TorchtheFlyingTiger

Good to hear. Keep us updated and enjoy your freedom. Welcome to the club.

25x living expenses (minus SS, pension or other reliable passive income)
That's based on 4% rule of thumb even less if using revised 4.7-5.5% rule.

This thread has wildly different opinions because we need to define the "what" is FU money before the "how much."

My definition is enough $ that I can reliably maintain my acceptable/desired standard of living if I tell an employer, business partner or other income source "FU" and just walk away. For some, they'll keep bending knee to attain higher standard of living while others may be willing and free to say FU with much less.

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why sell now and lose your cost basis?

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Because there is no cost basis to consider in a Roth. Roth is often best place for a little speculative high potential growth instead of taxable brokerage as you are suggesting.

Side note, this is just a reallocation not a "Roth conversion."

Life in post WW2 US wasnt what you see in pop culture. The masses were struggling and living much more humble lives than what you saw on Leave it to Beaver, Back to the Future, Father Knows Best or what ever folks base their nostalgia on. Arguably it was a better time due to social cohesion, cultural changes, consumer expectations or whatever your chosen lense. But standard of living wasn't better by almost any measure.

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How can you have people in their late 50's early 60s buying a house that they will pay a mortgage on?

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Mortgage can be an effective financial tool for retirees.
Totally situation dependent. I recently helped my elderly mother buy a new home so she can relocate closer to us and a safer town. She took out a huge mortgage but can afford it w pension, SS and retirement funds. Paying cash would have depleted her reserves, forced her to sell current paid off home first making move more difficult to orchestrate, and triggered higher taxes due to large one time retirement withdrawal. Instead, she stretches out the expense and minimizes potential.of depleting her retirement funds. Her heirs will pay off the remaining balance or sell. Besides, her mortgage payment is fixed while pensions/SS are COLA adjusted so it's an inflation hedge and diminishing portion of her monthly expenses over time.

Paid for subscription ($4/m first 2 months) but don't have XMoney access yet after a week. I'm seeing others that took 8 days or so before they got access. Gonna cancel if it doesn't become available soon.

Notice he isnt cash rich. His wealth is tied up in high growth potential industries. Musk just announced he was giving away $10 billion of SpaceX stock to American kids and more to follow.

Makes perfect sense to me. If money will become obsolete, the obvious move is to exchange it now while you still can for a larger share of access to resources and means of production.

Damnit! I'm an index investor but now you got me itching to go buy some SpaceX.

The Retirement and IRA Show podcast (Annuity Month 2026) does several episodes each June focused on annuities. You may find them informative.

Maybe I misinterpreted it but I thought OP was considering the annuity to establish SEPP under 72(t) using the "Fixed Annuitization" method.

I'd just avoid any proprietary funds like the Fidelity zero funds that have no expense ratio but can't be moved to another brokerage. Otherwise, any low expense mutual fund or ETF that tracks the index you prefer should be good. ETF tax advantage only applies to taxable account not retirement accounts (traditional or Roth).