Cost of living varies wildly across the globe, as well as just in the US. I happen to live in one of the highest CoL areas in the nation; in order to maintain this decadent lifestyle of regularly feeding my wife don’t-die-juice and living in a house, five million dollars is what it would take for me to be able to immediately stop turning the crank of the orphan-crushing machine, colloquially known as “retire.”

$1,000,000 wouldn’t even buy you a home near a major US city these days. Especially not after accounting for taxes. Investors have bought all the stock and turned them into permanent rentals, removing them from the market. At the same time, new home construction has ground to a halt due to increased costs and bureaucracy.

Let’s break it down: -New house: $500,000

• 4% rule (optimistic given the state of things) to live on the rest = $20,000 per year. Technically doable with no rent, but not great since you still have property tax, new roof occasionally, random maintenence, etc.