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Comment by JohnPrine | Hacker News Reader

He means the article is saying they will need $3 million in today's dollars to retire

The needs of retirement should scale with inflation, so that means you also need $3 million today (in today's dollars) – which is rather high. $600,000 is not too far off what is the minimum recommended amount of saving to retire for 20 years on today, so it seems they simply adjusted that figure for inflation and then forgot that the income used to build up those savings also goes up with inflation.

$600,000 for 20 years is 30K per year. They'd get by on those for the next 20 years if they were to retire today?

> $600,000 for 20 years is 30K per month

I do believe that would be 30k per year.

Yes, fixed.

$30K per month, even 40 years from now based on 2% inflation, is equivalent to $13k per month today. You'd have to try really hard to not get by on that.

I assume you mean $30k per year. The recommended is more like $700,000, and that factors in your pension, but we're just using approximate figures here. Still, $30k per day today is quite doable for a retiree. What are you going to spend your money on, exactly? You've already purchased everything you need by that point in life, so you're just in maintenance mode.

For starters, that's the "point in life" where most medical emergencies arrive.

That's true. As a non-American I forget that you have to worry about such things. The $3 million is in line with what I would expect will be needed in 40 years, sans healthcare costs. It is, adjusted for inflation, in line with what is recommended today where healthcare is provided to all. So, it seems it seems that figure assumes that US healthcare will be 'free' in 40 years?

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