How Much Should I Have Saved by 40?

How much should you have saved by 40?

It’s one of those money questions that practically begs for a simple answer. Three times your salary. Check the box. Move on.

Except your financial life does not work that way.

In this episode of She’s Talkin’ Money, I’m breaking down why common age-based savings benchmarks can be useful as a starting point — but completely misleading when they’re treated like a verdict on whether you’re doing well or falling behind.

Because someone who earned $75,000 for most of her career and just started making $150,000 should not suddenly feel like a financial failure because her “target” doubled overnight. And having $300,000 saved does not tell me nearly enough to know whether you’re actually on track.

We’re talking about what matters more than an arbitrary savings multiple, including your desired retirement age, what you expect retirement to cost, whether your money is Roth or pre-tax, your debt, your liquidity, your future goals, and how much you’re consistently saving today.

I’ll also explain why the question “How much should I have saved?” is often really asking something deeper:

Am I okay?Am I behind?Did I wait too long?Can I still catch up?Is everyone else doing better than me?

The answer is not another random benchmark.

It’s having a plan.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

why the popular “3x your salary by 40” rule can create unnecessary panic