Fascinating! $5.5M Needed for a Comfortable Retirement?
What affluent Americans think, and what I think about what they think…
How much do you need for retirement?
This commonly asked question reminds me of my mom’s scoffing, “How much cloth do you need to make a suit for an orphan?” she’d ask.
The point is, it’s irrelevant that the suit is for an orphan, but you’ve been given no relevant info such as the orphan’s measurements.
Here, we have no info on what lifestyle you’d want to live in retirement.
If your desired retirement requires a budget of $50k a year, you’d need far less than if your number is $150k a year.
What do affluent Americans think?
According to a First Citizens Wealth Study, 709 employed people who have already amassed at least $500k were asked, “When you reach retirement age, what amount of money do you feel you will need for the following conditions?”
The three listed conditions were: (1) bare minimum, (2) comfortable retirement, and (3) retire and bequeath wealth to heirs.
- For the first condition, the average reply was $1.5M.
- For the second, the average was $3.0M.
