The cost of living a reasonable low-risk life certainly goes up every year. If you want to send a kid to college, be able to pay for any emergency medical expen

The cost of living a reasonable low-risk life certainly goes up every year. If you want to send a kid to college, be able to pay for any emergency medical expenses (like cancer), and retire - you probably need to have a lot more than a million dollars in the bank (along with good health insurance, etc). And if you're not also earning a lot every year, just the cost to live in a non-rural area will probably eat that money up in the span of a few years by itself.