Generation X is far removed from the days of grunge, skateboards, and pogs. How far? Well, believe it or not, some of the oldest members of Gen X are just a few years away from retirement.
And unfortunately, many of them aren’t financially ready for it.
According to the 2024 BlackRock Read on Retirement report, just 60% of Gen Xers say they feel they’re on track for retirement—the lowest reading of any generation.
That shouldn’t surprise us. Gen X has had it rough compared to previous generations. The corporate transition from pensions to 401(k)s was in full swing by the time they hit the workforce. Most had to deal with the fallout of the dot-com bubble burst, and they struggled more than most in recovering from the Great Recession. They’re the first generation that has needed to dip heavily into side hustles. And many of them are simultaneously caring for Boomer parents while helping their Gen Z children.
If you’re a Gen Xer and you think your retirement nest egg is behind schedule, there are still ways to breathe new life into your savings. Today, I’ll discuss several of these methods so you can get back on course.
Take These Actions to Save More For Retirement
Retirement feels like a lifetime away until it suddenly doesn’t. And the closer you are to the end of your career, the more fear might creep in about the health of your retirement savings.
That’s especially likely for members of Generation X.
In Schroders’ 2024 U.S. Retirement Survey, more than half (54%) of Gen X respondents said they were either concerned or very concerned about outliving their assets in retirement. That’s just one of many distressing Gen X retirement statistics.
Generation X sits between age 45 and 60 as of 2025, which means your time to catch up is limited—but not gone entirely.
Read on as I explore several actions you can take to bridge the gap. Some of these are relatively painless changes you can make if you have the available funds, but I’ve also included some more sober tips for people whose budgets (as is) don’t have room to simply throw more money into retirement plans.
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1. Max Out Your 401(k) (Or Equivalent Workplace Plan)
A 401(k) is one of numerous tax-advantaged accounts that allow your money to grow more efficiently than it would in a brokerage account. You contribute funds on a pretax basis, and your investments are allowed to grow inside of the account without any tax consequences. The only time you’re taxed is when you withdraw your funds—ideally once you’re 59½ and older, when you won’t suffer penalties for doing so.
When you first set up your 401(k) with your current employer, you were asked to choose how much you wanted to contribute from each paycheck. Since then, however, you might have left the account on autopilot—and if you had a low starting contribution, well … you probably still have a low contribution rate now.
If it’s financially feasible, you should increase your contributions—and ideally, you should max out your 401(k) every year. In 2025, the contribution limit for 401(k)s is $23,500.
Young and the Invested Tip: Contribution limits typically apply to all accounts of the same type. For instance, if you maxed out a 401(k), then changed jobs in the same year, you could not contribute money to the new 401(k) until the next year. Also, if you contribute to both a traditional 401(k) and Roth 401(k) simultaneously, you can only contribute $23,500 across both accounts, not to each account.
By the way, this advice goes for 401(k)-equivalent plans, too, such as 403(b)s, 457s, and Thrift Savings Plans (TSPs).
Related: 10 Common Social Security Mistakes You Should Know
2. Max Out Your Individual Retirement Accounts
If you’re able to contribute more to your savings than what you’re limited to in your 401(k), you can also contribute to an individual retirement account (IRA).
For the 2025 tax year, the annual contribution limit for a traditional or Roth IRA is $7,000 for people under age 50. Like with workplace accounts, the annual IRA limit is a combined limit that applies to all of your IRAs, traditional and Roth alike.
Also worth noting: Workplace accounts have a cutoff date of Dec. 31 to contribute for the applicable tax year. However, with IRAs, you have until Tax Day (typically April 15) of the next year to contribute. So, for instance, you could contribute toward the 2025 IRA limit as early as Jan. 1, 2025, and as late as April 15, 2026.
Related: How Long Will My Savings Last in Retirement? 4 Withdrawal Strategies
3. Make Catch-Up Contributions
If you’re an older member of Gen X, you might be able to contribute more to your retirement plans:
- For 401(k)s and similar workplace plans: Workers between the ages of 50 and 59, as well as those 64 and older, may make an annual “catch-up” contribution of $7,500, for a total contribution limit of $31,000 in 2025.
- For IRAs: Anyone age 50 or older may contribute an additional $1,000, for a total contribution limit of $8,000 in 2025.
Young and the Invested Tip: Do you have a SEP IRA, SIMPLE IRA, or another plan not mentioned here? Check out our full look at retirement plan contribution limits and deadlines.
Related: What Is the Rule of 55 for 401(k) Withdrawals?
4. Make Super Catch-Up Contributions
Until 2024, catch-up contributions for 401(k)s and equivalent accounts were the same across the board for anyone 50 or older. However, thanks to the SECURE 2.0 Act, people ages 60 to 63 enjoy a special “super” catch-up contribution limit.
In 2025, anyone age 60, 61, 62, or 63 can contribute an additional $11,250 to their 401(k) or equivalent accounts, good for a total limit of $34,750.
Note: IRAs do not have a super catch-up contribution.
5. Invest in an HSA
If you still have money left over after contributing to workplace and individual plans, why not take things another step further and hijack a health care account to achieve your retirement savings goals?
A health savings account (HSA) is designed to give you a little edge in paying for your health care costs. You contribute to an HSA with pretax dollars, then spend from the account, usually via a debit card. And as long as you use that HSA money to pay for certain qualified medical expenses, you won’t face any taxes or penalties for withdrawing those funds.
But HSAs aren’t just a spending account—you can invest in them, too.
Better still? Your investments face no tax consequences within the account, just like a 401(k) or IRA.
And even better still? If you wait until you’re age 65, if you withdraw HSA funds to pay for non-qualified expenses, you will be taxed on the withdrawal, but you won’t incur a penalty … basically, the same treatment as a 401(k) or IRA!
In other words, if you don’t need to use your HSA for health care expenditures during your working years, you can treat it like a secondary IRA—one with its own separate contribution limits!
For 2025, the contribution limit for an HSA is $4,300 for those with self-care coverage, and $8,550 for those with family coverage. Anyone age 55 or older enjoys an additional $1,000 in catch-up contributions.
The only downside? Not everyone is eligible to contribute to an HSA. You must be covered by a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) and not be covered by other insurance, including Medicare. Individuals also aren’t eligible if they are claimed as a dependent on another person’s tax return.
Related: Health Care Costs in Retirement [Amounts & Types to Expect]
5. Invest Aggressively Enough for Your Age
When you first started investing, you might have been told to create a “60/40 portfolio” (60% stocks, 40% bonds) and never looked back. Or perhaps you’ve been following the “100 subtract your age” rule for how much of your portfolio you should dedicate to stocks—in which case, you might have started somewhere closer to 65%-75% in stocks.
Whatever the reason, you might want to check on your stock/bond allocation, because it’s entirely possible you’re investing too conservatively to meet your retirement savings goals—especially if you feel that you’re behind schedule.
While it’s true that a person’s portfolio should become less aggressive as we approach retirement, growth is important at every stage, including retirees. If your portfolio doesn’t grow enough, you could risk outliving your savings, particularly if you go through high-inflation periods or prolonged bear markets in retirement.
Your best bet? Talk to a financial advisor to determine whether you have the right allocation to meet your goals.
Young and the Invested Tip: Stocks and bonds aren’t your only options, either. Your goals might be better achieved by including a few alternative investments, too.
Want to talk more about your financial goals or concerns? Our services include comprehensive financial planning, investment management, estate planning, taxes, and more! Schedule a call with Riley to discuss what you need, and what we can do for you.
6. Stop Overpaying on Your Mortgage
These tips have so far been geared toward people who have the means to save more. But now, I’m going to move into increasingly uncomfortable (but realistic) suggestions for people who simply don’t have the financial means as their budgets are currently constructed.
It’s easy to understand the appeal of paying off your mortgage early.
From a financial perspective, prepaying your mortgage can save you money on interest payments. Mentally, crossing the finish line of paying off your home can relieve a lot of stress. For many people, it makes sense.
But it’s not necessarily the best financial choice for people who are behind on their retirement savings.
If you aren’t contributing enough to your retirement accounts because there’s no room in your budget, but you are overpaying on your mortgage, you should consider paying the minimum and putting the excess funds into your savings.
A good general rule of thumb is that if your likely after-tax return on a low-risk investment is higher than the interest rate of debt you’re paying off, you should invest rather than overpay your debt. Credit cards with 20%-plus APRs? Not so much. A 4% mortgage rate? Much more likely!
Related: Don’t Make These 7 Mistakes When Choosing a Financial Advisor
7. Prioritize Retirement Savings Over 529 Accounts
Sometimes, your budget simply can’t handle everything you want it to do.
If you’re behind on retirement savings, but also contributing to a 529 or another education account for a child or grandchild, you might need to put that account on the backburner while you focus more on your own retirement.
Helping someone you love pay for their education is admirable, but it shouldn’t take precedence over your retirement savings if you’re behind.
Prioritizing retirement isn’t selfish—it’s practical.
A child without sufficient college savings still has several options, including attending a less expensive community college before transferring to a four-year university, finding merit- and need-based grants and scholarships, working a part-time job during college, and, of course, student loans. But you’re not going to find retirement scholarships or retirement loans. Yes, there are assistance programs for very-low-income households, but those shouldn’t be your Plan A.
If you get caught up on your retirement savings, you can always help a loved one pay down their student loans then.
8. Downsize Your Lifestyle
Lifestyle creep is easy. Lifestyle deflation is hard.
But if you’re far behind on your retirement savings, you might need to give up some things now so your retirement can be at least somewhat comfortable.
Do you go out to eat often? It’s time to rein that in. Do you still need to have two cars or could you get by with just one? Selling a vehicle could provide a big influx of cash, not to mention monthly auto insurance savings, that you could plunk into an IRA.
If you’re only a few years away from your hoped-for retirement age, you might just consider getting an early jump on some changes you were going to make in retirement anyways. For instance, do you plan on moving during retirement into a smaller, more affordable dwelling? If your relocation plans fit within your work requirements, you could downsize a few years earlier and start reaping savings on your mortgage/rent, insurance, and utilities.
Adjusting your lifestyle now could put you in a much better financial situation when retirement rolls around.
Related: Here’s How You Can Lose Medicare [And How You Won’t]
9. Delay Retirement
Unless you love your job and have the mental and physical capacity to keep going at it, one of the most difficult decisions you can make is pushing back your retirement timeline.
But practically speaking, doing so—even by just a couple of years—offers many benefits that can help you retire in a much better financial position:
- Time is money: This is obvious, but the longer you work, the longer you’re earning money rather than withdrawing it from your savings. Also, working longer gives you more time to contribute to your retirement savings, and gives your existing investments more time to compound. A couple years of additional contributions, as opposed to a couple years of withdrawals, can make an enormous difference on its own.
- Social Security (Part 1): Working longer can also increase how much Social Security you’ll receive. To determine your benefit, the Social Security Administration averages your earnings from your 35 highest-earning years of work … regardless of how many years you worked. So, if you only had qualified earnings for 33 years, the sum of 35 years would include two zeros, which could bring down your average. Adding two more years of work would give you a full 35 years of earnings, which would almost certainly increase your average, and thus your monthly Social Security benefits check. In fact, even if you’ve worked 35 years, if you work a couple years at a much higher salary than you earned earlier in life, that should bring up your benefit, too.
- Social Security (Part 2): The age at which you take Social Security can affect your benefit, too. You can start collecting Social Security retirement benefits as young as age 62. But if you collect Social Security earlier than full retirement age (FRA), which is 67 for all Gen Xers, you’ll receive a permanently reduced benefit. The good news? If you delay collecting benefits past age 67, you’ll permanently increase your benefit for every month you hold off (up until age 70, at which point the increases are capped).
Also, delaying retirement doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing affair. You could ease into retirement by reducing your hours or only working a side hustle.
Related: 10 Retirement Questions: Are You Ready to Leave the Workforce?
10. Talk to a Financial Advisor
At least in my experience, financial advisors aren’t unpleasant, but people nonetheless worry about seeking out professional financial help.
Some people worry they won’t have enough assets to merit an advisor, others worry that financial advice is too expensive, still others worry about revealing sensitive personal information to a stranger, and a few simply worry about being judged for not being financially responsible enough.
They’re all valid concerns … but they’re also concerns that a quick chat with a financial advisor can help you put to rest.
Just consider this: In Northwestern Mutual’s 2024 Planning & Progress Study, 64% of respondents with a financial advisor said they feel financially secure. Just 29% of people without an advisor said the same.
Financial advisory relationships differ from person to person. Some people meet with an advisor all of once a year to make sure their financial plan is on track, while others enjoy fuller engagements—where the professional manages assets, draws up estate plans, and provides continuous tax advice—with more frequent visits.
What your advisory relationship eventually looks like is up to you, but the only way to find out is by making that first call.
Want to talk more about your financial goals or concerns? Our services include comprehensive financial planning, investment management, estate planning, taxes, and more! Schedule a call with Riley to discuss what you need, and what we can do for you.
