A Different Way to Measure Progress
Submitted by Dorval & Chorne on November 6th, 2018By Daniel Dorval, CFP® | Tuesday, November 6, 2018
We recently asked a couple when they wanted to retire, and their response was not an uncommon one for us. They said they would retire once their investments reach $1,000,000! When asked what they would do if their investments never reached that mark, possibly due to factors completely outside their control, they both appeared a little confused and were not sure what they would do? They just thought everyone needed at least $1,000,000 to retire. We hear this all the time and even refer to it as the “magic million” because it is a nice round number that is so often cited by our clients (and in media) when talking about retirement. In this case we were able to show them $1,000,000 is a completely arbitrary number that might be easy to measure, but really was not necessary for them to be financially independent and retire on their own terms.