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For those approaching 60 years old with little to no retirement savings, there are two pieces of good news.

First, you’re not alone. A 2024 survey by the AARP (1) found that roughly 20% of U.S. adults over 50 had no retirement savings whatsoever. While some of these individuals will accumulate some savings by the time they turn 60, it’s fair to assume millions of people will enter their golden years with no meaningful nest egg.

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Second, there’s still time to salvage your retirement, even though it might not seem like it. You may need to take extraordinary steps and modify your retirement plan in creative ways to achieve a comfortable retirement, but it’s still certainly within your reach if you try.

Here are four things you can do in 2026 to keep your retirement dream alive.

The average retirement age for most Americans is somewhere between 62.6 years old for women and 64.6 for men, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College (2). But if you’re approaching 60 without any retirement savings, this might not be possible for you.

Your best bet could be to delay retirement and keep working to accumulate more income, savings and investments. Delaying retirement to age 70 gives you a full decade of extra room to earn.

This is the direction many U.S. adults are moving in, according to research from the Economist Enterprise as cited by CBS News (3). On average, workers across the country expect to delay their retirement by roughly four years to account for the rising cost of living and healthcare.

So, if you’re pushing back the date you leave work, you’re not alone.

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Retiring with $0 isn’t ideal, but it still might be better than retiring with negative net worth. Even if it’s a small auto loan or a few credit cards with unpaid balances, having any outstanding debt as you enter retirement without a nest egg is risky. There’s very little margin for error.

That’s why it might be a good idea to take care of your debt before you start enjoying your golden years.

The two main ways of doing this are mirror images of each other. The first is the avalanche method, which aims to eliminate your biggest debt through an aggressive repayment plan while servicing the others. Once you’ve taken out your largest source of debt, you simply repeat and go down the list in a cascade. Meanwhile, the other option, or the snowball method, starts with your lowest debt, then works up to the biggest one over time — same principle but different direction.

However, managing all those payments — and keeping them straight — can be a lot to manage.

Consolidating all your debts into a personal loan through Credible can be an effective way to get rid of your debt faster. Instead of juggling multiple monthly payments, you’ll have one predictable payment to manage each month.

Through Credible’s online marketplace, finding the right loan becomes much simpler. Credible lets you comparison-shop for the lowest interest rates with just a few clicks. In less than three minutes, you can see all the lenders willing to help pay off your credit cards or other debts with a single personal loan.

If you owe a substantial amount, you may also want to see if you qualify for a debt relief program to help clear a significant portion of your debt. With Freedom Debt Relief, you can speak with a certified debt relief consultant for free, who can show you how much you can save by partnering with them.

Plus, if you’re eligible, they can even negotiate settlements with your creditors until all of your enrolled debt is resolved.

At 60 years old, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll accumulate millions of dollars if you haven’t already — even if you work hard and delay retirement by another decade. The typical lifestyle and magic number is potentially beyond your reach.

However, if you set your target lower and accumulate a modest nest egg, you could achieve a fairly comfortable (albeit bare-bones) retirement lifestyle. For instance, a $500,000 nest egg can still yield $20,000 in annual income from withdrawals. Couple that with Social Security benefits, which averaged $2,081.16 per month for retired workers in April 2026 (4), and you could be set for a reasonable retirement with some adjustments.

But if you’re still struggling to save, you might want to start small by using automated saving and investment apps like Acorns. This platform automatically rounds up purchases to invest spare change into a diversified portfolio of ETFs managed by experts at leading investment firms like Vanguard and BlackRock.

It works like this: if you buy a donut for $3.25, Acorns will round up the purchase to $4 and invest the change in a smart investment portfolio that can grow over time without you having to touch it. So a $3.25 purchase automatically becomes a 75-cent investment in your future. Once you’re comfortable with these round-ups, you can even set up a regular deposit to give your fund a bit of a boost.

Even better, sign up today and get a $20 bonus investment when you set up a recurring monthly contribution of just $5.

A few creative changes to your retirement plan can make a big difference, especially if you don’t have much of a nest egg.

For instance, selling the family home to rent could make a huge difference in your annual budget. Similarly, moving to a cheaper state, or even another country, can help you significantly reduce taxes and living costs. Just make sure you keep in mind the social cost of a move. Being further away from family and friends might not be worth the potential savings.

But once you accumulate modest savings (say $250,000 or more), that’s when things start to become trickier. Managing withdrawals, minimizing tax exposure and ensuring long-term sustainability often require greater coordination and strategic planning.

In these cases, working with a financial advisor can help reduce costly mistakes.

If you have managed to scrape together that portfolio of $250,000 or more, platforms like WiserAdvisor can connect you with vetted professionals who specialize in this kind of planning.

Simply answer a few questions about your savings, retirement timeline and overall investment portfolio. From there, WiserAdvisor reviews its network to match you — for free — with up to three vetted, reputable advisors aligned with your specific needs.

You can then schedule no-obligation consultations with your matches to determine who is the best fit for your long-term goals.

WiserAdvisor is a matching service and does not provide financial advice directly. All matched advisors are third parties, and specific financial results are not guaranteed.

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We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.

AARP (1); Center for Retirement Research at Boston College (2); CBS News (3); Social Security Administration (4)

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.