Even people with modest retirement-account balances can comfortably retire. : Author and personal-finance guru Suze Orman ruffled a lot of feathers in a recent podcast, saying that people need $5 million — maybe even $10 million — in order to retire. Orman was responding to a question about the “financial independence, retire early,” or “FIRE,” movement, a growing online trend in which people in their 30s or younger just stop working. Generally, these folks aim much lower — more like $1 million or so — then adjust their cost of living downward.