It can NOT be just math. I can do math - including build a Monte Carlo simulation from the basic equation including variables with different distribution patterns.
It can NOT be just math. Of all the people who drove passing the walking me, the math would say I have more $ than at least 80% of them. But they were driving with the A/C on and I was walking.
It can NOT be just math. We have talked/interviewed several wealth management firms and they all say I could walk off work yesterday based on their math.
It can NOT be just math.
OP, As noted earlier, I cannot exactly throw stones: my NW is a measure higher than yours and yet here I am still working when so many people here have managed retirement on far less. So, I really do understand extremely well the difficulty in walking away from a very very cushy income, not to mention the gratification of watching your NW grow and compound year after year. If you started with less than zero like me, experiencing having this kind of wealth is unreal - and THAT is the problem - it feels very UNREAL - like something I cannot count on. Somehow, there is fear it will all be taken away, disappear, vanish into thin air, like it never existed. Because I was never acclimated to having it - its not part of my early experience.
I understand that it is not just math and even that the math is not purely objective. Plenty of debate around which math is the right math. One of my deepest fears is that all the math is wrong - and we're all going to be destitute and homeless someday. But, I know that is just my irrational fears trying to control my behavior.
Putting the pieces together from your comments, it seems clear that you recognize that your fears are irrational - the math works but its not just about the math. You're asking how people overcame their fear. I can only speak to my own thinking and how I have framed how I'll approach the decision:
(1) You'll hear a lot of people talking about trading money for time instead of time for money. The math says at this point I'm many times more likely to die rich than broke. That helps me put a value on that next dollar of earned income - what is it buying me? Would I ever get to spend it? How much security do I really need?
(2) I thoroughly enjoy working (most of the time) though it comes at a price for sure. I've never worked with the idea of retirement in mind. I've worked with the idea of Financial Independence in mind, or what we like to call F-U money in my trade - the flexibility to pursue whatever path I want and not put up with BS. Even once I "retire" there is no doubt I'll still be looking for ways to be productive, and probably earn some $$$, just in a different way, on my own terms.
(3) I also enjoy having enough income to enjoy a very nice lifestyle - one in which financial considerations are secondary. But, at this point wealth and passive income can replace earned income in this regard - this is where my early experiences betray me - I grew up placing more value on income than wealth. I thought I had learned otherwise in adulthood, but there still is that emotional doubt to overcome, to let go of that reliance on earned income.
(4) Somehow, over the years I've allowed my work to define me. Yuck! That's not good. It feels good when everything is going great, but it is a fleeting pleasure, like a drug addiction, and then its back to what have you done for me lately. I've focused more of my energy on creating a separate and distinct identity. That has been a critical element of preparation - at least in my case. They've made that a lot easier as of late for a variety of reasons I won't detail.
(5) As I look at my age demographic and folks a bit older, its really sinking in that I might only have a limited amount of time as a relatively healthy, able-bodied, person. How do I want to spend that valuable time? More time with family? Travel? Hobbies? Volunteer work? Coaching others? etc. For me, all of the above.
(6) My in-laws did provide a great example. They retired, had a great lifestyle, went through the whole LTC debacle, and even managed to leave a good bit behind, and they did so on far less than DW and I have accumulated. They showed us how to do it. I need to trust that.
So, I don't know exactly when or how I will make the transition. What I do know is that I can. I can do it and it will be ok. I can do it without reason to fear. It's my choice, my option. And its great to know you have options.
If you want to work - if that gives you the most pleasure - then work. I would be the last to judge. I know and respect a few folks who will probably drop dead at their desks, and that will be ok for them. The thing that disturbs me with you is that you are "suffering" for no apparent reason. It does not sound as if you enjoy work, nor do you enjoy your lifestyle - you sound trapped in a hellish existence. Why? This I do not understand.