{
  "id": 6703194,
  "title": "Are You Ahead or Behind the Average 401(k) Balance for 40-Year-Olds?",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/09/are-you-ahead-or-behind-the-average-401-k-balance-for-40-year-olds-6703194",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-09T16:20:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Finance",
    "slug": "yahoo-finance",
    "url": "https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/articles/ahead-behind-average-401-k-162000337.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "When planning for a secure retirement, it's crucial to save adequately, as Social Security only replaces around 40% of pre-retirement income, which may not be enough for a comfortable senior life. To determine if you're investing enough, estimate your future spending needs and income from other sources. A useful method is to compare your savings to the average 401(k) balance for 40-year-olds. According to Empower, the average is $425,052, while the median is $160,710, highlighting a significant disparity between the two figures. This gap occurs because some individuals save substantially more than others, raising the average. While having a $160,710 median balance isn't ideal, it's better than not having any savings. Ideally, by age 40, you should have around three times your annual salary invested in retirement plans. If your 401(k) balance is close to the median, you might be behind if your income exceeds $53,570. Remember that your investment balance could be higher or lower than these figures, or you may have additional funds in accounts like traditional or Roth IRAs. Knowing your actual balance and progress toward your retirement goals is essential. If you're still unsure about your desired retirement investment amount, it's time to determine it, as retirement will arrive sooner than expected at age 40. Whether your investments are above or below the median, consider investing more if you believe you won't have sufficient funds to supplement your Social Security benefits. Two effective strategies to boost your retirement savings are automating your investments and banking your raises until you achieve your savings goal. Automating contributions ensures regular deposits, while banking raises means allocating your entire raise to savings before spending it. These practices can help you outpace the average and achieve the retirement security you deserve.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Motley Fool",
        "title": "Are You Ahead or Behind the Average 401(k) Balance for 40-Year-Olds?",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/09/are-you-ahead-or-behind-the-average-401-k-balance-for-40-year-olds",
        "published": "2026-09-09T16:00:00.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Nasdaq Markets",
        "title": "Are You Ahead or Behind the Average 401(k) Balance for 40-Year-Olds?",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/09/are-you-ahead-or-behind-the-average-401-k-balance-for-40-year-olds-6442517",
        "published": "2026-09-09T16:20:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}