Knowing That the Median Retirement Account Is $87,000 Won't Help Me Plan for Retirement. Here's How I'm Tracking Success Instead.

Looking at how much other people have saved for retirement can be interesting. It's exciting to see how your own savings compares, especially if you're doing better than the average American. If you're not quite on track, then checking out where others stand may also help you get motivated to save more.

However, while it may be fun to get this glimpse into the financial lives of others, it's not actually useful to your planning at all -- and if you spend too much time seeing how you stack up with other people, you could end up making mistakes that cost you.

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My own retirement planning has nothing to do with looking at averages

As a financial writer who keeps a pretty close eye on key money numbers, I definitely took note of Motley Fool's research showing that the median retirement account balance is $87,000 in the United States. This was interesting to me only in a professional sense, though, because knowing where people stand can hopefully help me give better advice.

As far as my own retirement planning, though, this number isn't going to make any difference. I won't be changing my account contributions even though my 401(k) and IRA balances are already above the median. And there's a very good reason for that. My own retirement goals are set based on my desired plans for my future. I may want to retire at a younger or older age than my peers, my income may be different from that of typical Americans, and the amount of money I want to spend as a senior may differ from the norm.

The reality is that no two retirements are ever going to look alike. We all start with different goals, money habits, and assets, and those will shape how much money we need for our later years. Comparing yourself to others, even people of the same age or with the same earnings or the same target retirement date is not going to help you personally achieve the dreams that you've set for yourself as a retiree.

Here's what I'm doing instead of comparing myself to others

Instead of letting details about other people's finances dictate my decisions, I've taken a far different approach to setting my own retirement savings goals. Here's what I did:

• I assumed I'd be retiring and claiming Social Security at 62, which is the youngest age at which benefits become available. I'm doing this not because I plan to retire early but because I want to be ready in case I have to.
• I've set a goal to replace at least 90% of my pre-retirement income because I don't want to downgrade my lifestyle as a retiree.
• I've broken my big goal down into small ones, determining exactly how much I must save each month in order for my investments to supplement my retirement checks and give me the income I need.

It definitely takes some time and effort to set specific, personalized goals for retirement. But it's the only way to ensure that I'm on track to build the future I want. The savings goals I've set have already helped me build a bigger balance than the median, but that doesn't matter, so I'm going to keep going.

If you want to achieve your own retirement dreams, don't look at how you're doing relative to others. Make a plan that will give you the money you need for the retirement you deserve, and don't worry about what your peers are doing since your personal retirement is the only thing that matters to you in the end.

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