Almost no one in America retires with $1,000,000 saved — here's why it’s still a massive rare win (and how to get there ASAP)

Despite all the headlines and braggarts you see on social media, this is still a rare and exclusive club.

So, if you’re falling short of this target but still determined to break into this golden tier, here are three simple steps you can take to improve your odds of success.

Step 1: Measure your progress

You can’t get to any destination if you don’t know where you are starting from. That’s why the first step to a million-dollar retirement is to find data on retirement savings and compare your progress to your peers.

According to Empower, the typical American has roughly $532,291 in retirement accounts as of early 2026 (3), meaning that the average person is already halfway to a million. However, in order to get a true sense of your financial progress, it’s a good idea to dig deeper into the numbers to find the median — not the average, or mean — retirement savings for someone in your age group.

If you were to look at a set of numbers — such as the retirement savings of the American population — and then sort them into smallest to biggest, the median would be the number in the very middle of that dataset, separating one half from the other. Unlike the mean (or average), the median is less skewed by outliers — billionaires, for instance — so that it arguably gives a clearer picture of a “typical” value in certain sets of numbers.

Looking at retirement savings, the median balance for someone in their 20s is just $42,502, according to the same research from Empower. Older Americans who have potentially had longer careers and more time to save generally have higher balances. So, the median balance for someone in their 50s and 60s is $438,886 and $536,748, respectively.

With data like this in mind, you can accurately track your progress and compare it to your peers as you craft a long-term plan for retirement.

Step 2: Boost savings

If your retirement target is significantly above average (or the median), your savings rate probably needs to be far above average as well.

And it doesn’t take much to beat the average saver. As of March 2026, the typical personal savings rate is just 3.6%, according to Federal Reserve data (4). That means saving just 5% of your income could put you above average. Hit 10% or more and you’re in an elite club of super savers.

But that also means changing your spending habits. By simply resisting indulgences, you could put that extra cash into your savings, setting you on a clearer path to financial freedom. But it’s easier said than done. According to a survey conducted by Clever Real Estate, 74% of those surveyed reported having a spending problem, with 55% admitting that they often spend recklessly.

If you find it difficult to stop overindulging, you can start by building savings habits into everyday spending. With Acorns, you can automatically invest spare change from your everyday purchases into a diversified portfolio of ETFs managed by experts at leading investment firms like Vanguard and BlackRock.

For instance, if you buy a donut for $3.25, Acorns will round up the purchase to $4 and invest the change in a smart investment portfolio. So a $3.25 purchase automatically becomes a 75-cent investment in your future.

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Step 3: Invest for growth

Savings, contributions and the power of compound interest can all help you build wealth. But only if you have enough time. These factors work best over the course of decades.

Unfortunately, many Americans are approaching retirement with a less-than-ideal nest egg. As of 2024, roughly 20% of adults over the age of 50 years had no retirement savings, and 61% were worried their savings were insufficient for retirement, according to the AARP (5).

For those in their 50s and 60s, there’s little time to accumulate wealth. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

One way to mitigate this issue is to delay retirement. Not only does that give you more room to earn income and save money, but it also potentially boosts the size of your Social Security benefit check (6).

Another way to reach $1 million faster is to look for aggressive investment opportunities. For instance, the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, which tracks the performance of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, has delivered a compounded annual return of over 20% since its inception (7).

To be clear, cryptoassets are notoriously volatile and risky — and an ETF like the iShares Bitcoin Trust has only been around since 2024. However, a few good bets in this emerging asset class could help you rapidly close the gap between your nest egg and your $1 million target.