Wow, I'm sorry I missed out on this thread earlier!
For me, it's hard to know what I'll want in retirement, I'm only 29. It's also hard because I don't know if DH will share in my retirement due to his health, he may make it to 60 or 65, or then again maybe not.
I'd like to think I won't need 2 or 3 million to retire, I'd be very happy in a nice condo or town home rather than a house, a house would be too much for me to handle anyway, even if DH is around to help! Since I get to travel some due to my current job, I don't think I'll be a globetrotter in retirement, you know "been there, done that". I'd like to travel some, but I don't think it would be a major trip every year, either. So, assuming my expenses will be low (paid for condo, low utilities, etc.) I hope that I can retire on 50% of our combined income. I lived by myself for almost 5 years making about $35,000 a year, and that was with a car payment and a mortgage, so I don't see why I couldn't do that again once I retire, especially since I won't
have a car payment or a mortgage!
But the real X factor in how much I (or anyone else) will need to retire is health insurance, and how healthy I (or you) will be in retirement. My mom is 100% healthy at age 60, and her mom is very healthy at 80+, so I'm assuming that I'll be healthy in old age too. But you know what they say about people who "assume", and at the end of the day there is never a guarantee. Plus, who know what the state of the health care system will be in this country in 35 years. It may take a 2 or 3 million dollar retirement fund just to insure a basic level of health care. I just don't know, and neither does anyone else.
So, what I'm going to do is, starting this May with my next pay raise, is to start to increase my 401k contributions. And they'll keep going up for as long as I can afford to increase it. They way I figure it, there is no such thing as retireing with too much money, it's always an easy thing to figure out how to spend it, what's hard is not having enough. Even if I wind up like C.Ann and don't need more than $12-$15,000 a year in retirement (and wouldn't that be great!) I could always give what I don't need to charity, or leave a nice inheritance to my children and grandchildren.
Or leave it all to the
