I am aiming for about $700k – just me, no family. At a 4% withdrawal rate, the $28,000 is larger than my current annual living expense of about $20,000 (my condo is paid off). My income is modest, but my lifestyle is pretty simple (my preference), so I can live well at MMM levels of income. I also expect to get a smallish SS that will provide buffer and travel funds, although I won’t have that until several years after I retire. My projected retirement expenses are larger than my current living expenses because I want to do more travel, although I’m aware that the buffer may be taken up by other unexpected things.
The big unknowns are healthcare expenses, Medicare, and ACA. I’m healthy, and my health insurance will be very low cost under ACA, but recent reading indicates that Medicare expenses may be shockingly high. I can see doing OMY or two to accommodate those concerns. And layoffs continue to be a possibility. I’ve already been through it, and can survive OK on what I have at ERE levels, but don’t really want to over the long term. A larger stash (obviously) means more options, but I don’t think I’ll need more than $700k. I want to be resilient because it’s a given that plenty of unknown factors (good and bad) will affect expenses, but I hope to accommodate resiliency through spending adjustments (no travel and eating out in years of high cost unexpected events) rather than a big stash.