How much money do you need to retire at 65? Traditional advice suggests saving 25 times your annual expenses, but this assumes a 15- to 20-year retirement that no longer matches reality. With Americans increasingly living into their 90s and beyond, retirement planning now requires 30–40 years of income instead.
This shift means the old 4 percent withdrawal rule may be too aggressive, and the three-stage life model of learn, work, and retire is becoming obsolete. The multi-stage life approach treats retirement as multiple phases requiring different strategies rather than one long vacation. Most people now need 30 times annual expenses or more, paired with flexible withdrawal strategies that adapt to longevity risk and health care cost inflation.
