We've spent years chasing retirement numbers somebody else invented. The truth is your retirement isn't about hitting a magic number. It's about knowing your number. The Retirement Number We've Been Chasing Is Complete Nonsense Can we talk about the million-dollar retirement myth? I'm tired of hearing it. Every time retirement comes up, somebody throws out the same number. A million dollars. As if somebody climbed a mountain, came back down with stone tablets, and declared: