still approaches zero. Its one or 2 years of expenses at best.
Why, you’re welcome for the link to the PDF! I’m glad you enjoyed reading it and appreciate your insightful and loquacious feedback on the matter at hand. You are a true gem of the lemmyverse, evenglow.
Evenglow, thoughts arrive like butterflies Oh, he don’t know, so he chases them away
Median and average are not the same. Median is going to be skewed very low compared to average in this case.