USA Today on what a million dollars means today:
You’ve been saving like a miser to get ready for retirement. You’ve pinched pennies, kept that last car for what seems like an eternity. And now you’ve banked a cool $1 million for your retirement years.
Think you’re set?
Well, you very well might be. Then again, you still might be short.
“The good news is there are more millionaires,” says Richard G. Dragotta, at LPL Financial in Paramus, N.J. “Over 9 million people in the U.S. have $1 million or more.” But, Dragotta says, $1 million might not mean you’re wealthy: The new $1 million may be $2 million.
“Thirty years ago, $1 million was a huge amount of money,” says Haitham “Hutch” Ashoo, CEO of Pillar Wealth Management, in Walnut Creek, Calif. “Today, given today’s lifestyles and costs, it isn’t so much money.”
Why not? “It translates into $40,000 to $50,000 (annually) in sustainable revenue,” says Joe Heider, regional managing principal for Rehmann Financial Group in Westlake, Ohio. “That is not that much money on an annual basis.”
