How much should someone save for retirement?

I am 23 and plan on retiring at 70 in 2054. I am maxing out my 401a (no 401k, b/c I work for a non-profit). I imagine that I am doing better than many, but I don't think that my 401a will be enough to retire on. How much do I really need to put in extra investments now and later in my working career in other investments like an IRA. Should I contribute as much as I am able to those too?

You should try to save enough that you can live on the interest income: In retirement, you will want "safe" & reliable investments, usually bonds or CDs, so you should save up enough you can live on 3-5% of that amount a year. That way you will never run out of money.

If you want an income of $50,000/year in retirement, you need to save up (50,000/4) x 100 = $1,250,000

At age 23, you have time to save up FAR more than that, though...and do it NOW, because the dollars you save in the next few years will grow to become the bulk of you retirement savings.

If you earn $25,000/year now, and save 15% of it in your 401(a) plan, assuming an average annual return of 9%, you will retire with about $2M in savings, even if YOU NEVER GET A RAISE! If, as is more likely, you get occasional raises and your return is closer to the long-term historic average of 10.8%, you'll have closer to $4,000,000!

Best wishes! You are already way ahead of your peers to be thinking about this at 23....

https://retirementplans.vanguard.com/VGA...

If you can afford it, put as much as you can away. Does your company offer an HSA (health savings account)? These are for medical expenses, but they are yours forever, as a pre-tax benefit. You can put in a few thousand a year, and let it build up until retirement.

why do you want to work until you're 70? I don't know what maxing it out means to you - are you putting 15,500 a year into it? That's the maximum allowed for your age group - If you're even putting just $40 per week in now and increase your percentage each yr or two until until reach 10%, and you get just an 8% annual return, you'll be a rich woman by age 62. Don't forget to save for a house and kids and kids college also. I couldn't even find any info on 401(a) plans on Google

Do you already have a house?
Do you already have a MBA or another advanced degree?

You can retire in three ways:
1) Millionaire style: This means you retire with twice the money you used to make when you were working. For example if you did $20,000.00 each year then you will spend up to $40,000.00 per year until you die.
2) Middle class style: This means you retire with the same money you used to make when you were working. For example if you did $20,000.00 each year then you will spend up to $20,000.00 per year until you die.
3) Pennyless style: This means you retire with less than half the money you used to make when you were working. For example if you did $20,000.00 each year then you will spend up to $10,000.00 per year until you die.

How do you want to retire?