Many say $1,000,000, but they are making money on your investments. They are also assumeing that you have no other source of income.
Though we don't have much...we have everything we need...and sometimes even a few things we just want. As a Christian God is our Provider and we trust Him to keep providing for our needs until we leave this earth for our heavenly Home. We do our part by being good stewards of what He provides and knowing when we have a need to go in prayer and thanksgiving to Him to meet that need. God has never failed us yet. Though money and earthly things can be here today and gone tomorrow...our heavenly Father's provision is eternal.
I foresaw the need for providing for my retirement when I entered into my Aerospace career at age 26, after my Army discharge in 1962. I hired on at a major Aerospace firm with a degree in Electronics, landing a good-paying position in the Engineering and Test department, and my first paycheck stated that I could enter a Payroll Savings Plan and contribute up to 14% of my pay. I didn't think that was enough, so I contributed an extra amount, making it 20 % of my pay. I kept this up for 36 years, never "dipping in" to my growing savings, and when I retired in 1998, (after the interested kept compounding over the years), I took home a huge sum, which I immediately placed into my retirement savings plan. Over those 36 years I bought 4 new automobiles, and paid each one off in 2 years. Now I'm enjoying retirement on a comfortable 36-year Aerospace pension from Boeing, plus "Socialized Security", with no mortgage and no car payments, paying cash for my 2012 Mazda3, which now has 22,000 miles after 6-1/2 years of driving. My advice to those young people just entering the job market..... SAVE FOR YOUR RETIREMENT! Hal Pollner, age 81.
Unfortunately I never worked anyplace that had a retirement. Just a 401K with absolutely no matching. It just seemed better to save money myself. I don't expect much for retirement. No fancy care, travel. I just want a roof over my head and the cats and to live someplace I feel safe and secure. And no one can ever try to tell me I haven't worked very, very hard. No ten minute break in years. Even missed lunch breaks. I think people can live well with less money. I also find some people with retirement forget others will never have this. I found this with my own mother. She would almost snicker that there were people living in their mobile park "on social security only" I guess she chose to not remember she got less than 600 dollars a month, with their comfortable income coming from my step father's county pension and his social security. People forget fast.
Maybe this might give you some ideas you can use~ http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/02/22/getting-rich-from-zero-to-hero-in-one-blog-post/, as it has lots of info on saving money, retirement, and frugal living in general.
I don't worry about the day to day cost of living because I have some control over my personal expenses. I do worry about outliving my money if I have to spend several years in a skilled nursing facility before I finally die. I think that the real fear is the loss of control over my life and becoming dependent on the kindness of strangers for my support. "It's not the fall that kills you, it's the landing"
You've got to have a large enough retirement nest egg, and you've got to have sufficient retirement income. I've been retired for 20 years, and I now have more in the bank then when I retired, because I paid off the 30-year mortgage on our retirement home in 12 years, by doubling on the principal of the payment. I began building my nest egg when I joined a Large Corporation after my military service in 1962 at age 26.The Company offered matching savings up to 14% of what you put in, but that wasn't good enough for me, so I began saving 20% of my pay, not touching it until I retired 36 years later, in 1998. I never squandered my savings by buying a new car every 3 years or so. I lived conservatively, with a worry-free Retirement as my goal, and It worked out that way as I knew it would. And with the miracle of compounding interest on my increasing savings, I retired with a real pile of money, and put 50% cash down on our retirement home. My advice: Get a good technical or business education and then join a Large Company, which can offer Good Benefits, and save as much of your pay as you can, with Retirement as your goal, so you won't have to worry when you're nearing retirement age if you'll be financially comfortable. PLAN to be financially comfortable in retirement, and NEVER STRAY from that plan! Hal