> eaten by you, taxes, and inflation Taxes and inflation one can measure (reasonably) objectively, but personal spending is always going to vary wildly. Say o

> eaten by you, taxes, and inflation Taxes and inflation one can measure (reasonably) objectively, but personal spending is always going to vary wildly. Say one gets 10% in the stock market over the long term, let's say inflation is 4% so that's 6% after inflation, and say 4% after taxes[0]. Median personal income is $40k, and median family income is $75k (2022 dollars). That means an individual would need $1M in savings, and a family would need $1.875M. Which is a fair bit of money, and anybody who accumulates it will probably be accustomed to a higher-than-median lifestyle. >As a society, we should prevent "escape capital" to be a thing. No, we shouldn't, because in normal language this is called "retirement". Somebody who has saved enough to retire has reached "escape capital", and this is something we should be trying to encourage more broadly. As you say this is out of reach for most, so what we should be trying to do is get more people to reach this threshold, not less. Many have suggested a wealth tax; I'm personally in favor but I think it's unconstitutional (in the US)[2]. [0] If one is funding their lifestyle they would need to sell stock/collect dividends, which would be taxable. [1] https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/SEX255222 https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/SEX255222 [2] I am not a lawyer or constitutional law expert. Although I'd be willing to bet that the current SCOTUS would find it unconstitutional.