$1M savings should last a life time if aggressively invested. If you have no dependents then 5-10 in a managerial class role should get you there

I don’t understand your point. 39% of the country would have to borrow to cover a $400 surprise medical expense. Not many have $1MM in savings to “aggressively invest” (what does that even mean? Risky investments? Which means sometimes the luck will run out?). I also don’t know many ordinary managers with $5-10MM in savings. That’s quite some income, and those people must not be married with kids.

Regardless, none of this negates that they can still feel valid pressures no matter what their success is. Typically having such success invites even more pressure as one is expected to keep it up, either by others or themselves. Few make it to such largess without overworking themselves.

[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-06-04/the-40...

I mean you’re proving my point exactly. People who have the savings to not work convince themselves that their identity is their job and do it to “keep up.” My point is that is all in your head, and if you’re going around complaining about how busy you are you then you’re doing it voluntarily and not because you will literally be homeless if you stop.

$1M in a high quality REIT can generate 12% dividends, which is $120K. A single person could easily live off half that.

>> $1M in a high quality REIT can generate 12% dividends, which is $120K.

Are these 12% dividends normal or sustainable? Have they continued over the years? Could you name a couple of sample names/tickers?

>> A single person could easily live off half that.

True -- perhaps not half but you are forgetting taxes!

You can live off $60K pre tax as a single person even in a high cost city. I don’t spend more than $3.5K a month total right now in a normal month in SF.

Taxes are not that high at that level of income.

I'm assuming you're speaking about the US.

If your health insurance coverage denies any procedure you consider necessary (which they do not), you're looking at 6 figure bills. These balloon with age. I'd agree on the $1M figure, but only without the monkey wrench of US healthcare.