First major flaw in your math is using life expectancy from birth (78 years). If you die from a childhood disease, retirement is not a big concern of yours. You should use life expectancy from 65. According to the SSA, life expectancy from age 65 is 17 for men and 20 for women.
The second major flaw is the $2 million figure. The $2 million assumes earning 5% interest and you needing $100K a year in retirement, and not touching the principal.
Or.. I suppose… 2% return and you needing $40K a year, without touching the principal.
How much would you need at .1% interest and needing $30K a year to supplement SS? $30 million?
Median household income is $50K. Assuming you were able to save 5% per year ($2500) and earn 2% above inflation (yeah, right), then at the end of 40 years you would have $154K.
Assuming you could continue to make 2% above inflation, and not touch principal, you would be earning $3K a year on your savings.
25% a year savings would increase this to $768K at the end of 40 years. 50% savings would net them $1.5M. They would have to save a full 66% off their income, for 40 years, and make a constant 2% above inflation, to have the equivalent of $2 million.
Of course, then, assuming 5% return, they would be making $100K a year in retirement, and had been living on $17.5K for the previous 40 years.
For the vast, vast, vast majority of households, the $2 million is no more realistic than telling them they should save $2 quadrillion.
$2 million is a marketing slogan targeted at those making more than $100K a year, to scare them into saving more. Realistically, unless your household income is above $100K, and you are able to save 30% or more (or you earn $150K and save 20%), then the $2 million figure is totally unreasonable.
My wife and I earn a combined $160K. Saving 5%, then getting a company match, bringing our total savings up to 10% of income, and adding in our current $100K in savings… over the next 20 years, assuming 2% above inflation rate of return (which we’ve not gotten since 2008) we would be lucky to have half a million dollars.
I won’t even mention how it is mathematically impossible for every entity in an economy to be accumulating money, without an equal amount of new debt being generated… Oops, I just did.
I am sure that Bill in LA will boast returns far in excess of 2% above inflation. I will counter by pointing out that is the DOW had hit 2% above inflation, every year for the last 40 years, it would be at 12,300. Oh, right where it is.
While it is possible for some to beat the average, it is impossible for all, and unlikely that a statistically significant number of people will beat it by a significant amount.
The most kid-friendly addition to the PS collection are these new bamboo and steel side tables - plain or with four bowls. 
This week we're heading to the land of fancy schmancy and extremely expensive. There are currently 14 homes for sale in Presidio Heights; the least expensive is just under $1M and the most expensive is $25M. (That would be the 3800 Washington estate that comes with 3810 Washington and 125 Maple.) Here now, the five least expensive homes for sale in Presidio Heights, one of San Francisco's swankiest neighborhoods. Onwards!
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These are organizations that collect monthly dues to pay for amenities, like added security, maintenance and recreational areas; one in five Americans currently lives in an association-governed community. These associations have been hit hard by the 
] is no different than any other homeowner in the community who has failed to pay.” Solomon is representing Homestead Florida’s Keys Gate Community Association, which claims JP Morgan owes two years of back dues worth over $19,000 on a foreclosed home. It is one of dozens of foreclosure suits against several of the nation’s largest lenders by homeowner and condo associations claiming back dues. “I pay my dues, other people pay their dues, I just feel that JP Morgan should have paid theirs,” says Don Gonzalez, a homeowner in the Keys Gate Community.Gonzalez says the foreclosure crisis has hit his neighborhood hard. The association can no longer pay for a full time security guard, an amenity that drew Gonzalez to the community in the first place. “We are seeing with much more regularity that when banks take title to units, they don't pay any carrying costs,” says Solomon. “What they prefer to do is market the unit through an REO sale, and when they finally dispossess the unit, no matter how long that takes, sometimes a year or two years or more, then they will go ahead and pay past due amounts if the association is not proactively pursing them to get paid the additional amounts quicker.” A representative from JP Morgan says that while they have lost other homes to HOAs in lawsuits over delinquent dues, in this particular case, the bank serviced the mortgage, but the ownership during the past two years may be in question. “Chase has a strong commitment to stabilizing neighborhoods hardest hit by foreclosure," a JP Morgan spokesperson said. "We pay HOA dues on properties we own. We are researching the title on this particular property.”Solomon disputes that, and produced a title document showing the transfer of title in 2008 to JP Morgan. “JP Morgan took title to the property from my association client (after the association had already previously foreclosed on Wells Fargo’s [WFC Loading... ()