Assuming no debt at retirement age (65), how much cash do you think you would need in your savings/retirement account to live comfortably? I’ve been reading various articles and polls that put the number between 2-3 million! Does that sound low, high, or about right? I also read statistics that Americans are the worst savers, and the vast majority have less than 10k in savings, and many are under water with debt.
Depends entirely on your definition lf ‘living comfortably’
I’ll leave that to the individual, but in general, the amount you would need to maintain your pre-retirement lifestyle, and assuming you’d live to age 90, or 25 years after retirement.
I can’t actually see any way I could ever afford to retire. I’m just going to have to keep working…
Dave Ramsey
/thread
Get his books and start his program. My parents have been on it after me and my sis went to college, my mom lost her job due to injury, and money got tight.
I think it’s really helped ease the load of it all, and while we’re not comfortable by any stretch, its definitely made us more organized with our money.
Though 55 is a bit late to be getting ready for retirement. Isn’t that something you start getting ready for when you’re like mid 30’s?
I have a feeling all the baby boomers will be working at Wal-Mart before they’re done. SS isn’t gonna support all these people, they’ll have to do something.
Were you referring to me? I’ve been saving since my early 20’s! It was a question for people in general. 
Buddy, I’m sure you’re fine then! As long as you’ve been properly investing and putting your money in the right places.
Have faith in your life’s work.
Then again I’m only 18, what do I know about retirement?
Haha, that’s why I titled the thread, “Baby boomer retirement savings”. 
And it also assumes that the baby boomers would have been saving for many years, not just starting to save.
But all you have to know at your young age, is that the time will come when you will retire, so start saving NOW! The younger you are, the less you need to save each year to have a fat next egg at retirement.
I figure $4000/month for minimum comfort. I will be paying a mortgage for many years. I will have to work until I drop dead or retire in jail from strangling some snotty kid ;). My only retirement will be death. I started teaching too late to have a decent retirement. My social security is mostly taken away since it’s considered double dipping to use SS and my teacher retirement (even though I worked as a non-teacher for many years). My previous savings was used to buy a house. My husband lost most of his retirement in the stock market hit. We are screwed but oh well. We could have done better. At least we don’t have credit card debt.
That’s 1.2 million over 25 years. Of course, the dollar will likely be worth much less by then, so that 1.2 may only be worth half that! 
And if someone had 500k in the bank, getting the current interest rates (FDIC) of around 1%, that’s about $416 per month. And in order to make $4,000 per month interest at 1%, you would have to have about $5,000,000 in the bank! 
It depends on how much you want to spend yearly after retirement.
If you don’t cut your expenses, then you need the same amount you make now x the number of years you “plan” to be alive.
One million for ten years is comfortable, time three for thirty years.
I don’t really think about retiring, more like reducing hours as I age. I don’t see not working as an option since I like to work, but reducing working hours to three days a week at age sixty, two days a week at age seventy, maybe an occassional teachering stint or fill in 70-75, probably finish up sometime between 75-80.
After that, I might do some writing, of course do lots of reading, maybe tow a couple boats across the English Channel 
Wow, you need 100k per year to be “comfortable”? That’s spending about $275 per day! Do you have a lot of debt? Where would that $275 per day be going? Obviously more than just dinner & a movie, haha! I could live like a king on that for a year, or travel the world!
Hence, work until death or jail :D.
Or downsize! Lots of people sell their homes (when-or if-the market is in their favor) and any unnecessary valuables, and move to a state where the cost of living is much lower, and you can often get way more house and lot size for less. Also, part of your monthly expenses would be defrayed by social security payments.
Start in your teens or 20’s to save for retirement. It will give you more chances to save enough. You might even be able to retire at 55 or younger if everything works right.
Don’t start having kids early. Don’t save for the kids college, save for your retirement first. No one will loan you money for retirement, they will loan your kid money for college though.
No kids, double income.
Practice living on what you will have for retirement. If you can do it then you have saved enough.
My humble 401ks worth.
It’s really easy to save a lot in a short amount of time if you do it right or have the right employer to give a hand… and if you start early its amazing how much money can just be given to you…
here, in France, the retirement problems are based on very different assumptions. So it is extremely difficult to compare: though I have some savings it’s only part of the story.
So right now I do not know what will be my needs as a retired person (hey I would like to travel more 
so I may need more money!).
Retirement as I see it now here: retire when your job worn you out (that could be early for some persons), otherwise go the easy way: fun! (My brassband’s leader retired as an architect at age 80! I would like to work as long as it is fun!)
bear the baby boomer
How much cash you’ll need depends on what you’ll be spending money on. Right?
Will you have a mortgage? Rent? Property taxes?
How much money do you spend on meals, utilities, cars, clothing, hobbies? These things can vary greatly from person to person.
Travel?
Probably the biggest unknown expense is medical.
Two people living next door to each other can appear to be equally well off and happy, but one is spending 3 times more than the other to survive.
One person needs $500,000 for retirement, the other $1,500,000.
2 Million Dollars
If I had 2 million dollars I would retire right this minute ! ! !
Well, in less than 2 weeks. I teach school, and May 31st is the last day of school this year.
I could be plenty comfortable for a LONG time with 2 million dollars!
If you didn’t even earn interest, you could withdraw $5,000 each and every month until you were 90. To maintain my current lifestyle, the same 2 mil would last me 100 years!