When it comes to our retirement nest egg, we can’t help but wonder where we stand compared to our cohorts.

While Vanguard’s newly released “How America Saves” yearly report reveals that Americans’ 401(k) savings rates are at record highs — making up an average $148,153 balance and a median $38,176 balance, in 2024 — this is how Vanguard participants’ balances shake out by age group.

Below are the average and median account balances broken up by age groups, according to the Vanguard report. You’ll see that the averages are much higher than the median figures since averages are skewed by the few large balance accounts. For this reason, the median numbers give a better sense of what most people have actually saved.

Naturally, the older you get, the more money you likely have sitting in your 401(k); you’ve had more years to contribute to the fund and thus more money to grow over time. Once you hit retirement, though, your balance may start tapering off as you draw from your 401(k). We see this happen slightly in the median 401(k) balance column when going from the 55-to-64 age group ($95,642 median balance) to the 65+ age group ($95,425 median balance).

As you compare your 401(k) balance to others in your age group, keep in mind this general rule of thumb: Financial experts advise investing 15% of your income annually in a retirement account, and that includes any 401(k) employer match. As an example, if your company matches up to 6% of your salary and you contribute 6%, you’re already at a 12% savings rate — pretty close to the recommended 15%.

Since 401(k)s are employer-sponsored retirement accounts, not everyone has access to one if their company doesn’t offer it. If this is you, make sure you have an IRA that you can contribute to for your nonworking years.

You can find an IRA through any big brokerage like Fidelity or Charles Schwab. Both traditional and Roth IRAs offer tax advantages and you open and manage the accounts entirely on your own. You can set up automated contributions into your IRA just like you can with a 401(k) to make saving for retirement seamless.

Robo-advisors can help, too

If DIYing your retirement fund scares you, a robo-advisor like Betterment or Wealthfront is a better route. These automated investing platforms build and manage your retirement portfolio for you so you can be totally hands-off. There are tools to help you figure out how much money you need to save and to make sure you don’t contribute beyond the annual IRA limits.

Though you can contribute more to a 401(k) than an IRA, IRAs are still a good start to building up a solid foundation of savings.

At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every retirement savings article is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of investing products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.

Catch up on CNBC Select’s in-depth coverage of credit cards, banking and money, and follow us on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to stay up to date.