[cbanek]

Totally agree with all that, and that's what I rely on, that I can live frugally.

But in the article, they link to the calculator that gave them the 4 mil figure, and that asks how much you make, and how much you are saving. But it doesn't take the savings out first. So it's saying you can live on 85% of what you need now, if you save 0% or 50%. Since they have the number you are saving, it doesn't make sense to me to bake that into the 85% number, when they can calculate it based on the info you provide. I really think it's that on average, you only need 85% of your income, likely due to some smaller cost of living changes, but also tax implications, etc.

Your calculator is much better, and assumes you have enough money to draw down only the gains, and not the principal, but that's not what the calculator in the article does (as they mentioned in the fine print), they buy a fixed income inflation adjusted annuity at 6%.