How Much Money Do You Really Need to Retire? Why $1.5 Million May Not Be Your Number
How much money do you need to retire comfortably?
If you search for an answer online, you may encounter some intimidating numbers. You might read that you need more than $1 million saved, $1.5 million or more, or perhaps 10 to 12 times your final salary before you can comfortably retire.
Those numbers can make retirement seem impossibly far away for someone who has $250,000, $400,000, or $600,000 saved.
But there is a major problem with starting your retirement planning with a predetermined savings target: your retirement is based on your expenses and sources of income—not someone else's average savings goal.
A better question may be:
How much income will I actually need in retirement, and where will that income come from?
That change in perspective can dramatically alter the retirement conversation.
There Is No Universal Retirement Number
Retirement surveys can be useful for identifying trends, but they cannot tell an individual household exactly how much money it needs to retire.
Consider two couples approaching retirement. One owns a mortgage-free home, has no other debt, expects substantial Social Security benefits, and anticipates spending $55,000 per year. The other has a mortgage, significant monthly expenses, expensive travel plans, and expects to spend $140,000 per year.
Even if both couples have exactly $1 million invested, they are not in the same financial position.
Conversely, someone with substantially less than $1 million may be able to support the retirement lifestyle they want if their expenses are manageable and a significant portion of those expenses is covered by Social Security or other reliable income.
That is why asking, "Do I have $1.5 million?" may be far less useful than asking:
- What will my actual retirement expenses be?
- How much Social Security income will I receive?
- Will I have a pension, annuity, rental income, or another income source?
- How much will need to come from my savings and investments?
- Do I have debt entering retirement?
- How much flexibility do I have if my expenses change?
Once you answer those questions, you can begin determining what your retirement number actually needs to be.
Real Retirement Example: A Couple Retiring With $250,000
Consider a real-world example discussed by Dan Wendol of Dolphin Financial Group.
A married couple retired at approximately ages 63 and 65 with about $250,000 in savings and investments. They had moved from New York to Florida and owned their Florida home without a mortgage.
They did not have a large pension. Their primary retirement income was Social Security.
When Dan began working with them several years into retirement, their combined Social Security income was approximately $45,000 per year. Some of their $250,000 was held in retirement accounts, while roughly a quarter was cash outside those accounts.
On paper, this couple might have appeared dramatically underfunded according to a rule suggesting retirees should accumulate $1 million or more.
Yet that wasn't the reality of their retirement.
What Made Their Retirement Work?
The couple's lifestyle fit their income.
They owned their home, had no mortgage, did not carry significant debt, and did not have particularly expensive hobbies. They enjoyed their community, spent time at their clubhouse, visited family and friends, and traveled domestically.
They weren't living an extravagant retirement—but they weren't depriving themselves either.
Most importantly, their regular income covered much of their everyday lifestyle. Their savings provided additional resources when larger expenses arose.
Over the years, they used savings for expenses such as home repairs, vehicle costs, gifts, and other irregular needs.
More than a decade later, their original $250,000 had declined to approximately $170,000. Meanwhile, their Social Security income had increased to roughly $60,000 per year, primarily because of cost-of-living adjustments. Required minimum distributions also eventually became part of their financial picture.
This example is important because the goal of retirement planning isn't necessarily to finish retirement with more money than you had when you started.
Retirement assets are there, in part, to help fund retirement.
A portfolio declining over time does not automatically mean a retirement plan has failed. The more important questions are whether withdrawals are sustainable, whether the retiree's needs are being met, and whether adequate resources remain for future risks.
Social Security Can Change the Retirement Math
One reason people may overestimate the amount they need to save is that they mentally separate their investment portfolio from other retirement income.
For example, suppose someone expects to need $50,000 per year to support their lifestyle. They might immediately calculate how large an investment account would be necessary to generate $50,000 annually.
But what if Social Security provides $35,000 of that amount?
The investment portfolio may only need to help fund the remaining gap, plus irregular expenses, inflation, taxes, healthcare costs, and contingencies.
That doesn't mean Social Security eliminates the need for savings. It means Social Security should generally be considered as part of the complete retirement-income picture.
Retirement planning is not simply:
How large is my investment account?
It is:
How much do I spend, what income will I receive, and how much must my assets provide?
Another Example: Retiring With $370,000
A second real-world example involves a single woman who retired at approximately age 66 in 2022.
At retirement, she had approximately $370,000 in financial assets, primarily from an IRA and employer retirement savings. She also owned a modest home and had no debt.
Her income consisted primarily of Social Security, plus a small annuity payment.
Her Social Security benefit was approximately $36,000 per year, while her annual spending was closer to $45,000.
That meant her guaranteed and recurring income did not completely cover her lifestyle. She needed to take money from her investments.
And she still wanted to travel.
She had family throughout the United States and enjoyed occasional trips to Europe with friends and relatives. Travel wasn't an everyday expense, but once or twice a year she might incur a larger expense that could not be covered by her normal monthly income.
She also had meaningful healthcare costs, including Medicare-related expenses and supplemental coverage.
Yet several years into retirement, her financial assets had not disappeared.
In fact, after starting with approximately $370,000, her portfolio had grown to roughly $420,000, even though she had been withdrawing money to supplement her income.
That outcome benefited from favorable investment performance during the period and should not be viewed as something every retiree should expect. Markets can decline, and future returns are never guaranteed.
But the example illustrates an important point: retirement assets do not necessarily need to generate all of your retirement income.
The Emotional Side of Spending Retirement Savings
There is another lesson in this second example that has little to do with investment returns.
When this retiree initially stopped working, she was nervous about spending her savings.
That is common.
During your working years, you may spend decades watching your retirement accounts grow. Every paycheck provides another opportunity to contribute. Then retirement arrives and the direction changes.
Instead of putting money into your accounts, you may begin taking money out.
That can feel uncomfortable—even when withdrawals are part of a carefully designed retirement plan.
In this retiree's case, fear initially caused her to hesitate about taking trips she could afford. It took time and experience for her to become comfortable using some of the money she had accumulated specifically for retirement.
This is why retirement planning should address more than whether you technically have "enough." A good plan should also help you understand how much you can reasonably spend so that fear does not unnecessarily prevent you from enjoying retirement.
Debt Can Matter as Much as Your Portfolio
There is an important similarity between these two retirement examples: neither household entered retirement carrying significant debt.
That matters.
A retiree with a $400,000 investment account, no mortgage, no car payment, and relatively modest monthly expenses may have more flexibility than someone with twice as much invested but thousands of dollars in required monthly debt payments.
Reducing fixed expenses can reduce the amount of income your retirement plan must produce every month.
This doesn't mean everyone must pay off a mortgage before retiring. Whether that makes sense depends on interest rates, taxes, liquidity, investment assets, and other factors.
But debt should be included when determining how much retirement income you actually need.
Don't Forget About Home Equity
Another asset retirees sometimes overlook is their home.
Your home should not automatically be treated as a checking account, and tapping home equity can involve costs and risks. But significant home equity can represent an additional financial resource.
Depending on someone's circumstances, options might eventually include downsizing, selling and relocating, a home equity line of credit, or a reverse mortgage.
For retirees concerned about future long-term care costs or other major expenses, understanding the role home equity could play may provide another layer to the retirement plan.
Again, the goal isn't to assume you'll spend your home's value. The goal is to recognize all of your available financial resources when evaluating retirement readiness.
Start With Retirement Spending, Not a Million-Dollar Target
If you're wondering whether you can retire, try reversing the traditional process.
Instead of starting with:
"How much money am I supposed to have?"
Start with:
"How much will my retirement lifestyle actually cost?"
Estimate your expected spending for housing, food, transportation, healthcare, insurance, taxes, travel, entertainment, hobbies, gifts, home repairs, vehicle replacement, and other expenses.
Then identify your anticipated sources of income, including Social Security, pensions, annuities, part-time work, rental income, or other reliable cash flow.
The difference between your expected expenses and expected income is your retirement income gap.
That gap—not a headline about what the "average American" supposedly needs—is one of the most important numbers in your retirement plan.
What About the 4% Rule?
Withdrawal guidelines such as the 4% rule can provide a useful starting point for retirement discussions, but they should not be treated as a guarantee or universal formula.
Your appropriate withdrawal strategy can depend on your age, investment allocation, life expectancy, market conditions, Social Security strategy, taxes, healthcare costs, required minimum distributions, and willingness to adjust spending.
Retirement is dynamic.
You may spend more during your early retirement years when you are traveling and active, less during other periods, and potentially more again later if healthcare or caregiving expenses increase.
A retirement-income plan should be able to account for those changes.
Could Fear Be Keeping You Working Longer Than Necessary?
There is nothing wrong with working longer because you enjoy your career or want additional financial security.
But working another year simply because you haven't reached an arbitrary savings number is different.
For some people, "one more year" can become two, three, or five more years—not because the retirement math requires it, but because they never feel like they have enough.
No investment balance can completely eliminate uncertainty.
Instead, retirement confidence often comes from understanding the numbers: your spending, income, assets, risks, taxes, healthcare expenses, and backup options.
You may discover that you need significantly more than $1.5 million to support the retirement you envision.
You may also discover that you need far less.
The important thing is that the answer comes from your financial life—not someone else's survey response.
Frequently Asked Questions About How Much You Need to Retire
Do I need $1 million to retire?
No universal rule says everyone needs $1 million to retire. The amount you need depends on your retirement expenses, Social Security and other income, debt, taxes, healthcare costs, investment strategy, life expectancy, and desired lifestyle.
Can you retire with $500,000?
Some people may be able to retire successfully with $500,000, while others may require substantially more. A person with low expenses, little debt, and meaningful Social Security income will have different needs from someone with high fixed expenses and an expensive lifestyle.
Can you retire with $250,000?
It may be possible in certain circumstances. The real-world couple discussed above entered retirement with approximately $250,000, a mortgage-free home, Social Security income, and relatively modest expenses. Their experience should not be considered a guarantee that $250,000 is sufficient for someone else.
How do I calculate how much money I need for retirement?
Start by estimating your actual annual retirement expenses. Then subtract reliable income sources such as Social Security and pensions. The remaining amount represents the income your savings and investments may need to provide. From there, factors including taxes, inflation, healthcare, longevity, investment risk, and major future expenses should be considered.
Should Social Security count when calculating retirement income?
Yes. Social Security can be an important part of retirement income and should generally be included when evaluating your overall retirement cash flow. The timing of when you claim Social Security can also affect the amount you receive.
Does my home count toward my retirement assets?
Your home is an asset, although it is different from liquid savings and investments. Home equity may provide additional options later in retirement through downsizing, selling, borrowing against equity, or potentially using a reverse mortgage, depending on your circumstances.
Is being debt-free important before retirement?
Being debt-free can reduce the amount of monthly income required in retirement, but paying off all debt before retiring is not necessarily the best strategy for everyone. The type of debt, interest rate, available liquidity, taxes, and overall financial plan should all be considered.
What is more important: my retirement savings balance or my retirement income?
Both matter, but focusing only on your investment balance can provide an incomplete picture. Retirement planning should consider how much you need to spend, how much reliable income you will receive, and how much your investments must provide to close the gap.
The Bottom Line: Find Your Retirement Number
Retirement isn't a contest to see who can accumulate the largest account balance.
The purpose of retirement planning is to determine whether the resources you have can reasonably support the life you want while accounting for the risks you may encounter along the way.
For some households, that may require $2 million or more. For others, a fraction of that amount may be sufficient.
Instead of allowing a national survey or headline to determine when you can retire, start with your own numbers.
What do you actually spend? What will Social Security and other income cover? What must your investments provide? And what resources do you have available if circumstances change?
Those questions can provide a much more meaningful answer than any generic "magic number."
If you're approaching retirement and aren't sure whether your savings, Social Security, and other resources are enough to support the retirement you want, Dolphin Financial Group can help you evaluate your individual retirement-income picture.
Daniel Wendol
Item #1
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You’ve seen the stories. You need 1.46 million to retire in 2026 or you need 12 times your pre-retirement salary saved up in order to retire successfully. These are what people think they need. These are the studies, the surveys, and everyone’s saying, “I need millions to pull this off.” And I say, “Bunk. You don’t need millions to pull it off. It’s scaring a lot of people and preventing them from retiring. And today, I want to debunk that myth with specific examples. I’m
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going to go back 15 years to couples that I’ve worked with who retired with 25% of what everyone says you think or they think they need. I’m going to go back five, four or five years to a single woman that retired with 25% of what she or others think she needed to retire. And spoiler alert, they’re doing quite well. We’re fast forwarding to today and they’re doing just fine. Speaking of doing just fine, my favorite co-host who is always bringing good cheer, always makes me happy, Tony.
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Thanks for joining me today. Today we’re talking about some people that retired on a fraction of what everyone thinks or all the headlines are saying you need. And I want to give the listeners actual examples of real clients. I won’t tell people their names, but I’ll use real numbers and tell you their story to show you how much of a myth this truly truly is. >> Yeah. Well, and if you Google how much do I need to retire, you’re going to see numbers like 1.46 million >> and we’ve done shows on that. I’ll put
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that up there. We’ve I’ve gone through this, but I want to today I want to give specific examples, true stories. >> That’s good. What people have actually retired on because that number is what people believe the average American believes they would need to retire is that amount. It’s not what people actually need. It’s what they surveyed regular people like you and I and and that’s what people say they think they will need or believe they will need. It’s not that number isn’t some magical
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number. >> Right. >> Right. Right. It’s not it’s not a magic number. >> No, [snorts] >> it’s you know what it actually it is pretty much magic. What it does is it it magically scares people into keeping working when they don’t need to. I think that’s what it does. That’s it’s doing harm. I mean, it’s nice to get people to start talking about it and thinking about it, but I think it’s doing more harm than good. >> Agreed. >> So, what’s your number, Tony? What do
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you think you need? >> More. Uh, but it’s always my answer is more than I have. And that’s what most people would say, right? Most that’s the problem. Most people think they need more than they have. And a lot of people come to you, these real life examples, and they say, “Well, I only have this much.” and you work the numbers and say you could retire tomorrow. Uh, a lot of times that happens, doesn’t it? >> Yeah. Always more. Never enough. One more year. One more year I’ll work.
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Right. Well, let’s give an example here. A couple, they were 63 and 65 when they retired. So, nothing. They weren’t retiring very late, not early by any stretch, but 63 65 that seems about right. and they had $250,000. That’s it. >> And they retired in 2009, moved from New York, sold their home in New York, and they bought a home in Florida, and they didn’t save any of that. So, they didn’t downsize in the sense that, in fact, their house was smaller. It’s still three-bedroom,
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but they didn’t sell their house in New York, buy a smaller house, and walk away with a bunch of money. No, but they didn’t have any debt. They didn’t have a mortgage. >> That and their only and they didn’t have a pension. See, that’s Oh, yeah. I could do it if I had a pension for 100,000. They didn’t have a pension. In fact, their only income at that time when they retired was social security. And now that they’re older, now they’re both in their 80s. Fast forward, they
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have RMD income as well, required minimum distributions. But outside of that home value, which they sunk all of it in there, and they haven’t touched that home value, by the way, [snorts] they had $250,000. That is a far cry. Now, we’re going back to 2009, 2010. So, maybe it’s not 1.46 million like it is today that the people think, but I would say back then people thought they needed a million. Oh, it was a million. Yeah, it was a million. Yeah. >> But even if it was 750,000,
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>> they still had a quarter of that, right? >> Yeah. >> So, they had a third of that. So, what did they do? Like, how is that possible? How is that possible? So, let’s let’s look at it. In 2012, when I met them, they had income of about $45,000. All of it was social security. They didn’t have a pension. They didn’t have an investment property. They weren’t getting dividend income. That was it. It was $45,000 social security between the two of them. And they had $250,000.
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Part of that 250 was in IRA money and part of it, I would say about a quarter of it was just free cash at the bank, not IRA. We fast forward now 14 15 years later. Their income is 60,000. Why? Because social security cost a living. That’s it. That they haven’t and they have a little bit of RMDs, but they don’t even consider that income. They consider they take those and use that to pay their property taxes. And they’re 250 is now 170,000. So, it’s not like I’m I’m making up this
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beautiful story where they started with 250, now they have a million. They actually are spending this. It’s not that they were just sitting on it and investing, letting it grow. 45,000 at that time was just enough. They were sp They weren’t saving anything anymore when they retired. They weren’t like, “Oh, social security is more than enough. you know, we can we could go and uh go do what we want, travel what we want, and do everything and we still have some left over. No, they were living on their social
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security. Now, they grew up in New York, so they did go visit. They would drive in the early years, but now they fly. They have family and friends in different parts of the country, which they still go to see. Not as much as they used to. They’re in their 80s now, but they did a lot of traveling locally and they lived in a gated community. So, one of the things that that stood out with this couple is they spent a lot of time in their clubhouse interacting with people their age, and they enjoyed
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that. They weren’t into any hobbies that were expensive. They’re not gamblers. They weren’t going to the casino. They were doing a lot of I’m not going to tell you what what games they play because then they would know who I’m talk and then people might know who they are. Um they’re pretty good at what they do. But they weren’t extravagant, but they weren’t living in squalor. I don’t know how else to put that. They weren’t wanting for anything. They didn’t have
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international travel on their in their sites. They they both were born outside the US, so they weren’t really going to visit the family and friends. had done that, but they weren’t they both had a car. They’re now down to one car. They they used some money to repair the roof one year. Um, so it’s it they had the normal stuff, a normal life, but they weren’t living above what they were bringing in. And if they did, that’s where the IRA for savings would come from. and that’s
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why their 250 is now down to 170 even though the market’s been steadily up since they retired. The key though is they didn’t save. So it’s not as if they had a guaranteed income that was more than enough. They were at their income was being spent and they used their savings for major purchases and u major problems that came along. car repair, roof repair, gifts, you know, grandchildren gifts, that kind of stuff. Is this an unreasonable way of looking at it? Are people thinking, “Well, I
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can’t live on 45,000.” Right? I think that’s what causes a lot of people some anxiety. They look, they hear this story and be like, “Well, that’s, you know, 45,000 that I can’t do that.” Others might say, “Wow, if I had 45,000, I’d pull the trigger right now.” What’s happening here is people don’t have any idea what they need, so they just throw out a number that sounds good from where their peers are saying. >> Yeah. >> They hear 1.46 million and then when
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they get asked the question, I don’t know, well, one and a half million. I need a couple million without any real logic behind it. >> Right. [snorts] The other thing, Tony, I think that’s happening is they’re not factoring in social security as a source of income. A lot of people now are discounting that. So, they’re thinking, “All right, if I take 4% in order to get 45,000, I need over a million dollars, >> right? I I need over a million dollars. I need 1.2 million just to get the
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45,000 that these people have. What about social security?” So, I think a lot of people can live on social security. they just don’t realize it and is a prime example. >> Yeah, good point. Yeah, that’s true. And uh you make a great point there. People can live on less. Um but a lot of people like I don’t want to. I I need more than that. They start to panic. I think you’re right. They hear 40,000 or 50,000. They’re like, you know, and I I’m guilty of that. Well, look at what
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my wife and I make now. How could we possibly live on $50,000 a year? And so, >> yeah, you know, health care expenses are going to go up and blah blah, >> but you people do it all the time. And let’s not even forget that they have all that uh equity in their home that they haven’t touched. >> Yeah, that’s nice, >> right? So, when people say, “Well, what about long-term care? What if they fall? You know, what if they need to hire?” They can tap into the home equity.
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>> Yeah. >> Oh, I don’t want to touch the home. Why not? Um because you know what if what if I for I need a place to live. So you need a place to live but do you need $400,000 of equity? Can you take $100,000 out in a home equity line of credit reverse mortgage? >> Right? So so there’s a backup plan for these people. Well $45,000 is not enough. >> For them it is. And what I’m saying is before you start throwing a number out there, start figuring out what you need
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to live. and it’s probably a lot less than you thought. Let’s switch over to a single person, though. I’ll give you another example. This is a single woman who retired at age 66. So, not early. You know, 66 is a decent number for her. She enjoyed her work, but was just tired of having the daily grind, so she’s she’s called it quits. She had 370,000 to her name. 370,000. So, what is that? a third of what she is supposed to have now. That 1.46 million that might be a couple maybe.
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>> Yeah. >> I don’t know. I It’s nebulous. Like I think it’s probably at least 750,000 people they think they need for themselves. She had half of that. I think she had a quarter of what people think they need. >> Yeah. >> She retired in 2022. Again, she owns a home. Probably home worth 150,000. Again, this is Florida, so the cost of living. Factor that in. No debt. She didn’t owe anyone anything. She owned a car, solid car, no issues with it. The only income she had was social security
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and a small annuity that she had. I think it was maybe a hundred bucks a month, the annuity. So besides social security and that small annuity, her assets were $370,000 total outside of her uh home. Most of that was IRA, 401k from her job, right? So, right away it’s like, wow, how you know, she doesn’t have enough. What do you mean she doesn’t have enough? Her expenses, she spent more than she brought in. So, her social security she turned on when she retired and that didn’t cover everything. She
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liked to travel. She has uh family throughout the US. She went she goes often to Europe on trips with her friends and family. She’s not foregoing anything. Now, the expensive things of travel aren’t something she’s doing every week, every month, >> right? >> But she’ll go once or twice a year and do something expensive. And she does not have the money for that through her income. Her income is spent. One of her big expenses is Medicare. um got a supplement because she didn’t want to
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have to deal with any sort of medical bill, surprise medical bills. So, she’s paying upfront for a plan G, which those that are in Medicare, you know what I’m talking about. So, her expenses on a monthly basis for health insurance are probably close to $400 a month. That’s a big expense for her. She’s in a small house with limited HOA, limited expenses, so that’s not a big deal, but it adds up, right? Her social security is close to $36,000 a year and she spends probably 45,000 a year.
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So the difference is coming from her investments, right? So, she started with 370 in 2022. Fast forward four years, she’s up to $420,000. She has $50,000 more than when she started and she’s been spending more than she brings in. Wow. >> Right. Well, you know, how is this possible? She invests, she invests her money, and the market’s been tremendous since 2022. We had a dip in 2022. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> Yeah. It’s been really good since then, >> right?
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>> So, but not all of it’s in the market. Some of it’s on the sidelines, so she’s not selling when it’s going down, but it’s grown. And she’s taken that money and spent it on herself, and it still has grown. So, okay, 50,000 on 370. What is that? A 20%. Um, less. So, so that’s not a great return, Dan. No, but she’s been spending a lot of it. >> Yeah. >> This is on top of spending. And so, what’s the question for her? If you ask her, “What do you need to retire?” She
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would probably change her answer dramatically from what she thought she needed when she did retire. When she retired, she was scared. She was nervous. Dan, I don’t know. three three 300,000 whatever I don’t I don’t know if that tell me how it’s going to work and I projected it out and showed her this is what’s gonna happen in the very beginning she was tentative to even spend she didn’t want to go on those trips she wanted to go on the trips don’t get me wrong but she didn’t spend
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it on the trips that first year out of fear out of fear that oh my gosh my account’s going to go down because her salary wasn’t going toward it she was pulling from it she didn’t want to accelerate the spend in in that beginning. But once she did that first trip and saw my account still going up or it’s not going down, that was the tipping point of, “Wow, I can do this.” Neither the couple or this woman wants for anything. Yes, they’re not living expensive lifestyles. Yes,
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they’re not they don’t have multiple houses. They don’t they’re not traveling around the world for 40 days at a time. They don’t want that. They never did. and they were able to do it. The crime example of these numbers are extravagant, I think. And I think people approaching it the wrong way. They’re trying to come up with a number instead of a lump sum number that they need instead of thinking what do I need for income. They are they’re taking >> what are my actual needs and where can
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it come from and how much is that? And then look at social security to start. It’s the foundation, right? It’s a it’s a known Yeah. Yeah. >> And and people are afraid of social security going bankrupt or whatever. So they they’re discounting it when it’s really a big part of people’s income. >> It is. It is. And even if um Yeah, I I think they’ll find a way. I still think they’ll find a way to shore it up, but it’s we’re running out of time. Go
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ahead. But Tony, >> time for the key takeaway. I would say [laughter] the key takeaway for a lot of my clients that are if I look at my client list, I would say majority fall below the numbers that are being thrown out there. >> Sure. Most of my clients are retiring with a lot less than the surveys say you need. My average clientele retiree for the past 20 years does not have more than 1.5 million. Most people are doing it on a lot less successfully. And these sensational numbers get people
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locked up and fearful. What are these people doing? What are all my clients that are successful? Um, not everyone’s having as tremendous retirement that they dreamed of, but most are fine. They’re thriving. And the reason is they’re living within their means and they don’t have any debts. >> And most still don’t even factor in their home value. >> Yeah, >> they still don’t despite me saying don’t forget all the time. So, the key is figure out what you need to
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spend and then figure out where that income’s going to come from. You’ll be surprised at the difference. Don’t start with this top number and work your way backwards. Work your way with what do I need. People don’t want to answer that because it’s a difficult question to answer, especially if you haven’t done it. But do the homework first. You’ve seen the the series of interviews I’ve done with with retirees, Tony. I’ve asked them the same questions. What would you do? And a lot of people, and
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you can watch the videos, there’s a whole real retirement story series. A lot of people suggest, I wish I would have known that I could have done this and that sooner. I wish I would have retired sooner than I did out of fear that was holding me back. Y >> and the only way to answer that is to not say I need 1.46 million. It’s to say what do I need for income and work your way backwards from there. And work with a trusted financial professional. I mean that’s just that’s key to make sure
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you’re looking at all the aspects and you get the right amount. Uh that’s where you come in, Dan. And I encourage our listeners and viewers to pick up the phone, give you a call if they have any questions. Right. Uh what’s the website? Oh, it’s right there. >> And if if if you and you could click on the the QR code if you retired with less than what everyone thinks that you need, put your number in the comments. Let me know. Now, you may not want to say this is how much I have, but if you’ve
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experienced this where you’re like, “Wow, I’m doing a lot better than I thought I would. I didn’t need as much money as everyone said I did.” >> Right? >> Let others know. Let others know. Or if you disagree with me, let me know, too. I want to hear your story. I want to hear how wrong I am because I’ve been doing this for 20 years and I haven’t had anyone run out of money yet. And it’s not from lack of trying. Some people really do try and spend their
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money. Most don’t. And I think people naturally fall within a rhythm within their means. And all this hyper big huge numbers is just scare tactics. I don’t know who’s trying to do it. Maybe it’s just social. Maybe that’s just n human nature to always want more than you really need. But again, Tony, >> we’ll see. So, think about this now. Now, I’m going to ask you next week, what’s your magic number? And I don’t I want a good answer from you. I don’t
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want more. I don’t want that as your answer. Okay. [laughter] >> All right. >> Thanks for a good show. But we’ll catch everyone next week.