In 2022, most Americans can contribute $20,500 to a qualified 401(k) retirement savings account every year — but how many actually are?

Unfortunately, the average American family has only the equivalent of $59,000 set aside for retirement savings. Assuming the family contains two adults to account for — and not every family does — that’s $29,500 per person to live on after almost a lifetime of saving.¹

And aside from retirement, there’s also the potential for compound earnings on your investments through an investment vehicle such as ETFs and/or mutual funds. However, it’s not always clear what a person’s portfolio should look like since there’s no one right answer that works for everybody.²

Your lifestyle differs from that of your friends, neighbors and colleagues — so it’s better to not get lost in the comparison game when assessing the strength of your financial portfolio. However, it is nice to have a barometer as to what most people do to successfully save and invest for retirement.

Ahead, we go over 2021 data from all users with recent login activity who signed up for an Empower free tools account prior to or on Jan. 1, 2021. Consider this data inspiration – so you can see what the average balance in retirement accounts were compared to cash assets, credit card debt and other loans.

2021 summary: What’s inside Empower users’ portfolios?

A complete financial portfolio includes all accounts, including debt. A person’s net worth would not be accurate without factoring in how both their assets (cash, investments, properties) and liabilities (debt) compared to one another. Net worth is calculated by subtracting what you owe to creditors from cash in the bank and assets you currently own.³

Here’s a snapshot of the average and median balances of retirement vs. credit card balances for Empower free tools users in 2021:

• Average balance in retirement accounts: $414,000
• Median balance in retirement accounts: $123,000
• Average credit card balance: $6,100
• Median credit card balance: $2,600

When we dig deeper, we find even more revealing information. It’s normal for your financial portfolio to fluctuate with age, lifestyle factors and circumstances. Here’s a breakdown of account balances by decade across the average Empower free tools user’s lifespan.

Take your own personal circumstances into consideration when you look at the data ahead.

Retirement contributions by age

Interestingly, the count of users who made a retirement contribution in 2021 declined compared to 2020, but the total amount contributed went up. Here’s a snapshot of how much more than 400,000 Empower users contributed to their retirement accounts this year.

NOTE: This data was pulled as of 12/15/2021, making 2021 technically short 15 days compared to 2020 so the contributions are slightly understated for 2021.

What funds users contributed to in 2021

Do you know where your money went this year? Ahead are the top 50 investment holdings of Empower users, ranked by the total dollar amount invested.

You’ll notice that the majority of users hold mostly ETFs and mutual funds, with a sprinkling of blue-chip Stocks.

Meanwhile, here are the 50 most popular investment holdings, ranked by number of users who have the investment.

* Empower Advisors Corporation core strategy holdings as of 12/31/2021

Bottom line: Looking ahead

Being “good with money” doesn’t mean that you are the highest-net-worth in your friend group or always have excess cash to throw around. Rather, it’s about knowing your goals and time horizon, then planning ahead to make sure you use whatever resources you have as wisely as you can.

That’s where having systems to help us invest and save become critical. We are more likely to reach big financial goals with a few simple actions.

Consider signing up for the Empower dashboard. Millions of people use these free and secure professional-grade online financial tools. You can use them to track debt paydown, analyze your investments and plan for long-term financial goals.