Also how you end up in (net worth / spending rate) is as much a result of how much you earn as what fraction of that you invest; How modest you keep your living

Also how you end up in (net worth / spending rate) is as much a result of how much you earn as what fraction of that you invest; How modest you keep your living expenses; How early you start; How well you can learn and keep up with investment reading and math requirements; And luck. Being a teacher may well predispose you with several of these. The US make it also easy - well, maybe not easy but not uncommon - for a cliché "Wall Street lawyer" to end up broke. We were discussing the awesome breadth in outcome in the US.