I think people are going to need much more for retirement than they think....MUCH MORE. And I think a retirement portfolio only benchmarked to the SP500 will not be nearly enough. So we need to figure out how and when to take small calculated high risks and succeed more times than not if we really want to get there.
IMO this is a bit of fear mongering. It takes less than most people think to retire, on average.
Most of the things I post in here are gentle reminders to myself.
Let me say this. Collectively and individually our future is unknown.
"Most" people don't have ANY savings. Not everyone wants to retire in the same way either. Some of us might face illness or disability before we could ever expect. Random, unexpected and and life changing events happen everyday. On average loss has equal odds as gain. On average - YOUR life will not be.
How one addresses this truth in regards to their retirement is up to them.
In that case I recommend getting to 6mil so you can have cocaine parties and 2 chicks every night in your Belize beach house.
I think I've posted the basics of this. A year ago I was just an "AVERAGE" guy in my late 40's. A couple of months from burring my 97 year old grand mother who passed away in her own house 2 years after my grandfather passed away at 95 in that same house. That's what I figured my life would be. Time on my side.
At the time, I was recovering from a minor surgery, but at that point was up and getting active. No issue whatsoever.
One Saturday evening I suddenly lost most of the vision in my left eye. It was like a curtain closed. One second I could see and the next second it was gone. I thought to myself- I've had a lot stress and am tired and just went to bed. The next day the vision was still gone. 48 hours later I was concerned.
The initial diagnosis was that I had a detached retina, and I would need a surgery to repair that. I thought "well there goes the rest of my golf season." So I went to a retina specialist. He came into the room and said "well the good news is you don't have a detached retina. The bad news is that you've had a stroke and an occluded artery in your eye. The vision loss is permanent. And you need to get to a cardiologist now to figure out what is going on."
That week was a bunch of cardio tests. It was quite stressful. On Thursday afternoon I got a call from the cardiologist who said "I have an emergency appointment set for you in 15 minutes with a vascular surgeon and a neurologist. You need to get to that office RIGHT NOW!"
My wife wasn't home and my kid was in school...so I just went to the hospital. When I got there...you could tell it was serious. I didn't even fill out paperwork. It was "the doctors are waiting for you."
The docs told me that there was a major issue with my carotid artery and that I needed to go to the hospital right now for a CT scan and that they both (vascular and neuro) expected to perform surgery to repair it now. They said "you need to prepare yourself."
The walk from that office to the hospital was about 2 blocks and let me tell you...it was a lonely walk. I didn't know what to expect, and my wife wasn't there...my kid didn't know. I hope no one ever has to take a walk like that...but your life comes to perspective really quick. I was totally alone.
The CT scan found that I had a dissected carotid artery. Literally a 1:1000000 event. At the time they decided against surgery, and thought the dissection would heal on its own. And that's where I've been for a year. However...I just had a MRA a week ago and the artery is still dissected and they're trying to determine whether to put in a stint to repair the artery or not. There are risks both ways.
By and large I'm mostly fine. I can do everything I did before - except mountain bike - it's just too risky. Any falls or any accident probably wouldn't be good for my outlook. But at the same time you have to live life, and I do.
But the point I'm trying to make is that 13 months ago the odds would have favored me to live a long long time. Today not so much.
You never know what cards you are going to be dealt. Losing sight in one eye for sure sucks...But it could have been a lot worse. The stroke could have gone to my brain, killed me or disabled me in a much more significant way than just a loss of on eye. Unfortunately, I'm not financially prepared to care for a disabled self and my family without income for the next 30 years had that happened.
And that's my point. You just never know. Sure you might live to your 90's - living it up - uneventful to the end. But the unexpected might happen too. And it might be better to prepare for more than what you think you might expect you'll ever need.