Interesting. I figure $1 million to retire and live comfortably. And not in overpriced Reno, either! Not sure where, but not in any of those listed cities. No way.
The measure I use is to add your expenses and a bit more, so you aren’t stuck at home all the time. Then I multiply by 25, to assume a 4% return if I were drawing the income from investments.
In my city, that would probably be about $1,2 million CAN, so you have enough income for a reasonable care and to pay your rent and buy groceries.
The only way you can be comfortable in San Francisco on $1.7 million is if you are out in the boonies, where the non-millionaires live. I cannot imagine living in San Francisco on just $1.7 million and making it.
10 mil
I must not be very bright either ...
cause I feel pretty happy and satisfied.
The lights are on ..AC too ...
Food in the house.
I got walking around money in my pocket..
Can't think of anything I would want that I couldn't go get.
Or anywhere I would want to go that I couldn't go.
Good wife.
Kids... grand kids.. neighbors ..
Plenty of projects to keep me busy.
Eternal life ...
Taxes did double over the last 2 years ... not a problem, but it is an aggravation.
Would I be better off wealthy?
The trick is to retire without debt. If house and cars have no debt, we live easily on about $5000/month. At 4% conservative ROI would need $1.5 million investment capital.
It’s not how much you make or own. It’s how much you don’t spend or owe.
I would need more than even the San Francisco number of $4.7M to consider myself wealthy anywhere in the U.S., not just San Fran.
Well ... I’m way down the list.
all these articles keep talking about “net worth” ... not sure if they actually mean “liquid net worth” or not ...
at any rate, net worth is NOT the measure of being able to live comfortably, whereas liquid net worth is such a measure ...
it matters not if you own a yacht or a mansion you live in if your income is at the social security level and/or your liquid savings (cash, bank accounts, money market funds, easily disposable securities) is minuscule ...