Given the high cost of living, many Americans currently consider that to retire with some financial security it is necessary to achieve savings of up to $1 million dollars or more, since it is popularly believed that to plan for a minimum retirement you must save ten times your annual salary.

In a survey published earlier this year by Northwestern Mutual of some 4,375 working-age people, the “magic amount” for retirement was found to be $1.46 million; However, given the strong economic uncertainty and lack of purchasing power, the question arises: Is it necessary to have a million dollars for retirement?

For the majority of the population, that figure is usually very ambitious; However, today the average retiree has $126,000 in family savings, according to data from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies.

Even other analyzes such as those from Dayforce affirm that more and more Americans are reducing their retirement savings, indicating that the contribution rate last year alone fell 8.9%, and this trend is largely related to financial pressures.

In this regard, said Anqi Chen, associate director of savings and family finances at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, that "it is a very high number for some people and not enough for others. That amount simply does not fit everyone's needs. I agree that not everyone needs a million dollars," she said.

For Andrew Biggs, senior researcher at the American Business Institute, it is also possible to retire with less than a million dollars, since most Americans do so and are indifferent to the advantages that figure may mean.

But when it comes to savings, retirees are much less optimistic than before; Only 56% in the Transamerica survey affirm that they have sufficient funds for retirement; However, the National Retirement Risk Index estimates that 2 out of every 5 workers may not be in a good financial situation during their retirement, that is, between 40% and 50%.