If you start your career earning $60,000 and switch jobs every five years, you've lost about $300,000 in retirement savings.

A study published in September from the Vanguard Group found that changing jobs had a noticeable effect on retirement savings, amounting to six years of lost retirement funds. The study compared two hypotheses: Someone who stays with a company for 40 years, from age 25 to age 65, with an initial retirement savings rate of 3%. This person reaches the maximum retirement savings rate of 10% by age 32.

The second person is a job switcher who changes roles eight times over a 40-year career. They revert to a default pension contribution rate of 3% each time they switch to a new employer, and the rate increases by 1% each year until it reaches 10%.

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The study calculated that the person who switches jobs has “a 41% smaller retirement nest egg” after retirement. He also acknowledged that changing jobs “reflects the reality of many workers today.”

The study pegged retirement spending at $48,000 per year. This number is less than estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statisticswhich put the average annual spending at $52,141 as of March.

Changing jobs also has an impact on overall income. A July 2022 study from the Pew Research Center found that the majority of workers (60%) who changed jobs between April 2021 and March 2022 saw their wages increase, even with inflation factored in.

Related: She started a business with $300 after being laid off. It made $300,000 in year 1 and became a multi-million dollar company.