What to Do If You’re Approaching Retirement With $150,000

• A $150,000 retirement savings balance isn’t huge for someone who’s 55.

• Before you panic, see how much you can reasonably save during the tail end of your career.

• Talk to a financial advisor about ways to salvage your situation and minimize your stress.

• A recent study identified one single habit that doubled Americans’ retirement savings and moved retirement from dream, to reality. Read more here.

The more you’re able to save for retirement, the more comfortable your senior years might be. Fidelity reports that as of the third quarter of 2025, the average IRA balance was $137,902, while the average 401(k) balance was $144,400.

If you have $150,000 saved for retirement, it means that your balance is slightly ahead of the average. And if you’re in your 30s or 40s, you may be in pretty good shape.

But if you’re 55 or older with $150,000 saved for retirement, you may be starting to panic. At this point, you may only have a decade or less in the workforce ahead of you. And you may be hoping to retire with a lot more than $150,000.

But try not to stress too much. Although your situation may not be optimal, it isn’t hopeless. Here’s what to do.

If you’re trying to catch up on retirement savings, working longer could be a huge help. Take the time to assess your company and industry to see if working a bit longer than planned is feasible. If you’re able to work until age 67 or 68 instead of 62 or 63, that gives you a big opportunity to do some extra saving.

Plus, waiting to retire could make it possible to put off your Social Security claim a few more years. That could result in larger monthly benefits, which could help make up for a smaller savings balance.

No matter how many more years you expect to be able to plug away, it’s important to use that time to boost your savings. If you’re 55 or older, it means you’re eligible for catch-up contributions in an IRA or 401(k) plan. It also means you can make catch-up contributions in an HSA if you’re saving in one of those accounts.

Now if you’re 55 or older with $150,000 saved, chances are, maxing out a 401(k) won’t be in the cards — at least not right away. But if you can’t max out your retirement account, at least try to boost your savings rate.

That may require you to cut some expenses to free up the money. But the sooner you get that money into your retirement account, the sooner you can invest it so it starts to grow.

It’s more than possible to go from having $150,000 in retirement savings at age 55 to having $450,000 at 65. But that’ll depend on how much extra money you’re able to put into a retirement account during that decade and how well your investments perform.

If you’re unable to boost your savings rate and you want to invest somewhat conservatively given that retirement isn’t too far off, you may be looking at growing your nest egg to $200,000 or so by the time your career wraps up. That’s not a negligible sum of money, but it’s not a ton.

That’s why it’s important to be realistic about your ability to boost your savings in the coming years — and make adjustments if you don’t think you’ll make much headway. That could mean relocating in retirement to a less expensive part of the country, or planning to work part-time to supplement your savings withdrawals and Social Security checks.

If you make a plan now, you may have an easier time adjusting to it once the time comes.

You may be worried about not having enough money to retire. And you may be overwhelmed by the idea of trying to boost your savings so late in life.

A financial advisor can help you work through these issues. They can help you come up with strategies to grow your nest egg during the tail end of your career and make the most of that money once your career comes to an end. So it pays to sit down with a professional, especially if you’re feeling anxious about your retirement prospects at this stage of life.

Most Americans drastically underestimate how much they need to retire and overestimate how prepared they are. But data shows that people with one habit have more than double the savings of those who don’t.

And no, it’s got nothing to do with increasing your income, savings, clipping coupons, or even cutting back on your lifestyle. It’s much more straightforward (and powerful) than any of that. Frankly, it’s shocking more people don’t adopt the habit given how easy it is.