Approaching the big 3-0 milestone may raise new and daunting questions about your financial future. Like many thirty-somethings, maybe your savings account is a little less healthy than you would like. Or maybe those recommended zeros and commas in your retirement accounts are non-existent.

There are many reasons why saving money isn’t a priority in your 20s, especially since your annual salary may leave you struggling to make ends meet.

But as you approach your 30s, you should be honing in on a few financial goals, like tackling student loan debt or accumulating a nest egg to start saving for retirement.

How much money you should have saved by 30, according to financial experts

Some firms like Fidelity Investments say having the equivalent of your annual salary saved for retirement is a good savings plan for your 30s. Others, like certified financial planner Lauryn Williams, recommend a more reasonable approach to help your bottom line: saving 20% of your pre-tax income.

“I find that’s a good guideline,” Williams says. “But it can be really difficult for people in their 30s trying to save 20% of their income while juggling a lot of monthly expenses like daycare costs.”

Let’s take a closer look at saving money in your 30s and how to catch up if you’re behind on your personal savings and retirement goals.

How much do most people have in their savings accounts by 30?

Worried you're behind on saving for retirement? According to the Federal Reserve, you’re in good company. Their 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances reports U.S. families have a national median savings of about $8,000 in transactional accounts, which might include a checking account, savings account, or money market accounts.

When it comes to 401(k) balances, 2023 data from investment firm Vanguard indicates most Americans under 35 have just started to build retirement income with an average of about $37,000 in their retirement fund.

Author, podcaster, and financial wellness advocate Tony Steuer says setting personal savings goals by age is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor and shouldn’t necessarily involve taking on risky investments to play catch-up.

“If you’re in your 30s and the goal you’re thinking about is financial independence in your 60s, you have a pretty long time horizon.”

Earn more: 15 savings accounts that pay 5% APY or higher

A step-by-step guide to prioritizing savings at 30

Does the balance in your individual retirement account keep you up at night? Don’t panic just yet. If you’re in your 30s, you still have time to put your savings to work. Here’s how.

Step 1: Focus on paying down credit card debt

Before saving for retirement, clear any high-interest debt like credit cards. The extra money you pay in interest can undermine your retirement savings goal and keep you locked in a cycle of debt.

“If you have a retirement account where you’re conservatively getting a 5% or 6% return but at the same time you’re paying on a credit card with 11% interest, you need to pay off your debt first, or you’re just losing money putting it into your retirement fund,” Steuer warns.

Read more: The best 0% APR credit cards

Step 2: Start an emergency fund

If you aren’t meeting the benchmarks for savings by age in your 30s, throwing everything into a retirement account might be tempting. But Williams says you should prioritize eliminating debt like student loans and have part of your salary saved for emergencies.

“My motto is put retirement savings first, and you’ll never be disappointed,” says Williams. “If you can’t fill both buckets, focus on removing consumer debt from your plate and then set up an emergency fund to keep you out of the cycle of debt when emergencies happen.”

Read more: How much money should I have in an emergency savings account?

Step 3: Set some savings goals

How much savings should you be setting aside? When you’re in your 30s with a heavy burden of living expenses, clearing a hurdle like 20% of your annual income feels overwhelming. One rule of thumb to help overwhelmed savers is to break it down into monthly or weekly average savings goals.

The US Census Bureau says the median household income in 2023 was $80,610 before taxes. To save 20% of that amount, you’ll need to squirrel away $16,122 in your bank accounts or retirement saving accounts. That’s a monthly goal of $1,344 or $310 a week.

Read more: How much money should I have saved by 40?

Step 4: Automate transfers to your savings account

It’s likely your 401(k) is funded by a direct deposit from your paycheck. If you don’t have an employer-sponsored retirement plan, automating transfers into a high-yield savings account can help you prioritize savings. The best high-yield savings accounts are currently paying around 5% interest.

Automating transfers can also help you curb something called lifestyle creep, a phenomenon Brent Weiss, CFP®, ChFC®, and Head of Financial Wellness for Facet, says is common in your 30s.

“Because all these big things are happening (buying a home, having kids), we lose sight of expenses that drag down our finances. If you can avoid lifestyle creep, you’ll have time on your side and more money to put towards retirement or financial independence.”

Step 5: Start early to leverage compound interest

Compound interest is essentially free money you earn from saving some of your pre-retirement income in an interest-bearing account like a savings or money market account. And eventually, as you earn interest on your interest, you start making even more money.

Steuer offers this example to help people better understand how compound interest works:

“If someone starts investing $7,000 at age 35 and they earn a 7% interest rate, they'll have a total of $707,511 at age 65. Now, somebody who starts 10 years later at age 45 and invests $15,500 a year at 7%, they’ll actually have less money at age 65—around $657,948. The longer you wait, the more you’ll have to save.”

Read more: How much money should I have saved by 50?

Step 6: Maximize the employer match on your retirement plan

Employer matches are among the best ways to hit your savings targets while maximizing your tax benefits.

Peter Lazaroff, CFA, CFP®, and host of the Long Term Investor podcast, says there’s a pecking order to allocate your paycheck for retirement savings. “First, always invest enough to get the match in your employer account. That’s free money. You should always do that no matter what.”

Adds Steuer: Company matches offer a savings rate of return you won’t get anywhere else. “If your employer is matching you dollar for dollar up to 3%, you're getting a 100% return on your money. That’s impossible to get anywhere else.”

Step 7: Consolidate your retirement accounts

It’s hard to manage your money well when you’re not even sure where it is. Roll over your money into a select retirement account when you can to clean up your financial house before life gets too complicated.

“By the time you’re in your 30s, you’ve worked for multiple employers,” Lazaroff says. “Maybe you’ve even had multiple advisers. It’s hard to make good, consistent, cost-effective decisions when your investments are spread all over the place. Consolidate your accounts, and you’ll simplify your finances.”

How to start saving by 30 FAQs

Are there other retirement savings strategies I should lean into besides a traditional IRA?

If you have a company-sponsored 401(k) and contribute enough to earn the full employer match, you're off to a good start for your 30s. If you don’t have a company plan or want to save even more, a traditional IRA is a retirement saving vehicle you can open yourself. You’re allowed to put a maximum of $7,000 in annually or up to $8,000 if you’re over 50.

Another top pick of financial advisers is a Roth IRA, which you fund with after-tax dollars that you can withdraw tax-free in retirement. The annual contribution max applies, meaning if you have both a Roth and traditional IRA, you can contribute a total of $7,000 a year to both.

Should I be making riskier investments in my 30s?

Making riskier investments when you’re younger to maximize your average annual return is a popular piece of financial advice, but that strategy changes as you get older.

Says Weiss: “You want to be more conservative as your time horizon towards retirement gets shorter – not only because you want to protect your investments but because if you’ve planned properly, you don’t need to take as much risk in your portfolio.”

Read more: High-yield savings account vs. investing: Which is right for you?