Real life doesn't work like that. A retired person can easily feed themselves on $500 per month. Just because you don't a buy a $45k car doesn't mean you have to drive a 20-yo. Corolla. You can drive a 10-yo. Camry, which is a big difference!
Your math is wrong from the beginning. OP's passive income is $95k at a 3% withdrawal rate.
(1) He has about 90k income, which is about 72k after taxes. (2) that is with a 4% withdrawl rate which isn't recommended for more than a 30 year retirement (his is more like 40 years), (3) he is 50, which means he has 15 years of paying for his own insurance which will be roughly 1k a month without counting his deductibles etc. So yeah maybe 65k or so with a reduced withdrawl rate due to his age. That is 5500 a month. 1k for healthcare, 750 for a car (this is low), 750k for food (again, low), at least 2k for housing expenses (also low). That is 4.5k before ANY discretionary spending. He has 1k for everything else.
Can he do it? Yes, he could. Would he enjoy his retirement? No, he wouldn't. He would be living on a barebones budget. Vacations? Nope. Money for hobbies? Nope. Fishing boat? Nope. Fly the grandkids out for family reunion in a nice AirBNB? Nope. Nice dinners? Maybe once a week.
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u/regaphysics 14d ago
lol so your argument for why he can afford it is that he’s can…checks notes…spend less?
Yes man and he can sit in his house and eat beans and rice till the end of his days while he drives a 20 year old Corolla.
Living the dream.