Am I On Track for Retirement Quiz: 3 Numbers, 1 Answer

61%. That's the share of American workers who feel confident they'll have enough to live comfortably in retirement. It's down from 67% a year earlier and is the lowest reading since 2017, according to the EBRI/Greenwald 2026 Retirement Confidence Survey (fielded January 2026). If you're searching for an "am I on track for retirement quiz," you're not alone in wondering. Here's the short answer. You can get a real read on your plan from three numbers: your age, what you've saved, and what you spend each month. The most useful result isn't a label like "on track." It's a probability that your money lasts.

Below is a 2-minute quiz that shows where your plan has gaps. After that we'll look at what the quiz can't tell you, and how to get that answer.

The 2-minute am I on track for retirement quiz

Answer yes or no. Be honest. Nobody's grading you.

1. Have you estimated what you'll spend each month in retirement? Only 52% of workers have, according to the EBRI/Greenwald Retirement Confidence Survey 2025 (Fact Sheet 3). The other 48% are guessing.

2. Does your plan assume you live to at least 90? The Social Security Administration's planning guidance says about one in three 65-year-olds may live to 90 or beyond (Retirement Information for Medicare Beneficiaries, 2026).

3. Have you budgeted for health care as its own line item? Fidelity's 2025 Retiree Health Care Cost Estimate (July 2025) puts health care for one 65-year-old at $172,500 over retirement. That covers Medicare premiums, deductibles and prescriptions. It doesn't include long-term care.

4. Is your planned first-year withdrawal around 3.9% of your savings or less? Morningstar's The State of Retirement Income 2025 (December 2025) puts the safe starting withdrawal rate at 3.9%. That's the rate at which money was still left in 90% of simulated 30-year retirements.

5. Do you know how your savings compare with a common benchmark for your age? See the table further down.

6. Do you know what happens to your plan if markets fall in your first few years of retirement?

7. Have you tested at least one change, such as retiring later or spending less, to see how much it helps?

How to read your score

• 6–7 yes: You have the pieces. What you need now is one number that pulls them together: your odds of success.
• 3–5 yes: You have a foundation with some blind spots. Usually it's longevity, health care, or not knowing your withdrawal rate.
• 0–2 yes: That's a normal place to start, and you can fix it fast. Begin with the three numbers: age, savings, monthly spending.

Notice what this quiz doesn't do. It doesn't tell you whether your money lasts. No yes/no quiz can.

Why most retirement quizzes stop short

The quizzes that rank for this search are built for speed. SoFi's retirement quiz is eight questions and about 45 seconds. Unbiased's tool takes about three minutes and gives you a score out of 100. Others sort you into tiers: on track, at risk, behind.

That's useful as a nudge. But each verdict rests on one set of assumptions about returns, inflation and how long you'll live. Real retirements don't follow one path. Markets might fall the year you stop working. You might live to 97. Health costs might rise faster than you expected.

A single verdict hides all of that. A probability doesn't.

What Monte Carlo means, in plain English

A Monte Carlo simulation runs your plan many times, each through a different possible future. Some futures have strong markets. Some have a crash early on. Some have high inflation. Then it counts how many of those futures end with money still in the account.

That count is your success rate. When Monte Climb says 850 out of 1,000 futures stay funded, it means that in 85% of the simulated outcomes, your savings outlasted your plan.

It's a probability, not a promise. It's also much closer to how retirement actually works than a straight line drawn at an average return.

What a "good" success rate actually looks like

Most people assume 100% is the goal. It usually isn't.

T. Rowe Price recommends aiming for a "good" score, not a perfect one. Some planners use a specific target. One CFP says his firm aims for about an 80% probability of success (TaylorMade Retirement podcast).

Why not 100%? Because getting there usually means spending far less than you could, or working years longer than you need to. In most of your futures, you'd die with a large pile of unspent money. A plan in the 80s leaves room for bad luck without making you live like the worst case is guaranteed.

Two examples from T. Rowe Price's material show how much the number moves:

• One plan went from 70% to 77% after a modest increase in savings.
• Another dropped from 96% to 64% when the couple was assumed to live 10 years longer than projected.

That second example is the one to remember. A plan that looks excellent to age 85 can look shaky to age 95. That's why the plan you build with Monte Climb runs to 95 by default, and you can extend it further.

Savings benchmarks by age, and when they don't fit

You'll often see Fidelity's savings-by-age multiples next to retirement quizzes. Here's the version cited by The Motley Fool and Clark.com:

These benchmarks are a reasonable gut check. They also come with assumptions you might not share:

• You retire at 67. If you want to retire at 62, the target is different.
• You save about 15% a year from age 25, employer match included. Late starters can't use this as a fair yardstick.
• Your spending follows your salary. Someone who earns a lot and spends little is in a different spot from someone who spends nearly everything.

Fidelity has also changed its guidance over the years. An earlier version, reported by CNBC, put the target at 8x final salary.

Real balances often fall well short. Citing Vanguard data, Nasdaq reports a median 401(k) balance of $95,425 for Americans 65 and older. That's less than twice the median US salary.

If you're below the benchmark, don't panic. Many retirees also have Social Security, a pension, or savings outside a 401(k). The benchmark measures savings against salary. What decides whether your plan works is your savings against your spending, and that's what a simulation tests.

The levers that change your odds

The weakest part of most quizzes is the ending: "make a plan" or "talk to an adviser." Here's something more concrete. These are the levers worth testing, roughly in the order people reach for them:

1. Spend a little less. Monthly spending feeds into every future the simulation runs, so even small cuts can matter. It's often the most powerful lever.
2. Work a bit longer. Each extra year adds savings and removes a year of withdrawals at the same time.
3. Save more before you stop. T. Rowe Price's example above shows a modest increase moving a plan by several points.
4. Plan for a longer life. This doesn't raise your score. It makes the score honest. Test to 95, not 85.
5. Treat health care as a real cost. Given Fidelity's $172,500 estimate, a flat guess can flatter your plan. Monte Climb's engine charges Medicare premiums and income-based surcharges year by year.

Change one lever at a time and watch the success rate move. You'll learn more about your retirement that way than from any quiz label.

Get your actual answer in three numbers

The quiz above finds your blind spots. Answering "am I on track?" takes a simulation.

That's what Monte Climb's retirement calculator does. You enter three numbers: your age, what you've saved for retirement, and what you spend each month. We run them through 1,000 simulated futures, using the same engine behind the app, and show you how many stay funded. It runs in your browser, and nothing is saved until you say so.

Then you can keep going. William, our AI planner, takes follow-up questions like "Am I on track?", "Can I retire at 62?" and "What's a sustainable spend?" You can talk to him like you would a friend. If you want to go further, the full app is available as a 7-day trial for $1.

Monte Climb is planning software, not advice. It won't tell you what to do. It will show you your odds, clearly, using real data.

Three numbers. One clear answer. Show my answer →

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if I'm on track for retirement?

Start with three numbers: your age, your retirement savings, and your monthly spending. A Monte Carlo simulation runs those through many possible market futures and tells you what share of them leave you with money left. That gives you a probability, which tells you more than an on track or behind label.

What is a good Monte Carlo success rate for retirement?

Usually not 100%. T. Rowe Price recommends aiming for a good score rather than a perfect one, and some planners target around 80%. Getting to 100% often means spending far less or working much longer than you need to.

How much should I have saved for retirement by age 60?

Fidelity's widely cited benchmark is about 8x your salary by 60 and 10x by 67. It assumes you retire at 67 and save about 15% a year from age 25, so it may not fit if you start late or retire early.

What is a safe withdrawal rate in retirement?

Morningstar's The State of Retirement Income 2025 (December 2025) puts the safe starting withdrawal rate at 3.9%. At that rate, money was still left in 90% of simulated 30-year retirements.

Why should a retirement plan run to age 95?

The Social Security Administration says about one in three 65-year-olds may live to 90 or beyond. A plan that stops at 85 is betting against a large share of retirees, and a longer horizon can lower your success rate a lot.