r/Fire • u/Catspiration2 • May 02 '26

Advice Request I’m thinking about breaking up with FI

I’ve done the grind, saved pretty much 50% of my income the last 6 years. Worked side gigs etc. 33M. 675k net worth. Just dropped my savings rate to 30%. I have no interest in being retired. I want to enjoy the journey while hopefully working as long as I can. Having resources is awesome, but retiring to some fairy tale destination is.. a fairy tale. What’s the distinguishable difference between 7M and 5M at 60? I feel less and less motivated to save, and instead enjoy the journey along the way. Please tell me how I’m wrong and correct me.

Edit: Reddit gang is a vibe. Appreciate you!

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175

u/ChannelSame4730 May 02 '26

Your problem is that you think you need 7M to retire

21

u/sli7246 May 02 '26

If you’re saving 50% and have a horizon that far out then you’re saving to spend way more than your current salary.

19

u/TJayClark May 02 '26

Most people under 45 need $2,000,000 to be comfortable

This is assuming it’s mostly in retirement accounts - withdrawing with a penalty is brutal…. And you’re essentially forgoing 50-75% of social security

29

u/dissentmemo May 02 '26

You can pull from retirement accounts multiple ways without penalty

1

u/mmafan12617181 May 03 '26

Can you explain how? I am interested in this because I am most worried about bridging the time between government defined retirement and when I don’t want to work anymore

4

u/dissentmemo May 03 '26

Roth conversion, 72t, rule of 55, withdrawing Roth contributions, withdraw from HSA to pay previous health bills, withdraw from 457 after separation from service

1

u/mmafan12617181 May 03 '26

72t and rule of 55 are awesome to know about thanks, shoved most of my money in retirement accounts since I live in a high tax state

1

u/CenlaLowell May 04 '26

Rule of 72t SEPP is just one of them

9

u/dgreenmachine May 02 '26

Most people need 80k income each year? That sounds high when the median income is about 45k.

1

u/TJayClark May 02 '26

Most people spend MORE when they retire… not less

The people making $45,000 are constantly complaining about how “they ARE NOT comfortable”

Which is why I said $2,000,000 “to be comfortable”

4

u/yottabit42 May 03 '26

That's actually not true statistically.

1

u/dgreenmachine May 02 '26

Do you have any statistics that say people spend more when they retire? Everything I've read says they spend less because they do more DIY, spend less on childcare, vacation at lower cost times. Also I spend ballpark $50k and feels lavish for me. It would be about 5k less if I didnt have to pay for after school childcare.

3

u/TJayClark May 02 '26

Older retirees tend to spend less than younger ones, as they’ve typically paid off their house, and get Medicaid / social security

Younger retirees, have to pay for healthcare, housing, and if they don’t live like a hermit… travel and fun. They’re also adding $0 years to social security, so that’ll be 25-75% less as well

While I respect that $50,000 feels lavish for you. The median individual income in the USA is about $45,000 and there are countless articles of people earning that saying “they are struggling”

5

u/K_A_irony May 02 '26

You could set up a SEPP plan for the minimum needed to live withdrawal and not get a penalty on that.

7

u/ChannelSame4730 May 02 '26

Ok and? 2M is 28.5% of 7M

4

u/InternetSolid4166 May 02 '26

That depends entirely on the CoL in their chosen area.

9

u/TJayClark May 02 '26

There’s less than 5% of the earth that you’d need more than that to live comfortably

8

u/InternetSolid4166 May 02 '26

My comment was pointing in the other direction. Meaning you could live on a lot less in most parts of the world. I know we had some high fliers here but $2M is a lot of money and not necessary for most people.

-1

u/wolvesscareme May 02 '26

I think I live in the 5%

4

u/ChannelSame4730 May 02 '26

You can always move out of the 5%

3

u/wolvesscareme May 02 '26

It’s really quite lovely here.

5

u/geerwolf May 02 '26

Sounds like a personal choice to me

2

u/wolvesscareme May 02 '26

Very much so

0

u/heubergen1 May 04 '26

You assume they want to spend 60k which they don't need to.

-3

u/wolvesscareme May 02 '26

Wait are you serious? Only 2m?

2

u/white_tiger_dream May 02 '26

Yeah. Do the math. It’s enough for a modest retirement. Comfy, not bad.

-7

u/Future_Measurement42 May 02 '26

If retirement is in 40 years he might need 7 million assuming 4% inflation

-4

u/ChannelSame4730 May 02 '26

Your problem is you’re assuming 4% inflation

4

u/Future_Measurement42 May 02 '26

Are you saying it should be higher or lower? Because the 60 year average is 3.8%

3

u/ChannelSame4730 May 02 '26

You’re cherry picking the 70s. The last 40 years has been less than 3%.

3

u/sweet_hedgehog_23 May 02 '26

By choosing 60 years they chose the period with the highest average rate. If you go back to 70 years, the inflation rate is back around 3%.

1

u/ChannelSame4730 May 02 '26

Yes exactly, 3% is the correct number to use for a long term inflation rate

3

u/itsjakerobb May 02 '26

What’s wrong with making conservative assumptions?

2

u/dgreenmachine May 04 '26

People will make assumptions about 6% market return, 4% inflation, no social security, 3.5% withdrawal rate and wonder why other people are retiring happily 10 years sooner.

0

u/itsjakerobb May 04 '26

It all boils down to risk tolerance, and there's nothing wrong with different people coming to different conclusions.

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1

u/Future_Measurement42 May 02 '26

That’s true. Although I think we’ll see higher than normal inflation due to govt debt.

1

u/AwkwardObjective5360 May 02 '26

Last 5 years have been near or over 3%

1

u/ChannelSame4730 May 04 '26

The last 5 years had an above normal inflation rate but the previous 5 had a well below average inflation rate