I thought this was kinda nifty, granted it's very simplistic, but fun (and sorta depressing) all the same.

http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/millionaire/millionaire.html

A million bucks just doesn't go as far as it used to. Buy a house, pay off all debts, depending on where you live, between that and taxes on the income from the investments, you could be down to 500K just with that. If you decide to quit your job, add in the cost of self-insuring for medical/dental/life, plus the maintenance of the house, property/income taxes and the fact that you'll need to invest in money generating (hence usually lower return) financial vehicles, and the money just keeps dropping.

I would say it would be very difficult to take a million and live off of it without needing some sort of auxilliary income, unless one is willing to live at a standard of living probably lower than currently.

If everything stays pretty much the same as it is today, I'm there in 15-20 years. That's not including my house though, if property values remain insane, then well... I'm already halfway there. Actually, if I include my house in non-taxable things, it'll take me max 7 years. However, that means my house has to appreciate at 9% per year for the next 7 years. Given that I think we're probably nearing the top of a bubble (housing market went up 20+% some years!) I rather doubt that'll happen.

I will move somewhere MUCH cheaper when I retire.

But yeah, a million bucks doesn't sound all that impressive any more.

I read this and I think Evil....Dr.Evil

Kalest MoonGlade
66th Stormwarden of Stromm
~Dragejegerene~

Same here Kalest.

One. MEEEEEEELYUN. Dollars.

Yeah, a million may not be the same over the years, but I'm thinking that the calculator isn't just money in the bank, it's including investments, so it's assuming that your money is still working for you. I think it's about "when you have a million in total investments" kinda thing. Plus, it had a separate number for me that assumed a 3% inflation rate.

Also got this today from my Fidelity account for those of you interested in funds:
http://personal.fidelity.com/products/funds/content/bestfunds_m_k_f.html.cvsr

I've had a financial target for about 20 years. I figure I need $1.3 million (Canadian) in assets to be able to retire. That's pretty close to $1 million (U.S.). I think that the Canadian cost of living must be lower than in the U.S., because $1.3 million will do me nicely. I'm getting quite close.

There was a good piece of advice on this board a couple of months ago. Regardless of how much you are earning, put aside 10% of your take-home pay and invest it for retirement. Consider the 10% as a bill that you have to pay -- similar to food, utilities etc. It's NOT an optional expense. If you start early enough in your life, you will be able to maintain the standard of living you have become used to through retirement.