Gah! The list of inflated expenses is just the tip of the iceberg:
For a couple, that's $32,640. If we subtract that figure from $55,705, we arrive at $23,065 per year needed from independent savings. Multiply that by 20 years, and we arrive at a total of $461,300 -- not even half the $1 million figure we alluded to earlier.
This is predicated on the idea that you save a large stash, keep it as cash earning 0%, and spend it down to $0 until you die. Who retires like this?! What happens if you live for 30 or 40 years? That the 4% rule of thumb withdrawal rate wasn't even mentioned leads me to believe that this author has no clue about planning for retirement. Another example of the internet making us dumber.