LogFAQs > #977151634

With rents the way they are now, you need to be making like 70-80k a year to be able to comfortably afford a median one-bedroom apartment in most cities. You can get that kind of RoI off of a million easily enough, but it's not going to leave you much room for further increases in the cost of living, nor to live anywhere larger/nicer (which you'll probably want unless you plan on being a bachelor forever). To retire comfortably, 2-3 million is a more reasonable minimum.

Having a spare million around would produce a very useful amount of supplemental income, though, so if you get it and keep working you'll get to the point of being able to retire much faster than you otherwise would have.