Recently I came across a post on social media from someone who was scared. She explained that she had $0 saved for retirement and was approaching age 50. I could understand her fear. She was probably desperate, perhaps thinking that most people were in much better financial shape than she was.

She’s actually not That unusual. Many millions of Americans have little or nothing saved for retirement. That’s never a good situation, but for many of them all is not lost. Many still have time to vastly improve their future financial security. If you – or someone you care about – is approaching retirement and has little or nothing saved, read on, because things may not be as bad as you thought.

You are not alone: ​​millions have not saved enough for their pension

Check out the table below, which shows how much America’s workers have set aside for retirement according to the 2024 Retirement Confidence Survey:

Source: Pension Confidence Survey 2024.

*excluding the value of a main home

To see? Those are quite alarming figures. About one in seven workers has less than $1,000 saved – which, in the context of retirement, is virtually nothing. Nearly 30% have less than $25,000 saved, which for many people is less than they would need in one year of retirement. And almost half (47%) have less than 100,000 saved.

Sure, some of these workers are still miles away from retirement, but many are approaching it soon.

How to improve your retirement – ​​start now

Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to strengthen your financial situation, even if you retire tomorrow. Here are a few:

Save aggressively and invest effectively

Source: Calculations by author.

As you approach 50, you still have a significant amount of time before you need to retire. If your health and employer allow it, you can work until you are 70. Over those twenty years, you could potentially amass retirement savings of $345,000, $741,000, or even nearly a million dollars.

You just have to be very diligent about it and invest effectively. Since few of us will ever become stock market geniuses, consider simply sticking with one or more low-cost, broad market index funds. Simple index funds can be all you need to build long-term wealth.

Consider working longer

A powerful way to grow your savings is to work a few years longer than you originally planned. Each year you continue to work, delaying your retirement, you can put more money aside, and your already invested money has another year to grow. Your savings will also have to support you for a year less, and you may be able to stay on your employer’s health plan longer.

Try to delay the start of Social Security

Each of us has a “full retirement age” at which we can begin collecting retirement benefits full Social benefits we are entitled to, based on our income history. For most of us that age is 66 or 67. (It’s age 67 for those born in 1960 or later.) If you start collecting your benefits early, your benefit checks will be smaller, but you’ll receive many more. If you delay until after your full retirement age, your benefit checks will increase by about 8% each year until age 70.

Carefully decide when to start collecting Social Security. There are good reasons to start early or delay. If you can delay it, you’ll end up with bigger checks for the rest of your life, and any cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will be bigger, too.

Discover many possibilities

There are also plenty of other ways to generate more income for your retirement. You may take in a boarder for a short or longer period of time. You may be moving to a cheaper region or country. You can explore whether a reverse mortgage makes sense for you. If you have life insurance, you may be able to exchange it for some cash. If you are still able and active in retirement, you may also be able to take on a part-time job for a few years for extra income.

Regardless of your age, it’s smart to think about (or continue with) retirement and create a comprehensive retirement plan. The more steps you take now, the more financially secure and comfortable you can be later.