with the way governments are behaving these days, no amount of money will guarantee financial independence
a cache of canned beans and bottled water, however...
But if I have ~$2MM in an index fund just sitting around, even a conservative 7.5% return YOY will afford me $150,000 per year in potential cash to pull out (without depleting the original principle) that nets me 112,500 after the maximum theoretical capital gains (just assume a naïve, flat 25%) which is more than enough to keep the lights on if I own my home, car, and do 90% of building maintenance myself.
The advantage here is that this part of the system is what the ultra wealthy rely on to amass more wealth so it's going to be one of the last institutions in society to fall apart because the wealthy and powerful will fight tooth and nail to make sure they can keep making money.
Oh my god, the FIRE community makes me laugh so hard. Just 4 years ago people were talking about how they only needed 4% average yearly gains, $48,000 per year in income, and inflation would stay at 2%.
It turns out that you can't eat money, and that real things become scarcer every year.
5 years from now people will be laughing at your numbers for being low :)
The superficial, shallow, and fleeting nature of work relationships is the primary reason I’m working to become financially independent from the system. I like working, but I don’t like being in a situation where I can be trashed at a moments notice and completely upheave my day-to-day and having to readjust my goals.
I’ve become so disenchanted with working for somebody else, during the pandemic I discovered how much happier I could be focusing exclusively on hobbies and familial/friend/romantic relationships so all of these get prioritized above working most of the time for me.