re: For those saying $3MM net worth at age 45 would not be nearly enough to retire...

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take it you will be withdrawing from investment accounts until 59 1/2 to avoid penalties?

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You can easily avoid penalties w 72(t) periodic payments, pull Roth contributions and/or Roth conversion ladder. A blend of these with taxable brokerage withdrawals can often optimize taxes.

If I was in this scenario of 3 million and retiring at 45, I would have to consider putting 400 to 500K in a very safe investment to protect from market ups and downs and weather a multi year downturn. I would then have about 2.5 million to invest more aggressively and keep the safer funds topped off.

Assuming this is for a couple, 30 years down the road if someone needs memory care or other assisted living, I would personally be uncomfortable with this as my asset base including an assumption of a paid for house.

We will not have a pension or long-term care policies, so I would rather have a bigger nest egg that is harder to scramble if we hit a rough patch on investments or if one or both of us need long-term assisted living. I don't want to have to hesitate that we have the resources to choose the best options, which is why we opted not to pay for a LTC policy because I think we can outrun it with assets.

For myself, the 3 million at 45 would leave more risk in the equation than I would prefer for our houshold.

20 years ago this thread title would have said $1 million, ten years ago it would have said $1.5 million and today it says $3 million. In five years, it’ll say $5 million. Start solving that problem and you’ll be able to retire.

If you truly "retire" at age 45 what the hell are you going to do with your life? I could easily retire at 45 with $3 mil, but I'd choose to work simply because I don't need to be completely without an income source. As in, I enjoy doing something to make money. Now maybe that's just a passive income.

If you take 2 people that are smart enough to have $3 mil net worth at 45, there's a good chance they can make a little money on the side.

Lets all remember $3 mil net worth would include a home? So its not all in the stock market. If you had to pay rent on $3 mil that changes a lot of things imo. But given most people with a $3 mil net worth at 45 would have a larger house that is going to be costly in just taxes, insurance, and upkeep.

Even if all I wanted to do was fish, hunt, and travel it would be measly on only $120k and still be able to take care of my family.

But if you say work a part time job and can make a measly $25k each, that $100-120k is not $150-$175k and that's a lot more comfortable and only 2-3 days of "work" a week for both spouses.

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This person would be safer with a 3%-3.5% withdrawal rate, which would be $8750 a month. If that feels ok, then go for it.

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Health insurance would eat me alive.

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20 years ago this thread title would have said $1 million, ten years ago it would have said $1.5 million and today it says $3 million. In five years, it’ll say $5 million. Start solving that problem and you’ll be able to retire.

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And the truth is that most people don’t need that much to retire.

I base my numbers off of historical averages. Will there be recessions from time to time? Yes. Will there be boom years as we have experiences recently? Yes. Historical averages say that if you put a nice nest egg away you will be fine.

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Most people who have that net worth at that age are very high earners. They are probably also moderately high spenders. It's all relative.

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This is the reason these threads are always subtle brags and completely uninformative.

To have $3mil at 45, you just need to start saving $7,000/mo with 6% annual interest upon graduation. …pretty normal.

Mad Fientist made a post a while back about why the 4% rule is conservative:

LINK

Most early retirement proponents recommend managing withdrawals to optimize for taxable income and get ACA insurance subsidies. If withdrawing Roth IRA contributions and shares with high basis you can pay little or no income tax and get subsidized health insurance premiums. Long term capital gains arent taxed at all until you exceed ~$90k married joint plus you get standard deduction and basis isnt taxed (or reportable for ACA) just gains.

Some even report getting full Pell grants for college age kids despite decent annual expenditures because simplified FAFSA doesnt ask for assets if reportable income is low enough.

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OK, but that doesn’t change the fact that achieving that number still would require an individual to save double the median US income every year of their working life.

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It’s really not hard. I’m not an investment expert or genius. I had someone pull me aside my first year working who told me to try and max all available retirement accounts and I could retire early. Yes, I probably missed out on a few vacations and other stuff over the years but punching out at 50 while everyone else is stuck there until they are 65 or 70 is worth it. I can’t imagine what corporate America will be like in 10 or 15 years. It’s already full of idiots and bullshite and will only get worse.