Suze Orman was a guest on a financial podcast and spent a long time trashing FIRE. The show is here:
http://podcast.affordanything.com/153-hate-fire-movement-suze-orman/ Suze starts at around the 6 minute mark
I took notes on the first HALF so you don't have to listen:
Life happens - cancer, illness, death, accidents - $2 million when that happens is pennies
AI is coming - by 2030 we will have 25% unemployment. Tax brackets will increase to compensate for all the people not working and not paying taxes. Higher tax brackets mean you will keep a smaller % of your portfolio (e.g. 401k)
Healthy people today can live until 90, 95 or 100. long term care in the future will be $30k a month. Suze paid $250k a year for her mom.
Expenses increase over time, especially if you have kids.
Don't forget about inflation whacking away at your portfolio.
Markets can go down, dividends can drop to zero - a 4% withdrawal rate may be too high. Puerto Rico was paying 6% on its bonds before it defaulted.
FIRE before 50 is the biggest mistake you can make in a lifetime.
Need to invest as much as possible when you're young to get the biggest benefits of compounding.
A 3% withdrawal on a $3mil portfolio is fine without black swan events but she tells everyone to work as long as they can in an AREA THAT YOU LOVE.
Don't neglect disability insurance.
After 4-5 years of leisure and travel many people get bored.
Suze thinks it's fine to pursue FIRE in order to be a SAHP. But your child will go to school and get older and you need to fill those holes.
College costs will be $400k pretty soon - do you want to help your kids or not? Many parents choose to spend on their kids rather than retire. The students may not be able to borrow enough to pay for tuition and then the parents have to co-sign.
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I stopped listening at the 45 minute mark