[AmVess]

People shouldn't pay any attention to these articles.

I retired early years ago. It isn't the annual budget that one has to plan for, but the unforeseen expenses. I took care of my mom and dad for a while. He had top notch medical insurance, but no one covers mental health problems. The total for 4 years of that was just into 7 figures.

Also how about that medical insurance for yourself and your family? Unless people plan on dying young, medical insurance is a huge expense. And that's just insurance, which doesn't cover all eventualities. Ambulance ride? Not covered. A quick whistle to the ER can leave you $50k lighter without trying hard. And then there's the piles of medications, many of which aren't covered.

My friend's grandmother got upper and lower dentures. $40k. Dentures, mind you, not implants.

Also, there's the every increasing cost of everything. Houses, cars, food, all types of insurance are seeing vast annual increases.

$3 million total for a retirement is a bit of a laugh, unless that person plans on keeling over at 65.

[goo]

$40k for dentures? She got fleeced.

$3M for retirement right now is plenty, but you have to live like an actually middle class person.

[randomdata]

If you are living like the middle class (i.e. income comes both from capital ownership and labour) then you can't possibly be retired. Retirees are those who have transitioned into the upper class (i.e. income comes from capital ownership alone).

[jejeyyy77]

Assuming you have a paid off house and car, what else are people bleeding money on?

[jjav]

Medical expenses like OP said. If you retire at over 65 then possibly Medicare/etc can cover some of this.

But if you're wanting to retire early, it's a huge gamble on medical expenses in the US.

[charlie0]

That's why medical tourism exists.