🔍 Read the full analysis: What It Costs To Retire Around The World: I Fact-Checked The Viral $2 Million Graphic on ThorstenMeyerAI.com
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TL;DR
Thorsten Meyer’s November 4 review of a viral retirement-cost graphic found that its totals consistently multiply annual spending estimates by 25, but the underlying cost figures have no traceable source or definition. The graphic also omits state pensions and uses a withdrawal rule designed around a 30-year retirement, making its totals incomplete for many readers and potentially too low for people retiring early.
Thorsten Meyer published a review November 4 of a viral graphic claiming retirement requires $2 million in the United States and listing annual costs for 18 countries. He found that the totals consistently apply a 25-times multiplier to annual spending, but the graphic provides no source for its cost estimates and does not say whether they cover a single person or couple, rent, taxes or health insurance.
The graphic, signed “The Business Guy,” lists annual retirement costs including $80,000 for the United States, $55,000 for the United Kingdom, $38,000 for Spain, $28,000 for Mexico and $14,000 for Kenya. Its stated totals are the annual figures multiplied by 25: for example, $80,000 becomes $2 million and $24,000 for Thailand becomes $600,000. Meyer said he could not find a study, method note or traceable author for the annual estimates. That means the figures cannot be independently verified from the information on the graphic; it does not, by itself, establish that every estimate is false.
The 25-times calculation reflects the commonly cited 4% rule: withdraw 4% of savings in the first year and adjust withdrawals for inflation, with the rule generally framed around a retirement lasting about 30 years. Meyer compared the U.S. graphic figure with Bureau of Labor Statistics data: households headed by someone 65 or older spent an average $64,445 in 2025, while households headed by people aged 55 to 64 spent $85,442. The older households averaged 1.7 people, and 78% owned their homes. These figures offer a reference point, but do not settle whether the graphic’s $80,000 assumes a couple, a renter or particular medical costs.
Meyer’s largest adjustment is for public pensions. The U.S. Social Security Administration’s 2027 fact sheet estimates an average benefit of $3,355 a month for an aged couple when both partners receive benefits, or $40,260 annually. Subtracting that from the graphic’s $80,000 annual budget leaves $39,740 to fund from savings. At 25 times that gap, the result is about $993,500, rather than $2 million. This is an illustrative calculation using an average benefit, not a personalized retirement estimate.
Pensions Change the Savings Estimate
The graphic presents its totals as if all retirement spending must come from savings. For people eligible for public pensions, that can make the savings target look much higher than a calculation that subtracts expected benefits. Meyer’s U.S. example reduces the $2 million figure to about $993,500 using an average couple’s Social Security benefit and the graphic’s own 25-times method.
That adjustment is not a universal answer. Benefit amounts depend on a person’s work and contribution record, and the eligibility age matters: a pension that starts at 67 does not pay a 55-year-old retiree’s bills today. The country-by-country totals also cannot be compared reliably without knowing what each annual budget includes, how it was assembled and whether it describes the same household type.
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The 4% rule supplies a simple multiplier, not a country-specific cost-of-living survey. Under the approach described by Meyer, a retiree withdraws 4% of savings in the first year and then adjusts withdrawals for inflation. The graphic’s 25-times totals follow that arithmetic, but correct multiplication cannot verify the spending estimate being multiplied.
Meyer also cited Morningstar’s 2025 retirement-income research, published December 3, 2025. Its base case put the highest starting withdrawal rate at 3.9% for a 30-year retirement, 3.5% for 35 years and 3.3% for 40 years. Those rates correspond to roughly 25.6, 28.6 and 30.3 times annual spending. On that analysis, the graphic’s 25-times method may be too optimistic for someone retiring at 50 or 55 and needing savings to last 35 or 40 years.
The country estimates raise another comparability problem. Meyer said his own price-level model put Costa Rica and Spain at the same price level, while the graphic’s annual figures make Costa Rica 42% cheaper than Spain. That is a discrepancy between the graphic and his model, not proof that one particular retirement budget applies to every household in either country.
“The arithmetic is right. Almost everything that matters is missing: a source, a definition of who is retiring, and state pensions.”
— Thorsten Meyer, ThorstenMeyerAI.com
Key Assumptions Remain Unverified
The graphic does not identify the source or method for its 18 annual cost estimates. It also does not define whether the budgets are for one person or a couple, whether housing is owned or rented, or whether taxes, insurance and health care are included. Without those details, readers cannot tell what the figures measure or make a like-for-like country comparison.
The pension examples are estimates, not guarantees for an individual. Meyer’s U.S. calculation uses an average benefit for a couple in which both receive Social Security; his UK calculation assumes two people qualify for the full new State Pension. The UK government says a person whose National Insurance record begins after April 2016 needs 35 qualifying years for the full rate. Actual benefits, eligibility and start dates vary.
It is also unclear how the graphic treats visa and residence requirements. Meyer reported that the Mexican consulate in Las Vegas asks for $4,630 a month in income per person for temporary residence, about twice the graphic’s stated monthly cost of living in Mexico. A stated cost of living is not the same as proof of financial eligibility for a visa, and requirements may vary by application and authority.
Build a Personal Retirement Budget
The next step for anyone using the graphic is to check the assumptions against their own likely spending, pension eligibility and retirement date. A usable estimate would need to specify household size, housing, health coverage, taxes and location, then account for expected public or workplace pension income and the years before those benefits begin.
The figures discussed here do not validate the graphic’s country budgets, and the source material provides no response from “The Business Guy” or a publication schedule for further documentation. Until the graphic’s author supplies a traceable method, its annual costs should be treated as unverified estimates, while the 25-times totals should be understood as arithmetic based on those estimates rather than independent evidence of what retirement costs.
Key Questions
Is the graphic’s $2 million U.S. total mathematically correct?
Yes. It is $80,000 multiplied by 25. That confirms the multiplication, not the underlying annual cost estimate or the assumptions behind it.
Why does Meyer’s U.S. savings estimate fall below $1 million?
He subtracts an estimated $40,260 in annual Social Security benefits for a couple where both partners receive benefits from the graphic’s $80,000 annual budget. Multiplying the remaining $39,740 by 25 gives about $993,500. The result is an example, not a forecast for every couple.
Does the 4% rule fit someone retiring at 50 or 55?
It may not. The rule is commonly framed around about 30 years of retirement. Morningstar’s 2025 research, as cited by Meyer, gives lower starting withdrawal rates for 35- and 40-year periods, which imply a larger savings multiple.
Can the country figures be compared directly?
Not from the information provided. The graphic does not define household size or list whether rent, health insurance, taxes and other costs are included, and its source for the annual estimates is not identified.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
