Health insurance (the expense of health insurance and the business model of health insurance to not pay out without a fight) is the single biggest impediment to financial security. Let’s lump long term care into this category.
My whole life until around 2018 I also thought of America and the American dollar as thoroughly reliable, as did my grandparents before me. But now I’m not so sure. There’s nothing I can do about this so I charge ahead with the old rules trying to not worry, but I am very concerned about major threats to the financial system due to at least two branches of the federal government which have turnover every 2 to 6 years.
I’d say enough to be debt-free, with ample cash reserves to handle nearly any unexpected expense, and a large enough investment portfolio that it (combined with SSI) can provide all of my needed income in retirement, while continuing to grow to outpace inflation.
A rule of thumb I subscribe to is that the very basic necessities of life (food, clothing, shelter) should be 100% covered by various streams of monthly guaranteed income (social security, pension and/or annuity income). Aspiring to cover our basic cost of monthly living with guaranteed income allows us to take a more long term approach to our other invested assets and a greater percentage of those dollars being allocated to stocks, since short term market volatility isn’t directly impacting our near-term lifestyle.
Being able to sustain whatever lifestyle one has chosen, and to have sufficient assets and/or income streams to not be overly worried about common contingencies (e.g., death, serious/protracted illness, market crashes).
For me, the biggest thing needed for financial independence is a good handle on the expenses, and the ability to keep the expenses, especially the essential expenses, low. Lifestyle inflation extends our dependency on money. It makes FI a moving target- what seemed enough a few years ago is no longer enough today.
The other important thing for me is flexibility and adaptation if things don’t work out the way we had hoped. As a risk-averse person, I value having a backup plan just in case:).
Health insurance (the expense of health insurance and the business model of health insurance to not pay out without a fight) is the single biggest impediment to financial security. Let’s lump long term care into this category.
My whole life until around 2018 I also thought of America and the American dollar as thoroughly reliable, as did my grandparents before me. But now I’m not so sure. There’s nothing I can do about this so I charge ahead with the old rules trying to not worry, but I am very concerned about major threats to the financial system due to at least two branches of the federal government which have turnover every 2 to 6 years.
I’d say enough to be debt-free, with ample cash reserves to handle nearly any unexpected expense, and a large enough investment portfolio that it (combined with SSI) can provide all of my needed income in retirement, while continuing to grow to outpace inflation.
A rule of thumb I subscribe to is that the very basic necessities of life (food, clothing, shelter) should be 100% covered by various streams of monthly guaranteed income (social security, pension and/or annuity income). Aspiring to cover our basic cost of monthly living with guaranteed income allows us to take a more long term approach to our other invested assets and a greater percentage of those dollars being allocated to stocks, since short term market volatility isn’t directly impacting our near-term lifestyle.
Being able to sustain whatever lifestyle one has chosen, and to have sufficient assets and/or income streams to not be overly worried about common contingencies (e.g., death, serious/protracted illness, market crashes).
For me, the biggest thing needed for financial independence is a good handle on the expenses, and the ability to keep the expenses, especially the essential expenses, low. Lifestyle inflation extends our dependency on money. It makes FI a moving target- what seemed enough a few years ago is no longer enough today.
The other important thing for me is flexibility and adaptation if things don’t work out the way we had hoped. As a risk-averse person, I value having a backup plan just in case:).