When a 401(k) balance starts to matter more than a bragging point, people in their 50s begin paying attention. This is the decade when retirement savings should be strongest and the stakes highest.

Editor's note: All 401(k) balance data comes from Vanguard's latest retirement analysis, unless otherwise stated. Turning 50 is a financial checkpoint that tends to feel more real than theoretical.

Lindsay Curtis is a health & medical writer in South Florida. She worked as a communications professional for health nonprofits and the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of ...