In Reply to: My mantra with my kids is ... posted by mh on August 16, 2026 at 14:06:11
If you retire at 65 with $1 million and follow the basic 50/50 approach—50% in bonds and 50% in stocks—you can withdraw about 4%, or $40,000 a year.
If both spouses worked and also receive Social Security, you have roughly $80,000 in combined annual income. But with inflation eroding the purchasing power of your savings by 2–3% a year, that $1 million steadily loses real value.
It should be enough to get you through 30 years of retirement, but there likely won’t be much left for your children. And you could spend much of those 30 years worrying about managing a shrinking nest egg.
My students face an even bigger problem: I don't expect them to have Social Security available in its current form. With a shrinking population and fewer workers supporting each retiree, the retirement math is going to become much harder for their generation.
If you save $10K every year from age 22 to 65
at 8% interest you have 3.3 million
at 10% interest you have 5.92 million
The issue is saving for that first 10 years when it's most difficult but most valuable.