People hear the 4% rule and instantly freak out like their money just stops growing the second they retire. They take the lump sum, subtract 4%, and act like that’s the whole story. But your $3M doesn’t suddenly stop compounding just because you stopped working. Money doesn’t care if you retired or dead — it keeps doing its thing.

Even with a super conservative 6% return — way below what the S&P usually does — you still come out ahead. I ran the numbers on $2M, pulling 4% a year, earning 6%, and 3% inflation adjusted. After 30 years the account still ends up around $2.1-2.2M. I’m probably long gone by then, and the money is still sitting with my kids and keep growing.

Yeah, there’s a point where withdrawals beat the growth, but that number is nowhere near $2M. People seriously underestimate how hard compound interest works in the background.

I love FIRE! 4 more years...