Nearly 30% of millennials and 25% of Gen Zers think they’ll need $1 million or more to retire comfortably according to the recent CNBC Make It: Your Money survey, conducted in partnership with Momentive.
Retirement can last 25 years or more after you stop working, according to Fidelity Investments. But in some states with high costs of living, like Hawaii, $1 million in retirement savings would only last about 10 years.
However, in less expensive states, $1 million would be enough to cover your living expenses for the majority of your retirement years.
If you plan on retiring in the United States, you can expect your retirement savings to stretch the furthest in Mississippi, according to GoBankingRates’ latest analysis.
In the Magnolia State, $1 million in retirement savings would last about 25 years and three months, assuming that your total spending on living expenses including groceries, housing, transportation and health care total about $40,000 per year in retirement, according to GoBankingRates.
Here are the top 10 states where $1 million in retirement savings would last the longest.
To determine how long $1 million would last in every U.S. state, GoBankingRates first assumed a retirement age of 65 or older. It then analyzed each state’s cost of living, including expenses for housing, groceries, health care, transportation and utilities.
All data comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2020 Consumer Expenditure Survey and the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center.
How to meet your retirement goals
A “comfortable retirement” looks different for everyone and will depend on your desired retirement lifestyle. But it can be difficult to put away money for retirement when you haven’t set a clear savings goal.
CNBC Make It’s retirement planning tool can give you an idea of how much money you’ll need to retire comfortably, based on your age and income.
Once you have an idea of how much you’d like to save for retirement, you’ll then be able to determine how much of your annual income to put toward retirement savings.
Investors should aim to save between 12 to 15% of their salary, including employer contributions, says Julie Virta, a senior financial advisor with Vanguard Personal Advisor Services.
And don’t get spooked by market volatility while saving for retirement — a consistent saving strategy will pay off in the long run.
“For those just getting started, they may have 40-plus years to save for retirement,” Virta tells CNBC Make It. “Maintaining a 12 to 15% savings rate, through times of market calm or volatility, over the course of four-plus decades is one of the best ways you can prepare for retirement.”
But it’s okay if you can’t put that much of your income toward your retirement savings — most workers under 35 years old put away around 10.5%, according to Vanguard’s recent survey.
Investors who are …….
