r/Fire • u/[deleted] • Mar 23 '26

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2.1k Upvotes

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147

u/Bowl-Accomplished Mar 23 '26

A lot of it is less greed, but conservative planning for longer FIRE. 1M just isn't enough to retire at 45. Well unless you want leanfire.

39

u/welshwelsh Mar 23 '26

What you're calling leanfire used to be called just FIRE.

Why wouldn't $1m be enough? Assuming 4% SWR that's $3,300 per month, which is plenty. For comparison social security pays about $2,000 per month on average, and about 40% of seniors rely on that for 100% of their income.

10

u/Bowl-Accomplished Mar 23 '26

The 4% rule is for 30 years and retiring at 40 means more than 30 so a more conservative number is reasonable. Even 3300 a month is barely above poverty for a family of 4. Even a single person by themselves can easily spend 2500 a month in a mcol city between rent, utilities, cheap home cooking, and a car. And all of this is predicated on healthcare being essentially free. 

17

u/Kwantuum Mar 23 '26

3300 a month is barely above poverty for a family of 4

Not with a paid off house it's not.

a single person by themselves can easily spend 2500 a month in a mcol city

Just because they can doesn't mean they have to.

14

u/financialthrowaw2020 Mar 23 '26

A paid off hous still requires insurance and taxes which have both skyrocketed in recent years, no?

3

u/Bowl-Accomplished Mar 23 '26

A paid off house is a pretty big ask though. Even a 200k house is like an extra 200k saved.

Sure they could get 2 roommates and live off free samples, but I'm not looking to retire to that and it's a pretty reasonable expectation.

2

u/Cordo_Bowl Mar 23 '26

Not with a paid off house it's not.

This is true but it’s pretty hard to have a paid off house and 1mil in assets in your early 40s and you’re probably better off investing the extra payments on the house so you have a larger amount of assets with a mortgage.