This isn't much money in the USA. The rule of thumb is to save 10 times your income if you want to retire by age 67. Given that an academic is at perhaps $100K

This isn't much money in the USA. The rule of thumb is to save 10 times your income if you want to retire by age 67. Given that an academic is at perhaps $100K salary a year, that would mean it would not even be enough to cover retirement since after taxes it would probably be less than $700K. In many parts to the USA, e.g., parts of California, that's not even enough to buy a modest home. It depends on where you live to assume that's enough to be considered even close to rich. About 10% of Americans have a net worth of over $1M. https://spendmenot.com/blog/what-percentage-of-americans-are-millionaires/ https://spendmenot.com/blog/what-percentage-of-americans-are...