When you think about it retirement is a lot like weight loss. The calories are just replaced by dollars. There are 2 different ways to approach it. You can either save more money or cut your expenditures. Yes they're related, but it depends on where in your life you are that matters the most. You can exercise more or eat less.
While everybody needs to save in the beginning, in the end it's very much about how much you need to live on. For retirees, this can fluctuate drastically. Just like people's attitudes on whether they can eat everything they want and workout for hours later or restrict their caloric intake and work out very little to none later. Do you either want to save more money now or spend less in retirement?
Some people are happy living off of $12k (I did in college and it was some of the best years) while others think they require 6 figures. But let me demonstrate something to you if you're not a big saver, but are a big spender. For every $10,000 dollars that you plan on spending while retired, you will need approximately $333,000 worth of underlying assets in order to accomplish this. Need to live off $30,000, then you'll need a million and want to maintain your current lifestyle of $100,000 for the family? You'll need to save about $3,333,000 before you retire. Would you rather not eat as much or exercise more? It's up to you, but be prepared!
-CC
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