The new "magic number" for retirement in California: $1.47 million? [View all]

Americans’ “magic number” for retirement savings is at an all-time high — $1.46 million to retire comfortably, according to responses from Northwestern Mutual’s 2024 Planning & Progress Study.

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California adults surveyed in the study named a slightly higher “magic” number, believing they will need $1.47 million to retire comfortably. But that may seem a smaller than expected difference given the state’s notoriously high cost of living.

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While the Northwestern Mutual study’s magic number is based on what people say they need, other studies have looked at retirement costs and financial planning guidance to come up with a data-based magic number, or at least a “magic” formula.

A recent LendingTree study found that a person would need more than $1 million to retire with an “average” lifestyle in just over one-third of U.S. metros. The study looked at estimated annual retirement costs, and applied the “4% rule” (which says spending in your first year of retirement should equal 4% of your savings) to come up with how much someone would need in each U.S. metropolitan area to retire.

More (paywall): https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/magic-number-retirement-19393925.php

Highlights (from the link):

• Different findings in reports ($1 million versus $1.46 million) may point to the fact that people have a hard time judging what they will need and spend in retirement (and overestimate for it)

• A LendingTree study found it would take an average of $1.37 million to retire in San Francisco -- almost 40% higher than the national average ... and the largest amount among all U.S. metro areas.

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More is better, IMO. There's no way to guess where social security and medicare benefits will be headed should repukes ever gain control of government. Heck, SCOTUS could invent some way to dismantle everything tomorrow.