Everyone is running their own race, but it’s good to know how many Americans have saved at least $100,000 for retirement. That way, you can give yourself the motivation to join that group if you do not yet have $100,000 in your nest egg. Seeing this figure can also motivate you to keep it up if you already have more than $100,000 in your portfolio.

The Employee Benefit Research Institute compiled data from Americans’ retirement accounts to determine how many people reached the $100,000 milestone in their retirement accounts. This research also expands into additional categories, such as the percentage of Americans who have more than $1 million saved up.

How Many Americans Have at Least $100K Saved Up?

Data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute indicates that 22.1% of Americans have at least $100,000 saved up.Most people in this group have retirement savings that range from $100,000 – $499,000. Out of everyone in the study, 13.9% of Americans have savings in that range. 

The further you climb, the fewer people you will find. Only 4% of Americans have retirement savings that range from $500,000 to $999,999. The figure drops to 3.1% for Americans who have savings that are between $1 million and $4.99 million. Americans with more than $5 million saved up only make up 0.1% of the population.

Most Americans don’t have as much saved up. Almost 80% of Americans have saved up less than $100,000, and 58.4% of Americans have less than $10,000 in retirement savings. 

How to Reach $100,000 in Retirement Savings

A $100,000 retirement portfolio is a significant milestone, and with a few tweaks, you can get there within a few years. While portfolio returns can help, your contributions will do most of the work on the path to your first $100,000.

Anyone who hasn’t reached $100,000 yet should focus on boosting their income and tracking their expenses. People can increase their earnings by requesting raises, job hopping, and picking up side hustles.

While waiting for income to go up, you can also review previous credit card statements to see how you spend your money. If you have never tracked your expenses, you will likely find a few opportunities to save money. However, it gets incrementally harder to reduce your expenses the deeper you go into the process.

If you start with no retirement savings and invest $800/mo while generating an 8% return, you can end up with a $100,000 portfolio after eight years. Investing $500/mo with an annualized 8% return gets you to a 6-figure portfolio shortly after 11 years.

It Gets Easier After the First $100,000

The first $100,000 is one of the hardest milestones to reach, but it gets much easier to reach other financial milestones. Remember how it takes 11 years to reach $100,000 if you invest $500/mo and earn an annualized 8% return? With those same numbers, it takes a little less than six years to go from $100,000 to $200,000. That’s because your initial $100,000 investment is also growing at 8% each year.

Using these same numbers, getting from $200,000 to $300,000 only takes a little more than four years. Each time you add an additional $100,000 to your net worth, the next $100,000 becomes much easier. If you raise your annual contribution, you’ll be on your way to joining the 4% of Americans who have retirement savings that range from $500,000 to $999,999. 

Once you’re in that range, your portfolio will do most of the work toward the $1 million milestone. If you stop making contributions to a $500,000 portfolio and achieve an annualized 8% return, it becomes a $1 million portfolio in a little more than nine years. Keeping up the $500/mo contribution gets you to $1 million in a little more than eight years.

It’s not easy to reach $100,000, but every other milestone is much easier after that. You don’t have to work hard forever, but some people may have to initially work harder than they would like to reach the 6-figure milestone.

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