GUYS, are are MISSING THE POINT. This is a study conducted by a BROKER who SELLS INVESTMENT SERVICES FOR RETIREMENT. Of course they say you "need" way more than most people think. This conclusion was the entire point of the survey, because it will help them sell more automatic investing plans, etc, etc, etc. Words are nothing compared to motive.
in addition, English is one of the national languages. There are a lot of choices, but if you don't speak the main language, life can be pretty bleak. Hard to imagine a place where everyone mostly spoke spanish, chinese, portuguese, etc. and you did not... one can relocate to another country or within your own country, but things like the culture, the language, and many other things you need to ensure you will fit in, or you may have an empty retirement
A good book on a related topic http://www.amazon.com/Where-Customers-Yachts-Street-Marketplace/dp/0471119784
Even if you own everything free and clear and have no debt and kids all done with college $1M is nowhere near enough if you plan to retire at 65 and never work again. Property taxes run $15K a year where I am. Club membership offers a very nice lifestyle for a retiree but annual dues aren't cheap. Cars start to need expensive maintenance if you actually want to keep them more than 4-5 years. How about a few trips to the city each month for dinner and a show, that's $2-3K right there! And what about travel? Entertaining people at your home? No, even $1M will only allow you to basically be trapped in your home to slowly rot if you do it in the US. If you are currently a dullard who is happy living in rural America with your chickens and watching TV every night with a TV dinner then please disregard this post, $1M is more than enough for you.
Retirement is a fiction born of the Ponzi economy. James Hoffa had difficulty unionizing the workforce until he struck a deal with the mob. He got their muscle, and in return, the mob had access to the other fiction: the worker's Pensions. Wall Street finally wized up and got in on the action and replaced the mob. Management fees, commissions, bonuses... etc... And then government watched the Social Security fund explode and started treating it like the suitcase in the film "Dumb and Dumber." Lots of IOUs replaced that stash of cash. Over 2 trillion. Now those IOUs have to be cashed to keep the Ponzi going. Why do you think GWB wanted to "privatize" SS? No worries, we'll use the printing press to steal from the masses to pay those bills. It's called inflation. The bottom line? Anytime pools of capital accumulate, the thieves will accumulate too. And between theft and the natural progression of a ponzi scheme - little to nothing is eventually left. Yet every once in a while we hear about that lonesome widow/spinster that accumulated millions from a frugal lifestyle and her investment in a few stocks. That's a great story to tell the masses to keep the fiction going. We base our lives on the success of that one person in a million. The last wealthy woman to have succeeded such owned Abbotts Labs. stock, but what happened to her counterpart that bought the Walmart of her day, Woolworth stock? LOL
For Boomers (ages 43 to 64), 35% recommended $2 million to $3 million. Thirty percent suggested $1.5 million to $2 million. According to Scottrade's analysis. ------------------ Good recs. I agree. I've spent my life needing a million dollars. Good to know as I get older I'll need 2-3 million.
Here is an interesting article on retirement investing. http://easyretirementinvesting.com/category/updates/retirement-investing/ The article indicates that 2 M$ in retirement savings invested properly has a better than 98% chance of surviving for 35 years. The author states that "reducing your exposure to risky assets and using restraint in taking cost of living raises are the keys to the long term survival of your retirement savings".
one million plus a paid for house and ss and medicare elegibility is more than enough if you are not clueless . many are. only you know for sure. do you have to call a plumber to fix a leaking faucet? do you need a new car every couple of years. are you the type that cant even cut their own grass? can you control your emotions? are you going to get talked into a big boat or a timeshare? are you going to give money to a fast talking preacher? do you have worthless kids that will convince you to give them money. are you going to spend down your money or do you think you owe your kids an inheritance? everybody is different. only you can answer these questions.
A club?? bunch of boring old fucks playing games, shoot me now if that's my destiny $15K a year property taxes? then move you dumb bastard. $3K a year for me Dinner and a show in town? Boooooring entertaining people at my home? lol! good one Car repairs: ~2K a year if have something decent, anything more then make a payment and get a new one. So you finally have freedom and you want to join a club? really
I hate that you are right about this. Keep the illusion going, keep the dreamers dreaming. There is an old poem that I heard from a preacher that this reminds me of. It goes like this.... "Their creed is greed, Their god is gold, They get all they can, Can all they get, Poison the rest, and sit on the lid.