Some good news on the retirement front: The average 401(k) account balance reached a record high and workers are stashing away more in their plans, according to Fidelity, the largest retirement savings plan provider. 
 
 The average 401(k) held $91,800 in the first quarter of this year, up 3.6% from a year ago. Meanwhile, a record 23% of employees in Fidelity plans hiked their 401(k) contributions in the past year. The average savings rate, including both employer and employee contributions, climbed to 12.5%. 
 
 For employees in a 401(k) plan for 10 or more years, the average balance was a hefty $251,600, up 12% year over year. For those with both a 401(k) and IRA at Fidelity, the average combined balance rose 2.2% to $267,200. 
 
 Impressive, but it may not be enough. The Fidelity report doesn’t spell it out, but most of these gains are owed to the bull market, which will eventually fade. Meanwhile, the typical employee is still far behind in retirement saving. 
 
 That may seem counter-intuitive, given those lofty balances, but the averages are skewed upwards by high-income savers. The typical working household nearing retirement with a 401(k) and an IRA has a median $111,000 combined, which would yield less than $400 a month in retirement, according to a recent report by the Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research. 
 
 For households ages 55 to 64 earning $40,000 to $60,000 a year, the median balance in 401(k) and IRA accounts is just $53,000. For the same age group earning $138,000 or more, the median account is $452,000, according to CRR. 
 
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 Financial planners recommend saving 10% to 15% of your income annually, starting in your 20s. The goal: amass 10 to 12 times your final annual earnings in order to have enough to maintain your standard of living in retirement. So if you make $60,000 a year, you should accumulate $600,000 to $720,000 by the time you retire. 
 
 That’s a tall order, and you could certainly live on less—many people do. Still, to have a shot at affording a decent retirement, you need to save consistently over the long term. And to do that, you need a plan, which gives a huge advantage to workers who have a 401(k). 
 
 According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s latest Retirement Confidence survey, those with 401(k) plans are much more optimistic about their retirement prospects: 71% of those with a plan are very or somewhat confident they will live comfortably in retirement, vs. just 33% of those who are not, EBRI found. Similarly, the CRR report shows that 68% of older households with the highest median retirement account balances had a 401(k) vs. just 22% for the group with the least savings. 
 
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 Employers could be doing more to encourage that kind of savings behavior. Just one-third of 401(k) plans automatically enroll new workers but only 13% of companies automatically increase contribution rates each year, according to Fidelity. 
 
 To see if you’re on track, run your numbers on an online retirement savings calculator, such as those offered by T. Rowe Price or Vanguard. Get MONEY’s advice on how to make the most of your 401(k) at every stage of your life here. If you don’t have a 401(k), here’s what you need to know about IRAs. 
 
 Get more tips on investing for retirement: 
 
 What Is the Right Mix of Stocks and Bonds for Me? 
 
 How Many Funds Do I Need? 
 
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 / Source: NBC News By John W. Schoen, CNBC 
 
 It's the biggest financial worry for anyone saving for retirement: will I outlive my savings and die broke? 
 
 Based on surveys repeatedly pointing to dismally low levels of retirement savings, most American households have reason to be concerned. The latest report on how many Americans die broke comes from an analysis by the Employee Benefits Research Institute based on data from the University of Michigan's Health and Retirement Study. 
 
 Of those 85 or older who died between 2010 and 2012, roughly one in five had no assets other than a house, according to the analysis. The average home equity was about $140,000. Roughly one in eight of those households had no assets at all. 
 
 Those who died single at 85 or older fared worse, roughly a quarter had only some equity in a house — about $83,000 on average. One in six had nothing, and one in 10 died with an average debt of about $6,000. 
 
 For those who died at a younger age, the numbers were even worse. Some 30 percent of households losing a family member between ages 50 and 64 had no assets left. Those households also had lower incomes than older retirees. 
 
 "A lot of folks really don't have much of a financial cushion by the time they get to the end." 
 
 Old and Poor 
 
 For many retirees, the end of life comes with major medical costs that can wipe out savings. But others have little savings to begin with. 
 
 "A lot of folks really don't have much of a financial cushion by the time they get to the end," said MIT economist James Poterba, whose 2012 study found that many Americans die with "virtually no financial assets." 
 
 Poterba's study found that 46 percent of American's had less than $10,000 in financial assets in the last year of their life. 
 
 "Many more people who have very low financial assets at the end of life have been bumping along with low assets through most of their retirement," he said. "They just hadn't saved very much." 
 
 A number of studies have detailed how little retirees have saved. 
 
 Last fall, a Harris poll conducted for Wells Fargo found that a third of respondents between ages 25 and 75 — with a household median income of $63,000 — weren't contributing anything a 401(k), an IRA or other retirement savings account. Half of those over age 50 said they won't even have enough money to "survive" on in retirement. 
 
 And for those nearing retirement, the median savings was just $14,500, according to a study last month by the National Institute of Retirement Security. 
 
 "So it's not surprising that there a lot of people who get to 75 or 85 and have nothing left," said Diane Oakley, the institute's executive director. "They didn't have much to begin with." 
 
 Struggling to Save 
 
 While living longer requires a larger nest egg at retirement, the Employee Benefits Research Institute analysis found that older households fared better financially at the end of life. 
 
 "Households which lost family members at relatively younger ages were also the households with lower asset holdings and lower income," said Sudipto Banerjee, author of the study. "Singles who died relatively early were in much worse financial condition than couples." 
 
 People who died earlier also had significantly lower household income than households with all surviving members. 
 
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 Poterba suggested there may be two reasons people who died older seemed better off financially. One is that healthier people may be able to earn more in their lifetime than those with life-long health issues that may shorten their life span. Conversely, people with greater wealth have better access to health care that may help them live longer. 
 
 Older workers may fare better because many of them are from a generation that was more likely to be covered by a defined benefit pension, which helped them pay the bills without tapping into savings, said Oakley. 
 
 That's not going to be true for coming generations, who are about half as likely to have access to a defined benefit plan at work, she said. 
 
 As more households rely on building their own nest egg, they'll need to put away more savings. But it remains to be seen whether younger workers will be able to do so — especially if interest rates stay low for an extended period, said Poterba. 
 
 "It's very easy for people not to realize how expensive it is to provide a steady income stream and how much you need to build up," he said. "As a matter of arithmetic, if we're in a very long period of lower rates of return, it's going to be challenging for younger households to build up a nest egg by the time they reach 65 because they don't get the compounding that you get at higher rates of return."
– Need a push to start saving? You've got it, courtesy of the Employee Benefits Research Institute. A review of retirement surveys from 2010 to 2012 finds one in eight people who died at 85 or older were dead broke, with no assets to their name, reports NBC News. One in five had only a house as an asset, with average home equity of $140,000. Single? The news gets worse. One in six who died at 85 or older without a spouse were penniless. Some 10% were actually in debt, while 25% had $83,000 on average in home equity. But not all have the benefit of living to old age. About 30% of households that lost a family member between 50 and 64 left no financial assets and earned less income than older retirees. "A lot of folks really don't have much of a financial cushion by the time they get to the end," says an economist, who previously found 46% of Americans die with less than $10,000 in assets. His findings suggest those who live longer die richer, perhaps because they didn't battle expensive, life-long health issues and therefore had money to spend on better health care. A shred of good news: Retirement account balances have hit record highs, according to an analysis from Fidelity Investments, per Time. The company says the average individual retirement account balance hit a record high of $94,100 in Q1 and the average Fidelity 401(k) balance is up 3.6% from 2014, though other reports are more discouraging.