This current month's issue of Money magazine has an article about retirement planning (as it does every month, yawn). In a completely dead-on-serious statement, the author of the article wrote (emphasis is mine):

Plugging an extra $30,000 a year from a job into a retirement calculator defintely brightens your financial prospects. But that may be only an illusion of security...

That first sentence is one of the most "ohmygosh" statements I've heard in a while. Who puts 30 GRAND a year into their retirement fund? I don't know anyone who does. I think I could swing that if I gave up some of life's extras, like water and electricity. And a home.

"The Jeff" at my office pointed out the other word, "extra," which of course insinuates that you could be doing more than $30,000. Once you're in the income category where $30,000 represents 10% of your income, you've hit limits on what you can put away with tax advantages, so this ends up being someone who makes well beyond $300,000 a year. I wish I had those sort of problems. This article is way out there, for the very VERY wealthy, and definitely in the "yeah, right" category. The author is out of touch, iceskating on a Texas lake in July, and deserves a slap of reality.