<< rayvt: intercst, you are in a VERY non-typical situation. You keep making the mistake of thinking that you are more typical than not. >>

Not at all. I live in paid for home, drive a paid for 2020 Tesla Model Y (purchased about a year ago for $21,000 with the $4,000 used EV tax credit) and reside in a state with low property taxes and no state income tax. My basic budget for living expenses in 2026 is only $20,000/year -- same as the 4% withdrawal from the $500,000 retirement portfolio I started with in 1994. Of course, if I want to spend $100,000 on a vacation or have a $1 MM emergency, I can afford to fund it. That's obviously unusual. But there are a lot of retirees with a mortgage free home and a paid for automobile who live on surprisingly little.

About 30 years ago there was an article in either Fortune magazine or the WSJ where a reporter covering the BRK annual shareholder meeting in Omaha observed that the attendees weren't dressed up like the other Fortune 500 annual meetings he'd reported on.

"This is the largest collection of millionaires living on $30,000/year."

intercst