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My wife and I would need $5 million to retire. What it comes down to in your later years is healthcare. My thoughts are that you need at least a million for that. I don't want to survive during retirement, I want to live. I don't want to have to sell our home and move to a cheaper state or into a 55 and over community. I want to be able to travel with my wife. I want to get on the boat and sail to Hawaii and other places. I want to write books. Then again nothing is stopping me from writing now.
I don't think that money gets in the way of doing anything. I think that the lack of money does that.
Using current dollars the big mystery is supplemental medical insurance. I'll defer to others on that since I really don't know how much that costs.
For a very basic retirement:
$800/mo for rent and utilities.
$200/mo for food.
$250/mo for misc. (clothes, entertainment, TV/Internet/Cell)
+ Medical costs ????
Part B is $109/month, and then there's private supplemental insurance ???, co-pays ???. $250-$500 I'd guess?
So $1,250 to $1,500/month = $15-18k/year. That's very, very bare bones but enough to survive on. My social security (as of now) would cover that but not a whole lot more. Problem is when you get old, you can't count on being healthy. Long-term care insurance purchased fairly early (mid 50s) would add another $6k or so a month.
More comfortably:
$1,500/mo for rent/utilities opens up a lot more options for living someplace you'd want to retire, but not Manhattan or NYC.
$500/mo car expenses.
$200/mo for food
$500/mo miscellaneous
$1,000/mo for healthcare and long-term care insurance (estimating high because I really don't know.
Not counting much on social security, $1,000,000 would be comfortable (30 year drawdown, 4% return, 3% inflation). Relying more heavily on social security and a very bare bones retirement, $250,000 would be enough to cover long-term care insurance and have a bit of spending money.
If you want to travel, keep up a high standard of living that you've become accustomed to, help pay for your grandchildren's college tuition $1,000,000 isn't going to cut it.
Some of you will be pleasantly surprised when you see how well you are insured once you get past 65. You'll probably want a supplemental insurance policy, but Medicare takes care of an awful lot.
The best thing, though, is exercise, diet, and moderation in all things except smoking. Don't do that at all.
Almost everyone I know was just plain scared to retire prior to age 65 because of the risk of going uninsured. And you won't believe the insurance premiums at age 60.
Some of you will be pleasantly surprised when you see how well you are insured once you get past 65. You'll probably want a supplemental insurance policy, but Medicare takes care of an awful lot.
The best thing, though, is exercise, diet, and moderation in all things except smoking. Don't do that at all.
Almost everyone I know was just plain scared to retire prior to age 65 because of the risk of going uninsured. And you won't believe the insurance premiums at age 60.
Plus, I understand that your social security payments are substantially higher if you retire at 65 rather than 60.
To keep my current lifestyle I have it calculated that I need $3.7 million to retire at 67 years old (only myself, not myself and a wife). I still have a few high interest student loans to get rid of, but once I am through those I will be able to save aggressively enough to hit that number.
To retire at 50, i will need at least about 3M in cash. My net worth now at 32 is 650k but making it to the 3M mark seems to be a challenge no matter how i run the numbers. I don't care though...i'm enjoying life and saving as much as i can. the hell with the rest. haha
ps. i'm using 80 as the 'end of the line' for me....
A common theme seems to be health insurance preventing people's retirement...
Why limit yourself to the US? Don't many people go to Ecaudor or Costa Rica for medical care and retire there? Just a thought. Sad state of affair that you must do that, but just a thought.
To retire at 50, i will need at least about 3M in cash. My net worth now at 32 is 650k but making it to the 3M mark seems to be a challenge no matter how i run the numbers. I don't care though...i'm enjoying life and saving as much as i can. the hell with the rest. haha
ps. i'm using 80 as the 'end of the line' for me....
Good job there. That is quite impressive for 32.
Don't be so frugal as to forget we only have one life to live.
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I saw another poster in a very good financial position asking about paying down his mortgage, etc. 
