To start our thinking, perhaps we should consider how much it takes to live on in America and be happy whether we are retired or not. A study in the journal Nature Human Behavior used available data for over 1.7 million people and found that the optimal income for emotional well-being was between 60 and 75 thousand dollars a year.
In 2010, a Princeton study had similar results, finding that people are happiest when they make about 75K a year. A Purdue study made clear that it was possible to make too much money and that satisfaction declined after 95,000. They found that income after that can lead to "unhealthy social comparisons and unfulfilling material pursuits."
Now, this wasn't about retirement, but it could be. I have read plenty of money managers for whom this doesn't make any sense to them at all. For most of them, more is always better. Let's be careful of what we plan for. You may not need as much as you think. By the way, if you are about to retire and have found yourself to have more than $95,000 income lined up, the First Reformed Church of Schenectady has some exciting mission proposals for you to save you from the horror of having more than that.
If you don't have nearly that much in the piggy bank, there are plenty of blogs to help you be happy on whatever it is that is coming in. "lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don't break through and steal." Somebody said that once.