I consider matching and even pensions, as a return. If it didn’t come out my salary, it is a return, IMHO. I mean, 10% of my portfolio is company match and its earnings, and then compare my pension on top of that, the pension is the far greater benefit.
Fairly “duh, what if article” that offers very little insight for this forum, except to depress those that are young and hoped to be FIRE based on the LBYM movement and experiences of those already FIRE on this forum. First, how many/what percentage of hard line serious LBYM savers work 40 years?? I know a few, and they all have the same trait.... the inability to spend and enjoy the money that they hoard. They worked because they loved getting paid for what they did, and saving became an almost obsession. I see no point in working 40 years & having a net worth of $10M, if you live like you have $50k/yr income in retirement. I would have zero incentive to live like that for 40 years of a career to retire in that mode. The point of FIRE is to not work for 40 years, and leave a ton of money to heirs, IMHO. It is to enjoy life as you want.
And then, did anyone really think they would reliably become wealthy because 2/3rds of their nest egg would be earnings & growth?
In my case, I did work almost 40 years, having never heard of FIRE, and the though of it, literally non existent. I belonged to a “work hard, save some, and it all works out” cohort, ut the important thing was to work at something you enjoy that happened to pay well. My first 15-20 were full of tunnel vision youthful financial stupidity and lack of understanding. I was almost 40 (1998) before I really even started grasping the enormity of what funding a healthy retirement meant, and came to the realization that workkng for just money and not fulfillment was a death march, and I considered myself a bright engineer. Which does not always translate to smart with money. I was never a spendthrift, but 2 divorces, and job changes had me with zero NW in 1996. BUt I lived what I considered well, after that realization, though, certainly not luxurious. I think many here may have had money centric educations, backgrounds and careers that gave them an early leg up, and maybe they got their fulfillment from just making a much as possible for investing?
In my case, (and DW’s) our comfortable final return is based on not chasing the earned dollar, with an investing saavy the basis core of growth, but the resultant pension and SS dollars, coupled with decent earnings (in our humble opinion). Our portfolio is about $1.4, but most of it was made by lucky return timing, compounding of that, and leveraged debt of our homes with lucky timed sales. The last 7 years of my career I started socking away $25-35k/year, entirely in 401k, (as per the article realizations, which I feel is fairly common place) which I bled in to IRAs once I became more educated, and invested with higher risk, which thanks to this bull, was profitable. My 12 year portfolio returns combined have been about 12-14%/yr, which is mainly from a few extremely great years of 30ish % and most around a more normal 7-8%. But IF I had to live entirely on savings returns vs working for a healthy wage, and then continue that in retirement, my life would be far poorer. I always considered my salary the combination of what I was paid, plus the equivalent of what the pension was adding to an imaginary investment. Our pensions were all non contributory, so I feel $60k income in added retirement income, from just working something you like plus pays well to live the lifestyle you want at the moment is a pretty smart gig. To me, I saw little difference between final retirement incomes from a NW generating income in retirement based on just portfolio size, (with all the risk on you) vs a combination of what my working would end me up with, income wise in a situation that I felt historically was very safe.
My RMDs, when they start, will probably go to savings too.
