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The OP's statement definitely resonates with me, though it took me a few years after ER to come to that point of view. Now, when I see detailed plans, I just say to myself - "who are they kidding?" 30, 35, 45 years! Who knows what's going to happen? or what the world is going to look like.
Having said that, I think my new outlook arises from the fact that we are living on less than the "safe" withdrawal rate determined by many studies. Our budget is based on a percentage of portfolio value, not an inflation adjusted percentage of the original portfolio value that studies like Bengen's used. And, we haven't taken SS into account.
We also lived through '08-'09 and our portfolio was decimated enough, that we went back to work for nearly a year. I can't express in words how much that increased our confidence in ER. We proved to ourselves that we can be flexible and work if needed. If we need to go back to work in the future, we will earn only a fraction of what we made at the end of our careers, but if we have to do that, we know we can.
While we live on less than we could (going by SWR studies), we certainly have a good level of luxury in our lives and it will be hard to let that go if we had to. But we both came from families that struggled when we were young and know that we can do it if we had to - and still be happy.
Thanks for starting this discussion. This has been on my mind for a few months.
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If/when I buy another car, I will probably choose Door #2. Last year's excess would have covered more than I would spend on a car, for example. If that was not the case, I'd just use two or more years' combined excess.
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