my wife and I are retired and own our own home outright...the guy quoted in this article is right...believe me, a million is not that big.....it will conservatively throw off $60,000/year....nobody is gonna live large on $5000/month...not the way taxes are going up in this country.....and don’t get me started on health insurance!....it’s our biggest monthly expense....I used to think a million and you’re rich....now I know different....here’s a realistic retirement outlook:
retire with $500,000....you end up being a greeter at WalMart
retire with $1,000,000.....you get an lower middle class life.
retire with $1.500,000.....you get a middle class life
I;m working on retiring with ~2.5M in the bank. By that time, it should net me a lower class lifestyle. (I’m under 35.)
Understand and agree — for the private sector. People working for the state govt or Feds are in a differenct position, having guaranteed benefits for life. Their retirement is worth over $1,500,000 but they have no idea how good they have it.
I often see folks at work who make $12-$20/hr. They don’t seem to understand that there is no automatic retirement. They buy new cars w/ loans. They don’t make their own lunches. They buy daily Starbucks lattes. When they get to their mid-50s they are in for a rude awakening.
Wheras, the folks at work who make the bigger bucks, they bring their own lunches and buy used cars, etc.