The Age When People Only Wish They Started Saving for Retirement

Saving for retirement is always challenging, but the task grows more difficult the longer you wait.

Most of us have learned that lesson the hard way and now regret our procrastination. Recently, Fidelity Investments surveyed more than 2,000 adults and asked them to cite the age they began saving for retirement — and the age they wish they had started.

Answers varied by generation, but participants invariably wished they had started saving sooner.

Surveyed participants were from four generations:

• Baby boomers (defined as ages 59-77)
• Generation X (ages 43-58)
• Millennials (ages 27-42)
• Generation Z (ages 18-26)

Here are the ages today’s adults started saving, and the birthday they would choose if they could do things over, generation by generation.

Generation Z

When participants in this generation:

• Started saving for retirement: Age 20, on average
• Wish they started saving for retirement: Age 18, on average

Given that Gen Z is just getting started saving for retirement, you would expect them to have fewer regrets about retirement planning than older folks.

Yet, even these young adults wish they had started a couple of years earlier. And that’s a lot less silly than it might sound: When it comes to the power of compounding, every year counts.

Millennials

When participants in this generation:

• Started saving for retirement: Age 27, on average
• Wish they started saving for retirement: Age 22, on average

Many millennials are just now reaching the age when folks typically start to see the glimmer of retirement on the horizon.

A person’s late 30s and early 40s are the time when regrets about not saving enough earlier in life typically begin to sting.

Generation X

When participants in this generation:

• Started saving for retirement: Age 36, on average
• Wish they started saving for retirement: Age 26, on average

A lot has been written lately about how members of Generation X are surprisingly ill-prepared for retirement. The poor saving habits of this generation have resulted in a lot of regret. In fact, on average, members of Gen X wish they had started saving for their golden years a full decade before they actually began.

Baby boomers

When participants in this generation:

• Started saving for retirement: Age 44, on average
• Wish they started saving for retirement: Age 33, on average

A large percentage of baby boomers are actually in retirement now. That means they have boots-on-the-ground insights about retirement money issues that other generations simply do not.

Boomers wish they had started saving 11 years earlier than they did, on average, roughly matching the answer given by members of Generation X. Younger adults — such as millennials and members of Generation Z — might want to learn from the mistakes of their elders.

Are you ready to begin building wealth? Money Talks News founder Stacy Johnson offers some tips in the podcast “How to Start Investing — No Matter How Much Money You Have.”