Many retired Americans rely heavily on Social Security checks for their income, but often, those payments don’t stretch far enough to cover all of their expenses. According to government data, in 2025, the average Social Security benefit is just $1,976 per month.
If that doesn’t sound like much, that’s because it isn’t. A recent study projected that by 2040, 32.6 million U.S. households with retirement-age individuals could have an average cash shortfall of more than $7,000 annually. That gap between retirement income and retirees’ needs is a big reason why many Americans will need to do more to build their own portfolios of investments, rather than trying to rely on Social Security benefits alone.
If you’re on the hunt for stocks that could help you build wealth over the long haul that you can eventually tap in retirement, there are a few compelling reasons to make Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) one of your picks.