That also seems low to me. in the u.s. you can't count on social security, you're going to be paying for health insurance, and the government safety net in general in non-existant.

I'm personally targeting $2 million to retire comfortably by 50, and I think that's only slightly pessimistic.

For context, I'm 35 and in good health, but I plan on having to pay several thousand a month in health care and housing, and need to be able to endure market swongs.

Retiring now is certainly possible but strikes me as foolish.

Funny enough I meant in the other direction— where I come from you’d be considered rich if you were retiring on $800k CAD, never mind USD.

I can assure you my father retired on much less and largely relies on national and union pensions.

Not to say it’s good to retire on less. He’d happily have more money put away but that wasn’t how life happened. It’s not how life happens for a lot of people.

Hence the “different world” remark.

It implies living on a near-poverty income in retirement. To maintain a median salary you’d want twice that.

If you also owned a home in a low-cost area of the country you could probably still live quite comfortably.

you need to factor in health care, taxes, unforeseen catastrophes, etc.

also retiring to the swamp or midwest or desert is not everyone's cup of tea, particularly if it means severing ties with your community.