After reading some of the more recent comments on this thread, I realized I should have mentioned that retirement lifestyle is a huge determining factor in assessing retirement income needs, and that the OP should definitely take this factor into consideration. Generally speaking, for us, the $2MM number is the one we chose for our comfort zone, and realize that is different for everyone.

We’ve had rentals for years, and completely agree with FLU’s thoughts on investment properties. That might be a great option for you to consider–if, as he also said, drastic changes are not made to the current laws.

As many of you, we travel all of the time, and always will–so that will always be a major component of our lives. Since we have friends to stay with just about everywhere we go, and because we have airline benefits, and will through retirement, we incur very little expense in that regard, and it’s something we enjoy tremendously.

As you can see, there are as many ways to think about retirement as there are people, so you just have to determine what works for you and your family. Hopefully, our thoughts have been helpful.