How much do you really need to retire? That number is going up

There has been considerable debate in recent years about whether saving $1 million for retirement is enough for Baby Boomers. There have been stories by Forbes, Yahoo Finance, the Motley Fool and CNN Money (among others).

Sure, $1 million is not what it used to be, and most people grossly underestimate how much they need to live comfortably in retirement. But a lot depends on how much you spend, and where in America you live.

Now one website is suggesting that millennials and some GenXers may need to save $2 million to retire "comfortably."

Moneyunder30.com writer Chris Muller calls the number "scary, but realistic." He says that we often underestimate our expenses in retirement and fail to consider things like inflation, taxes, investment risk and the chance that we could live a very long time.

Also, he says, if you project future inflation at an average rate of 3 percent, millennials will need to save $2.1 million to equal the purchasing power of $750,000 today. " That latté that costs $5 today may cost $14 by the time you retire."

Write to Rodney Brooks at The Washington Post, 1301 K St. NW, Washington, D.C., 20071, or rodney.brooks@washpost.com.

This story was originally published April 26, 2016 at 10:51 AM with the headline "How much do you really need to retire? That number is going up."