A million dollars is a lot of money, isn't it? Not when you're looking to finance your entire retirement. If you've got $1 million tucked away in your retirement savings by the time you're ready to retire, you won't starve, but you may not be able to live out your dreams either.
Blame inflation
"Millionaire" has been shorthand for "really, really rich" for a long time. Unfortunately, $1 million doesn't buy as much as it did when the term millionaire was first coined. You can blame it on inflation, which is the force that causes the dollar to be worth a little less each year.
Inflation varies from year to year, sometimes radically, but over the long haul, it's averaged about 3% in the U.S. That means that $1 million will buy 3% less stuff, on average, for each year that passes.
Wendy Connick | The Motley Fool