By Andrea Coombes

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch)Are you saving enough for retirement? A new tool from Fidelity Investments aims to give savers a rough guide to let them know whether theyre on trackbut, as with all retirement tools aimed at a broad audience, take the information with a grain of salt.

Fidelitys new guide estimates that workers should save at least eight times their salary by the time they retire at age 67, in order to replace 85% of their pre-retirement income. (To reach that 85% replacement rate, Fidelity adds in expected Social Security benefits.) The guide offers specific age-based savings goals to meet along the way.

For example, Fidelity says that a 35-year-old should be on track to cover her basic retirement expenses if shes saved one years worth of her current salary and she continues to save at a specified rate until she retires at age 67. For a 40-year-old, its two times salary; for a 55-year-old its five times salary.

For people who are unsure about whether theyre saving enoughand plenty of us fit that descriptionthis type of guidepost may be a useful check-in. Fidelity Investments, which unveiled the new tool on Wednesday, manages 401(k) plans for about 12 million participants and said workers are asking for this type of information.

Among workers who call for retirement guidance, The No. 1 question we get from participants when they call is, Am I on track? said Beth McHugh, vice president of thought leadership at Fidelity Investments.

Heres the rub: Any tool or guide that promises to tell you how much you need to save is using assumptions that may or may not fit your situation. You may end up saving too littleor too much. As Fidelity notes in its news release: Every individuals situation will differ greatly. The best advice is to proceed with caution with this tool and with any of the myriad retirement-savings calculators and guides out there.

For example, while Fidelity says that having saved eight times your salary by the time you retire is a good rule of thumb to reach an 85% replacement rate, consulting firm Aon Hewitt says youll need 11 times your salary saved to pay for retirement costs.

According to Aons report, which studied savings behavior of 2.2 million workers at 78 large firms, a 25-year-old worker with solely a 401(k) plan needs to save 15% a year (including the company match) to retire at 65 with adequate resources.

The Aon report adds that people who wait until age 30 to start saving need to set aside 19% of pay (including the match). Aon assumes a company match of 6% and an employee contribution of 9% every year for 40 years, and that men will live to 87 and women to 88.

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Andrea Coombes' Ways and Means: Retirement savings: How much is enough?