Many factors influence whether investors meet their retirement goals, including the age when they start saving, their saving rate, investment allocation, and investment performance.

This chart compares three scenarios and varies either the saving rate or the investment allocation. It shows that contributing more over time while taking on less risk resulted in a higher balance than contributing less and taking more risk. Many people dream of getting rich through aggressive investments, but saving more may be another way.

Assumes annual gross salary of $50,000 with no salary increases; no withdrawals or allocation changes; contributions invested beginning of each month. Stocks represented by S&P 500 Index; bonds represented by Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. Source: Morningstar EnCorr

This illustration was compiled using information from outside sources. These companies are not affiliated with ICMA-RC. The performance data quoted represents past performance. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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