More Americans Think They’ll Need At Least $1 Million In Retirement—Is That Realistic?

A growing percentage of Americans believe they’ll need at least $1 million to retire comfortably, according to a new survey from Betterment, a robo-advisor and fintech company.

In 2025, nearly half (48%) of workers reported that they’d need at least $1 million to retire, up from 37% the year prior. Yet for many Americans, achieving that milestone may be challenging.

Only about half (54.3%) of households actually had retirement account assets, while just 4.6% of households had assets worth more than $1 million as of 2022, according to a Congressional Research Service analysis of the latest Survey of Consumer Finances.

If reaching that $1 million mark feels like an impossible goal, it doesn’t have to be—although it may require some discipline and patience. Here are a few tips to help you start building up your retirement savings now:

• Earn your employer’s 401(k) match: Contribute enough to your workplace retirement plan to receive your employer’s 401(k) match, as this is essentially free money.
• Start saving for retirement ASAP: Saving for retirement while you’re young can make a big difference because of compound interest, which is interest earned on top of interest and the money you’ve already saved. If you started saving $500 a month at age 25 and earned an 8% annual return, you would have more than $1.5 million at age 65. In contrast, if you waited until age 40 to start saving, assuming the same contribution amount and annual return, you would have just $438,000 at age 65.
• Prioritize paying off high-interest debt: Paying interest on high-interest debt, like credit card debt, can erode the returns you’re earning on your investment portfolio. Focus on paying down high-interest debt over debt with lower interest rates, like student loans or a mortgage.
• Heed investment fees: Whether you’re investing your money through a robo-advisor or manually choosing mutual funds and ETFs to invest in, pay close attention to any advisory fees, expense ratios, sales charges, or more. While these fees may seem minuscule at first glance, they can substantially reduce your returns, especially as you accumulate more money over the years.