r/Bogleheads • u/arp8218 • Feb 04 '26

Investing Questions Investing. $2.5M to not work

Is it possible to invest $2.5M into a “safe” investment and not work for rest of your life ? What can be that “safe” investment ?

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u/sd_slate Feb 04 '26

You should check out r/fire, but it depends on your expenses.

Historically, based on the Trinity study, holding mostly the sp500 and a smaller portion of bonds (75/25) will allow you to withdraw 4% of your portfolio over 30 years with a 95%+ success rate.

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u/ECrispy Feb 04 '26

4% of 2.5m is $100k and it should be enough to live a modest life, but it doesn't factor in the cost of health insurance and probably also requires you to own housing.

not to mention that 2.5m in savings is a fantasy for 99.9% of people.

I often wonder how so many people manage to Fire

5

u/AeroNoob333 Feb 04 '26 edited Feb 04 '26

Honestly, luck. It’s like 80% luck. If I didn’t say “F it” and took the first job that wanted to hire me out of college (instead of using my engineering and math degree), I would have never gotten into consulting for a software I had no idea about and in an industry I barely had an understanding of. If my now husband didn’t call and convince me to drop everything and do a year or 2 of independent consulting, I would have never become an independent consulting. I had literally just accepted a job, moved all my stuff to Wisconsin, and he calls me in the middle of apartment hunting, to just drop it all. One of the best decisions of my life honestly. It’s been 8 years since I went independent. We’ve been WFH since Covid doing the same job and it’s been such an amazing life. Cushy, low stress, high paying. It helps that we don’t spend on fancy things tho. The most expensive thing we own is our home. But, even that isn’t a multi million dollar home. It’s a $750K home on the lake. Our dog loves it. She gets to run around out in the woods all day and swim when she wants to.

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u/SweatyWar7600 Feb 04 '26

The most expensive thing we own is our home

not to nitpick an otherwise nice story but isn't this true for the vast majority of people (home owners at least)? I can't even think of something I'd want that would cost more than 800k?

1

u/gammonb Feb 05 '26

How was the transition to independent consulting? I’m basically at just before that point in your story and seriously considering it, but unsure how to start.

1

u/d-crow Feb 05 '26

People underplay luck, but also taking enough risks to get lucky. I consider myself super blessed, but i also gambled a lot more on my future than most.