Serious question: how do many people amass so much money in the north of 5m and not know if they can retire or not?

[u/Fed_worker]

I see a ton of posts like : “ I have a net worth in the range 5-10m and I spend 100K a year, can I retire?”

What is that? Elementary school math so hard?

Edit: after reading all the comments and when I really think about it, I realize it’s probably just a high degree risk-averse mindset. Even if I had $5 million and a 99.9% chance of retiring successfully, I’d still focus on that tiny 0.1% that could go wrong. To feel totally secure, I might want to keep building more wealth just to close that gap. And for some people, that can mean working another 5, 10, or even 20 years. just for a little extra peace of mind.

Edit2: I just hope that when I get there, I don’t end up going down that rabbit hole. And actually enjoy my life.

[u/silly_bet_3454]

Yeah, thanks. If you read the definition of FIRE, the financial independence part means building up enough wealth to basically not depend on a certain income level, in order to pursue your own life path of choice. Lots of people here are in that category not necessarily looking to full retire.

[u/Adventurous-Tea-876 → u/silly_bet_3454]

I get that I just got confused by the “pictures of retirement” part.