This was just a clickbait article so that some people would be mildly outraged and then post a link on a social media site to drive more eyeballs to the NY Times web site. There were probably some folks with more sensible responses to the writer's queries, but they had to be left out of the article.
I would have to say that the editors who made sure this got published were quite successful in what they wanted to accomplish.
Also, the readers' comments have one from one of the interviewees that states the question asked was "was: "how much money would you need to be 'happy?' " and not "How Big Do You Want Your Nest Egg to Be?"
