[cperciva]

The median household in the US earns about $1.8M over their working lives; and I suspect that the median household wouldn't describe themselves as having a "comfortable lifestyle".

Now, the fact that they aren't working lowers their costs; but still, the amount of money they have now is significantly less than what a typical couple would earn between now and when they retire.

I don't see anything distasteful in questioning the arithmetic here at all.

[ricardobeat]

$1.8m distributed over ~40 years equates to $3750 a month. I doubt a family could save much with that income.

If you get to this kind of logic, you will lose around $50k from slacking out during lunch through your lifetime (15m a day, $20/h).

[wheaties]

Back in 1950 a loaf of bread cost 5 cents. Now? People often forget about this little thing called inflation. You have to plan for 4% inflation and faster medical inflation. You also can't count entitlement p

[ricardobeat]

That's why you put your money in a savings account... anyway, I think we're on the same side.

To put these $1.8m in perspective, that's just a tad less than the amount of savings one in the top 0.5% might have after retirement: http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/investment_m...