u/throughthehills2

I'm already pretty much FIRE by my own standards, but I wonder if my standards are correctly calibrated, given all the recent inflation, job market turbulence, economic changes, etc.

About me:

40s, Australian, male, single (and happy to remain that way), fit and healthy for my age, no serious health issues. Bit introverted with possible mild autism/ADHD but that doesn't seem to have stopped me from getting work.

I consider myself moderately frugal. Don't own a car, eat largely cheap and plant-based food, no gym membership (use my own weights), very simple cheap hobbies like reading, programming, jogging at the park, etc.

Only thing I spend a bit more on is rent. Can't stand excessive noise, busy highways, car traffic and pollution, dangerous neighbourhoods, cigarette smoke or nosey neighbours. So I tend to be fairly selective about which areas I live in.

My main portfolio is a low cost index fund in 100% global equities. Additionally I have significant amounts in separate funds invested in inflation-linked bonds, small-cap-value and foreign currencies.

I plan on a moderately conservative 3-4% withdrawal rate. If there's a particularly nasty sequence of returns, I'll pick up some part-time work and/or draw on the separate funds as needed. If returns are particularly good I'll take an occasional budget holiday, like hostels or AirBnB rooms during off seasons in the US or UK.

What do you think would be a reasonable total net worth for someone in my situation seeking a fairly safe retirement and who might live up to 90 years at the very oldest?

S&P returns are 8%, it doubles every 9 years, or gets 10 times bigger in 30 years.

With $1mil in a trust fund it grows to $1 billion in 90 years, $1 trillion in 180 years.

After 300 years it's worth $10,000 trillion. That's enough to give everyone on earth a $1mil retirement. What could go wrong?

The article gives a pretty damning picture of the maintenance of infrastructure including bridges with lots of examples of how waiting for stuff to fail leads to much higher costs

When simple living is ingrained as a lifestyle it's effortless. You can call it being naturally frugal, I'm currently saving 75% of my income, but feel like I already buy everything that I want. Buying expensive stuff is just not interesting, everything worthwhile seems very affordable. For example I'll spend extra on fancy ingredients for something I want to cook, or buy flowers occasionally to brighten up the apartment.

I heard someone describe this as "money on tap", when you can spend whenever you feel like it but don't have to keep checking if you spent too much.

This seems to be the ideal, I could strain my lifestyle and save more to retire early but then I need to retire with that strained lifestyle.