I think reaching a truly comparable savings rate is hard. Do you include taxes or not, social contributions. What if you’re self-employed? Then your income is usually higher, but your costs are also higher.
- 50k savings from a 100k net salary is 50%
- 50k savings from a 130k gross salary is 38%
- 50k savings + 2*7k pension contributions from a 130k gross salary + 7k employer contr. is 46%
- 50k savings + 2*7k pension contributions from a 160k revenue as a freelancer is 40%
(running a company, you have admin costs and VAT - should you count VAT as cost?)
That’s why I suggested in one post in the past, that what matters is the relation between your current savings and your future expenses once retired (not your current expenses). Current expenses are the cost of doing business, they depend on your legal situation (married, kids?), domicile (tax haven or tax hell?), and source of income (salary, business, are margins high or low?). Future expenses is what you predict to spend in total once retired, all the costs that will need to be paid from your current savings.