I'm 50 With No Retirement Savings. What Should I Do Now?

Age 50 is a time to get serious about retirement if you haven't adopted that mindset already. While you may still have a good number of working years ahead of you, let's face it -- the bulk of your career is probably behind you at this point.

Fidelity says that by age 50, it's good to have six times your salary socked away for retirement. So if you're 50 years old with no money in savings, you're admittedly not in the best situation.

But don't panic. Even though a $0 IRA or 401(k) balance at 50 isn't optimal, you still have an opportunity to make up for lost time. The key, though, is to start prioritizing retirement savings immediately, and to invest your savings for maximum growth.

Start by putting the savings process on autopilot

If you've reached the age of 50 without any retirement savings, it means you're clearly not in the habit of setting money aside for that milestone. You don't need to beat yourself up over that. But you should make immediate changes to avoid a financial crunch down the line.

The best thing you can do in this situation is comb through your budget and see how much money you can free up each month for retirement savings purposes immediately. If it's a very small amount, you may need to cut a few expenses or take on a side hustle to come up with the money. You probably want to start contributing at least $500 a month to an IRA or 401(k) at this stage of life if you have a $0 balance to start with.

Once you figure out how much money you can contribute toward your savings each month, put the process on autopilot. You can do this by signing up for your company's 401(k), which will take the money out of your paychecks before they hit your bank account. Or, you can set up an automatic transfer to an IRA.

Invest in stocks

The other thing you'll need to be willing to do is invest your savings in stocks. While stocks can be risky, they have a history of offering strong returns. And if you're 50, you may not be retiring for another decade or more, which means you have time to ride out stock market volatility.

Over the past 50 years, the stock market's average annual return has been 10%. If you're able to sock away $500 a month in a retirement plan for the next 15 years and you score that same return, you're looking at a balance of around $190,000. If you decide you'll work until age 70, thereby giving yourself a 20-year savings and investing window instead of 15, you could end up with more like $344,000.

Focus on the future -- don't dwell on the past

It's sometimes easier to dwell on mistakes than take steps to address them. Clearly, it's not the best thing to be 50 without retirement savings. But it's also not the worst.

So rather than get upset over reaching this stage of life with no savings, make immediate changes to put yourself on a more positive path. Once you start seeing your nest egg grow, you may be able to find a way to make peace with your financial past and focus more on your future.