The place Else Individuals Age 55-64 Are Saving Cash
Asset
% Households with Asset
Median Worth for Asset Holders
Financial savings Bonds
8.5%
$3,000
CDs
6.6%
$25,000
Shares (immediately held)
19.2%
$30,000
Retirement Accts
57%
$185,000
Bonds (immediately held)
1.2%
$400,000
Supply: The Federal Reserve’s “Survey of Shopper Funds” (2022)
“Instantly held” means the asset shouldn’t be in a retirement account. The worth of bonds on this desk seems to be a lot larger than the opposite classes, particularly provided that solely a tiny fraction of 55-64-year-olds owns immediately held company or municipal bonds. This small group both holds quite a few bonds, bonds with excessive values, or each. Additionally, survey respondents self-report values, and will have reported face values of bonds that they discovered on account statements, somewhat than market values, which can have been decrease in 2022.
Methods to Maximize Your Retirement Financial savings in Your 50s and 60s
There’s no proper/excellent/superb quantity to avoid wasting. It varies based mostly in your private and monetary state of affairs. Your way of life and prices can fluctuate area to area, and when you’ve got pensions or further sources of retirement revenue past Social Safety, that may imply you possibly can have much less in retirement financial savings, mentioned Marguerita Cheng, CFP, founding father of Blue Ocean International Wealth.
In the event you have been elevating kids and serving to them with massive bills reminiscent of faculty, you might not have been in a position to save as a lot whenever you have been youthful. Or when you had automotive funds or bank card debt that you just’ve been in a position to repay, you might now be capable to direct extra money towards financial savings.
Cheng presents the following pointers:
Study Extra About Social Safety
If you’re not already accumulating Social Safety funds, Cheng recommends creating an account at SSA.gov to see what you possibly can anticipate to obtain at age 62, at your full retirement age (as decided by the Social Safety Administration), and at age 70. You’ll obtain probably the most when you wait till age 70, however you can begin accumulating the profit at age 62. You might obtain much less at that age, “however there’s occasions and conditions the place that could be acceptable,” Cheng mentioned.
Keep in mind That You’re a Lengthy-Time period Investor
When you have more money from paying off debt, allocate a number of the money movement to each short-term financial savings and long-term investments. “Even when you’re in your 60s and also you’re retiring at this time, you are still a long-term investor,” Cheng mentioned. “It’s common to spend 30 years in retirement.”
Use Strategies Past 529s to Pay for School
If you’re balancing faculty prices and retirement and you’ve got a 529 schooling account, Cheng recommends not paying for college solely with these funds. Whereas they’re very favorable and make the most of tax-free cash, she suggests paying some faculty bills with taxable cash so you might be eligible for some schooling tax credit.
Tip
In the event you pay for $4,000 of certified higher-education bills per yr with taxable funds, you might be eligible for a $2,500 American Alternative Tax Credit score. This credit score is on bills inside the first 4 years of upper schooling; one other credit score known as the Lifetime Studying Credit score is designed for all schooling ranges. You can’t declare the AOTC and the Lifetime Studying Credit score for a similar pupil in the identical tax yr.
Think about Contributing to a Roth Account
Holding a few of your investments in a Roth IRA might prevent some complications whenever you later withdraw the cash—since withdrawals from a Roth shall be tax-free, mentioned Cheng. Plus, being over 50 means you may make catch-up contributions. However you don’t have to max out the complete quantity every year if it will pressure your funds, Cheng mentioned. A number of hundred {dollars} a month in contributions can nonetheless add as much as $3,000 a yr.
Focus on Your Retirement Plans
“This can be a nice time to speak to your partner and associate about what they need to do and the imaginative and prescient they’ve, and it is OK if it is completely different,” Cheng mentioned. “It is necessary to have these conversations, as a result of all of us have completely different experiences and preferences based mostly on what we have skilled and what we have seen.”
Tips on how to Use Excessive-Yield Accounts and CDs to Enhance Your Financial savings
In the event you’re ready so as to add to your short-term financial savings, CDs and high-yield financial savings accounts are two nice choices—particularly now, whereas rates of interest are excessive.
A high-yield financial savings account presents full entry to your cash and might present a stable return—although the charges are variable, that means that the credit score union or financial institution can change them at any time. A dozen of the highest-paying financial savings accounts pay between 4.00% and 5.00% annual share yield (APY) proper now. A high-yield financial savings account is an efficient place on your emergency fund, Cheng famous, and is her advice if somebody’s quick on money reserves.
In the event you don’t want fast entry to your cash, a certificates of deposit could also be a sensible choice. CDs pay a assured, mounted charge whilst you go away your cash untouched for a sure time interval, normally between 3 months and 5 years. The highest-paying CDs are at present providing yields as excessive as 4.40% (as of Oct. 31, 2025). These returns are locked in no matter what occurs with rates of interest throughout the size of your CD.
Whereas they aren’t as accessible, Cheng recommends CDs as a substitute or along with high-yield financial savings accounts due to the mounted charge and suggests contemplating a CD ladder as a method to spice up your assured returns.
Every day Rankings of the Greatest CDs and Financial savings Accounts
We replace these rankings each enterprise day to provide the greatest deposit charges accessible:
Essential
Observe that the “high charges” quoted listed below are the best nationally accessible charges Investopedia has recognized in its each day charge analysis on a whole lot of banks and credit score unions. That is a lot completely different than the nationwide common, which incorporates all banks providing a CD with that time period, together with many massive banks that pay a pittance in curiosity. Thus, the nationwide averages are at all times fairly low, whereas the highest charges you possibly can unearth by buying round are sometimes 5, 10, and even 15 occasions larger.
