7 Tips for Boosting Retirement Savings in Your 50s

Once you reach the big 5-0, blowing out birthday candles can feel less like a celebration and more like fanning the flames on a pyre of financial obligations. This is the decade when the costs of health concerns, kids, aging parents, cars and homes converge, and questions about retirement begin looming large.

How much should you have saved by age 50?

By age 50, an individual should have 3.5 to 5.5 times their salary saved^[0]

Retirement saving benchmarks can put your portfolio’s value in perspective. But an even better check-in for midlife investors is to run a few different saving and investing scenarios through a good retirement calculator. The exercise will provide more accurate results than when you were younger and projected retirement expenses were fuzzier.

If you do the math and find you’re short of your goals, there’s still time to make headway. Here’s how.

1. Max out retirement contributions

The older, wiser and hopefully wealthier you can overcome past savings shortcomings by maxing out your tax-favored retirement accounts and taking advantage of catch-up contributions. A catch-up contribution is money you can contribute to a 401(k) or IRA beyond the regular annual limit the IRS sets. Catch-up contributions are only available to people ages 50 and up.

401(k)s

The 401(k) contribution limit is $23,500 in 2025. People age 50 and older can contribute an extra $7,500 as a catch-up contribution. Due to the Secure 2.0 Act, those ages 60, 61, 62 and 63 get a higher catch-up contribution of $11,250.

» MORE: Learn what a solo 401(k) is

IRAs

Savers can also contribute extra annually to an IRA: The current limits are $7,000 in 2025 ($8,000 if age 50 and older).

Making catch-up contributions can significantly improve your retirement prospects. For example, saving $8,000 instead of $7,000 in an IRA from age 50 to 65 and earning a 6% average annual return can add nearly $26,000 to your savings by retirement. Max out your 401(k) at work with an extra $7,500 a year, and you could end up with about $193,000 more by retirement than you would have if you hadn't made the catch-up contributions.

» MORE: See how a self-directed IRA works

2. Understand stocks

Investors of all ages experience blood-pressure spikes when the market gyrates, as it has done a few times lately. But now’s not the time to ratchet back your exposure to stocks. You’ve got years — decades, even, if you’re in good health and have a family history of longevity — to ride out the stock market’s ups and downs.

» Learn more: How to choose a financial advisor

3. Drill down on diversification

Your money should be further diversified across asset classes within the stocks and bonds portions of your portfolio.

• For equities, that means having exposure to large, small and mid-size companies, established and emerging international markets, and real estate. 

• With bonds, it’s allocating money in short-, mid- and long-term U.S. and international bonds.

For DIY investors, diversification can be done with individual stocks, index funds or exchange-traded funds. The major brokerages have fund screeners to help sort through the options based on fund type, performance, expense ratio and other factors.

» Learn more: How to invest $100,000

4. Consider an asset allocation shortcut

Purchasing a target-date mutual fund or using a robo-advisor makes the job of creating and managing an appropriately balanced portfolio a cinch.

• Target-date funds automatically adjust the investment mix of stocks and bonds based on what’s appropriate for someone who plans to retire within a specified year. 

• Robo-advisors, or computerized investment managers, create and manage a portfolio based on your goals and risk tolerance.

With both options, watch out for fees, which can hurt portfolio returns. A typical management fee at a robo-advisor starts at 0.25% of your assets per year. Financial advisors may cost more but may provide more types of advice.

» MORE: Learn about low-cost target date funds

5. Use a Roth IRA

Younger investors sometimes favor Roth IRAs (which require after-tax contributions but offer tax-free withdrawals in retirement) over traditional IRAs (which allow tax deductions for contributions but the withdrawals are taxable). That makes sense because they’re likely in a lower tax bracket now than they might be in retirement.

However, the Roth still may be a valuable retirement investment tool for midlife savers. A Roth IRA:

• Provides older savers with the flexibility to withdraw from pools of money with different tax treatments down the road. 

• Can be gentler, taxwise, when it comes to passing money to heirs.

» MORE: Roth 401(k)s vs. traditional 401(k)s

6. Make a retirement income plan

Boosting retirement savings isn’t only about your investment contributions. Developing a solid understanding of how much retirement income you’ll need — and how you expect to spend it — will help you know whether you’re doing enough now while you’re still in your accumulation phase.

Putting together a retirement income plan involves:

1. Estimating your retirement expenses.

2. Identifying your various income sources, including your estimated Social Security benefits.

3. Looking for ways to boost retirement income and cut expenses.

4. Developing a withdrawal strategy.

5. Anticipating how your asset allocation will change. 

» Learn more: Read our step-by-step guide to financial planning

7. Consider long-term care insurance

Long-term care insurance helps pay for services that you may need if you experience chronic health problems or a disability but that aren’t covered by Medicare or regular health insurance. That could include help for routine daily activities.

How does this help you boost retirement savings? Long-term care is a significant expense you could encounter in your retirement years. (Nearly 70% of 65-year-olds will need long-term care services eventually, according to the Administration for Community Living, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services^[0]

But, your age is a factor in setting rates for insurance. The older you are, the more you’ll pay for a policy. Most people with long-term care insurance buy it while they’re in their mid-50s to mid-60s.

» MORE: 9 steps to retire early

Next steps

• Wealth Management: What It Is, Costs and Minimums

• 10 Questions to Ask a Financial Advisor

• Best Wealth Management Firms