A new study says the average retired couple needs $1.16 million to retire comfortably. Scary headline — until you do the math. Because retirement was never about reaching a number. It's about the paycheck that number can produce.In this week's Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon take the "magic number" apart piece by piece. They trace where $1.16 million actually comes from — $84,000 in average spending, $37,700 in Social Security, and a 4% withdrawal covering the gap — then show what the headline can't see: sequence of returns risk, the tax code, health events, and the market's habit of dropping 25–30% when you can least afford it. The centerpiece is a tale of three couples: Couple A with $1.8 million and no guaranteed income beyond Social Security, Couple B with $950,000 and a teacher's pension, and Couple C with $900,000 who built their own pension with an annuity — and ended up more secure than the couple with twice the money.What you'll learn:
Where the $1.16 million figure really comes from — and why the study converts it to income immediately
Why the race-to-a-number mindset is programmed into us, and why it fails in retirement
The tax reality: 12% vs. 22% brackets, Social Security taxation, RMDs at 73, Medicare's hidden 3–5% "tax," and climbing capital gains rates
The bucket strategy: cash for years 0–3, buffered strategies and dividends for 3–7, growth for 7+
Why 1% of inefficiency on a 4% drawdown is really 25% of your income
Couple A vs. B vs. C: how guaranteed income beats a bigger portfolio
The timing trap: why buying the annuity after the crash locks in the loss
Rewriting the 4% rule with 5–7% joint lifetime annuity payouts
Plus Money In The News:
SpaceX goes public: Wall Street's sky-high price targets, the trillion-dollar valuation, and why investors stay cautious
Trump floats an Australian-style retirement system with 12% employer contributions
The IRA saver's match arriving in 2027: who qualifies, and why the income limits are so tight
Securities and advisory services offered through Osaic Wealth, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. All other services offered through Brayshaw Financial Group, LLC are independent of Osaic Wealth, Inc. Annuity guarantees are subject to the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company.
If the S&P 500 is up 10%, why isn't my portfolio? Because the S&P 500 is cap-weighted: seven stocks absorb about a third of every dollar, and the top 10 holdings make up 35–55% of most S&P funds. In 2026 those mega-caps lagged — the Mag Seven are collectively negative — while sectors like energy (+28.1%) and technology (+26.8%) led. If your ETFs overlap in the same top names, you own the laggards several times over. The fix starts with knowing what you actually own.
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