In the bay area and almost everywhere on the west coast you are looking at over $1k/month in property taxes for that house with a "paid-off mortgage." In most states you never really "own" your home. You only own it while you pay tax every six months until you are dead.

There's more to the US (and the world) than the West Coast.

I think the commenter's point is yes you could cash out and move to nowheresville with a cheap house, but there's no point in playing that hypothetical game because it doesn't end (live in the ghetto! Your house is valued at $10k, aren't those low low property taxes sweet??)

They making the probably-fair assumption that these hypothetical people want to live at least close to where they're rooted their lives.

Yes there’s also New York, Chicago, London, Paris... ;)

Why would you retire in a high cost of living area?

Because you like living there

The vast majority of people don't get to make those sort of decisions. It's a matter of "where can I live?", not "where do I _want_ to live?"

So, the ivory tower remark seems appropriate.

If at any point in ones life you’ve made over $300k, I doubt $40k a year would feel like anything other than relative poverty - not that that’s a terrible thing. It’s plenty of money except if you’re used to vacations to Europe in 4 star hotels, nice gym and golf memberships, cars, etc.

>If at any point in ones life you’ve made over $300k, I doubt $40k a year would feel like anything other than relative poverty

Neither here nor there. The GP was responding to "$1M is not enough for most people to retire on."

>$1m is not enough for most people in the US to never work again, unless they are quite frugal.

i.e. "$1m is not enough for most people in the US to never work again assuming they want to live to the standard that I have become accustomed to."

Which very likely does not apply to "most people". We do pretty well for ourselves and it's easy to forget that "most people" live paycheck to paycheck on far less.

Florida is popular retirement destination in US and comfort living cost there for 2 people is about $50K annual without taxes. Part of the high cost is that most people in our generation won’t have paid off their mortgage and monthly $1500 expense is expected just for that. Add on the top property taxes, high cost of medical, high cost of smart devices, phone plans, eating out even once a week - etc. If you have kids who are still dependent then you can easily add another significant chunk.

+1 for Florida. You can buy a 3 bedroom home on a barrier island within walking/biking distance to a pristine beach for $500k. Even less for a nice condo.

$1m + paid off mortgage are probably enough for most of the country. You'll still need to be frugal, depending on your age.

Not with inflation