The average 401k balance, according to this article, for those in their 30’s is around $42,700. Have you saved this much? Well, if you are in your mid thirties, you really should have at least two times your salary saved for retirement. And, when using that metric, the average 401k balance should probably be around $85,000 by the time you reach 35 years of age. With that thought in mind, you may wish to clink on the link above as this article also highlights the following general checkpoints for retirement saving amounts at various points in your life:

• By age 30: Have the equivalent of your starting salary saved

• By age 35: Have two times your salary saved

• By age 40: Have three times your salary saved

• By age 45: Have four times your salary saved

• By age 50: Have six times your salary saved

• By age 55: Have seven times your salary saved

• By age 60: Have eight times your salary saved

• By age 67: Have 10 times your salary saved

I am a bit of a “belt and suspenders” kind of guy, so I would recommend shooting for 15x’s your salary saved by age 67. For example, if your salary is $100K per year, then $1.5 million allows for approximately $60K a year (4% time $1.5 million) from your retirement accounts when doing a rough back of the envelope calculation. This combined with your social security should replace approximately 80% of your pre-retirement income.