Interesting. Not sure what the typical retirement span is; if AI on google is to be trusted, it's 18 years of retirement. So if $1M could reach out to 25 years in one's state--that may well be enough. More money might be nicer, but may not be worth the tradeoff (giving up vacations while together as a family, or able to travel, or what have you).
[Yes I know, nobody knows how long they will live, and in each state, the amount to live varies by town. Only talking in the most general of terms.]
I would have guessed $1M would have lasted less time. But I keep hearing about how a number of people have decent retirement portfolios yet are managing to get by on just SS. I would never say one should not save for retirement--but at the same time, one has to have a balance.
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If they are including mortgage... then I think something is off. NH has a median home cost of about $500k with annual property tax of about $6k. That comes out to $40,500 per year. This mortgage calculator is off on property tax, but I'm just showing it for the numbers.
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Their calculation says it costs $38k to live in NH. The nominal 4% withdrawal rate from one's retirement portfolio would just cover the mortgage+tax. Maybe SS would cover the rest of one's living needs, I could see that, SS can pay up to what, $4k to $5k per month, right? Regardless: I don't see how they came up with that $38k number for NH.
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I'd rather retire without the mortgage, then 4% withdraw rate + SS would be comfortable. At least today, who knows what tomorrow and inflation would bring.