Expected joint life at early retirement (which is what the article prices) in the US is ~35 years assuming spouse of similar age to the retiree (looking at http

Expected joint life at early retirement (which is what the article prices) in the US is ~35 years assuming spouse of similar age to the retiree (looking at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p590.pdf http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p590.pdf from a quick google). The 4% was not defined as real return, maybe it was supposed to be - but otherwise you need to account for the inflation linkage of the annuity. With that basis you get $1.4m with no inflation and almost exactly $2m with an inflation assumption of 2%.