By Rachel Christian, Bankrate.com

If you’re serious about financial security in retirement, you can’t rely on Social Security alone .

For most people, those checks cover only a fraction of their living expenses. According to the Social Security Administration, the average monthly benefit for retired workers as of July 2025 was about $2,000 a month. That barely covers rent in many cities, let alone food, health care and everything else you’ll need over decades in retirement.

The pension era is also over for most workers. Outside of government jobs, pensions have largely disappeared as companies shifted the onus of saving for retirement to employees via 401(k)s and IRAs . According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 15% of private industry (non-government) workers had access to a

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