Is $1 Million Enough to Retire On?
It depends upon your expectations
Reader Comments
One Flaw
Social Security will not exist at retirement for anyone who is under 40 today. Neither will Medicare.
The thought that either program will make it that long -- or that Social Security will replace 45% of your income -- is a complete and utter delusion.
Accept it, plan for it. I haven't included Social Security in my retirement plans for years.
Doom and gloom
I am under 40 and I know that Social Security will be there for me when I retire and long after. I tire of the doom and gloom from people about Social Security. Even if we do nothing, the only bad thing that will happen to it is that sometime in the middle of the century, benefits will be 75% of what they would otherwise be. If we make a few minor changes, Social Security will be 100% solvent forever. Why do people think that a program that has been around for decades is all of a sudden going to disappear in four decades hence?
Do you know how far 50k goes in foreign country?
This article is stupid. Who says you have to stay in the US when you retire? You can live a pretty nice life on 2k a month in Thailand or Mexico. Jesus, if you have 1 million cash, just buy a 5% CD and get 50k every year. That equates to 3 thousand after taxes...plenty to live on in another country and that's before adding your social security checks.
Drink your margaritas by the bench every evening doesn't sound so bad.
indeed
government estimates predict medicare will be gone by 2020, and social security by 2027.
Don't fool yourself
The problem with Social Security isn't a matter of policy, it's numbers. The false belief that just because it has worked up till now means it will continue is rubbish. The biggest problem we face is that the sheer number of baby boomers beginning to retire will overwhelm the Generation X workforce and younger that is supposed to support them.
I am just over forty and I'll tell you that you have to pretend Social Security doesn't exist, if by some strange chance it survives by the time we retire - consider it gravy.
Foreign country?
Who wants to leave the greatest country in the world? My parents worked their behinds off to move from those foreign countries jo mamma mentioned. Sure, it sounds good, but have you actually stayed long term in those countries.
Marginal water supply, iffy utilities, weak infrastructure.
I'm guessing you may have vacationed in Puerto Vallarta and thought - "Gee, this is great". Sure - try and actually living there before you make ridiculous comments.
Mult-Multiple Flaws - to Dr Gonzo of MN
Times are a-changing right in front of our eyes. +$4 Gas and food inflation prices alone speak to that. Please do all the math before you lead others astray that Social Security will be there (in anywhere near its current form). It won't using today's math. You can't continue to offer benefits where 3 people support every retire, especially when that 3 is going towards 2 supporters. And living older means healthcare costs grow exponentially. R U aware that Medicare and Medicaid are going bankrupt faster than Social Security? Have you calculated the $9 Trillion of Federal Debt we all owe? And that curve is growing nearly asympotitic, something that can only be properly fixed with huge government spending. And not just the 19% in Military spending but the 81% in all the other inefficient liberal programs our Congressional leaders have stuffed down our throats. A dollar that isn't backed by gold nor silver. That means that until spending is cut inflation is something you can continue to count on. And heavier taxes are likely with any democrat in power - as will make our business'es even less competitive against other countries without generous social programs. 33% is the average tax on what I make, and then when I buy anything I get hit with another 6%. Tell me that that ~40% isn't a great burden. To me it seems as though we're not more than a heartbeat away from the 60-70% taxes of the Nordic countries.
K C of our 27th State.
Sure it is
If your first expenditure results in a fatal accident.
Yeah, Don't YOU Fool Yourself...
"The problem with Social Security isn't a matter of policy, it's numbers. The false belief that just because it has worked up till now means it will continue is rubbish. The biggest problem we face is that the sheer number of baby boomers beginning to retire will overwhelm the Generation X workforce and younger that is supposed to support them."
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This is false. The problem isn't that there are too many boomers - there is a massive trust fund surplus to cover that. You're shooting off your mouth without knowing the facts.
The problem IS policy - precisely the opposite of what the above poster states. The problem is that the government has run up a massive debt - of which the bonds in the SS Trust Fund is only one. The trust fund contains Treasury Securities that have been bought and paid for by the public (including the boomers) and IS enough to cover the boomers' SS with some minor tweaking (like lifting the earnings limit). These are the same types of securities that people buy every day for their investment accounts. The boomers' retirements have been bought and paid for - it's just a matter of whether the government will renege on the bonds these workers purchased for their retirements (the bonds that are now in the SS Trust Fund). In other words, will the government steal the all the money that the boomers (and others) sent from their paychecks to build up the trust fund (and use it for things like bailing out speculating banks, as the FED is now doing)? If people believe the moron who posted above, they just might be able to pull it off the biggest heist in history.
The poster above is spewing dumbed-down GW Bush propaganda. It's a blatant lie, and it is based on ignorance.
