On the road to retirement? Do you know your destination yet—literally? Where you retire can make all the difference in whether you have a comfortable retirement or run out of money somewhere along the way. And here's the scary part: you'll really need close to a million dollars (and I mean really close—$904,452—if not actually more than a million) depending on where you choose to plant your final gardens. That's according to website HowMuch, which decided to see how much it will cost retirees to have a comfortable retirement, instead of a greeter's job at Walmart or an Uber gig on the road. Related: 12 cheapest states for a comfortable retirement Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2018 Consumer Expenditure Survey were so high, depending on the average age at which people retired, that despite lower costs in the South and Midwest, higher ones in the West and the Northeast drove the average up to kissing distance from a million. If you're contemplating a move when you retire, you not only need to consider how much you'll need to see you through but also what expenses are like in your chosen destination—as well as the average retirement age and life expectancy. HowMuch looked at those, too, and did some figuring. They took the BLS numbers, which are the expenditures based on those aged "65 years or more," and then added 20 percent to accommodate that "comfortable" part. But they didn't stop there, adjusting that number by each state's MERIC cost-of-living index and then by National Geographic-calculated life expectancy. Last but not least, they took each state's average retirement year and multiplying by the state-adjusted yearly expenditure numbers, they arrived at the amount you'd better have set aside for each destination. Check the gallery above to see which five states where it will cost you the most to have a comfortable retirement, as well as how much you'd better have socked away and the age at which the average retiree has left the job behind. Read more:
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