$250,000 for health care

Shortly before the new Healthcare Reform Bill was signed into law by President Obama, a study was done to determine how much money retirees might need for health care expenses while in retirement. The answer: $250,000! That assumes an average couple in average health who live to be 82 for the male and 85 for the female.

Read the article here: Retired couples may need $250K for health care

That is just for medical expenses alone, you know, doctor visits, prescription drugs, lab expenses, etc. So what would this couple need for the rest of their expenses? Food, shelter, utilities, transportation, entertainment and so on. If might take somewhere between $1 million and $2 million depending on your lifestyle needs and wants. Consider this: if the couple above ate dinner at home 6 days a week at an average cost of just $7 per meal and went out for dinner one day a week at an average cost of $40, over 20 years that would cost them more than $187,000! That's just for food and that doesn't even take into account inflation. So take a look at your 401k balance and you might want to think about calling HR to increase your contributions!