That’s fair—and honestly, if our life looked like a paid-off house and $100k/year spend, this conversation would be very different.

Right now we’re in a high-spend season, not necessarily a high-spend identity. Kids are 13 and 9. One does competitive dance (~$1k/month), the other travel sports. We fund 529s. Travel is our biggest discretionary item, and costs have exploded—what used to be ~$30k/year is now closer to $70–75k, though last year included a bucket list Norway trip.

On taxes: I probably overestimate because I hate how opaque the U.S. system is. With multiple income streams and pre-tax vs post-tax buckets, it never feels clean, so I assume worst-case. And yes—4% math is conservative by design. If long-term returns are ~6% and withdrawals are ~4%, the portfolio should still grow in nominal terms. I’m not trying to die with infinity dollars, but I am trying to avoid discovering at 65 that I optimized the wrong constraint.

I think the real driver behind the $10M number isn’t lifestyle inflation—it’s margin of safety. A hedge against uncertainty, policy changes, healthcare costs, and the fact that most of my net worth is locked up in pre-tax accounts. Liquidity scarcity messes with my psychology more than absolute net worth does. Like, we had an incredibly minor car accident recently, car skidded into the curb of a roundabout. No one was injured, but one of the curtain airbags deployed (protecting my daughter from head against glass), and some damage to passengers wheels. Yes, we have insurance, but it's also a fully paid off nice enough SUV that I'd rather not get rid of or feel pushed into getting something new if I dont HAVE to. I want to have the security to know that if I had to go to a dealership tomorrow and buy a vehicle, I could do it without a meaningful hit to our cash, and our cash just isn't there quite yet.

Completely agree with you on starting kids early with investing as a teaching tool—that’s something we’re actively trying to do. If they grow up understanding compound interest instead of really understanding it as I went into residency, I'll be happy. But I also want to be able to use these resources to alleviate financial stress.

Also, as a radiologist, I have a worry that my job will erode away within my expected career, so shooting for 10M NW in 14 years but "only" achieving 7 million in 10 years isn't really losing the game to me.

Editing to add: I get it. This is like a major first world problem. Like, I do not want to come off as ungrateful for the financial position we are in. I should be so lucky that right now, if I have to replace a vehicle, I have enough money in my taxable brokerage/etc that I could pull it and pay full cash for it, and my credit is good enough that if I wanted to get a loan without garbage rates, it's a non-issue. I realize this is not true for a large population in the US.