What is Enough? And Why Knowing is the Path to Financial Freedom.

November 19, 2025

I once worked with a guy who retired with more than $5 million and was stressed about money.

I’ve also worked with a guy who retired with less than a million and had complete peace of mind.

The difference? It wasn't their investment returns. It wasn't their financial advisor. And it definitely wasn't luck.

It was something much simpler, and much harder to figure out.

It was knowing what "enough" looks like.

The client who had the answer

When I first met with Michael in summer 2018, I was already doing the math in my head.

He'd been retired for almost four years by then and had about $900,000 in his IRA. He was pulling income from it to supplement Social Security.

When he retired back in 2014, he had around $750,000. Which meant he and his wife were living on roughly $85,000 a year, between portfolio withdrawals and Social Security.

But what I didn’t know was that he had a very successful career. And later, I remember thinking if he had just put away 10% of his earnings, he could have retired with millions. But unfortunately, he hadn’t done a good job of saving.

For someone who was earning around $300,000 at the end of his career, dropping down to $85,000 is obviously a dramatic pay cut.

So naturally, I did what any financial advisor would do. I started looking for ways to increase their income.

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The account had grown nicely over those four years despite the withdrawals, so I figured they could safely take another $10-15k per year.

Plus, they owned a large house with no mortgage, that was valued around $800,000. It was just the two of them, so they could downsize, invest $300-400k, and generate another $15-20k annually.

I laid out all these options, genuinely excited about the financial optimization I was offering.

And Michael respectfully declined.

"Why?" he said. "We don't need any more income. Life is good."

Then he said something that completely changed how I thought about financial advice: 

"Besides, the kids come visit a lot. And I love that the grandkids get to sleep in the same house and play in the same yard as their parents did when they were younger. We have no interest in moving. And I'd rather keep more money in the account to help them down the road."

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I remember sitting there, a little stunned.

Here I thought I was giving him great financial advice. And instead, he was the one teaching me.

Michael had something I'd never really encountered before in wealth management: he knew exactly what "enough" looked like. And because he knew, he didn't feel the need to chase more.

Which got me thinking: What would it feel like to turn down financial optimization because you already have enough?

What most financial advisors won't tell you

Here's something you won't hear at most wealth management firms: the traditional advisor business model isn't built to help you figure out "enough."

Most advisors charge based on assets under management, typically 1% of whatever you have invested with them. Which means their income goes up when your account balance goes up.

Sounds reasonable, right? Except it creates a subtle conflict of interest.

An advisor getting paid this way has no financial incentive to tell you that you might already have enough. Or that taking some money out to do something meaningful right now might actually improve your life more than leaving it all to compound for decades.

(Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of ethical advisors out there who genuinely put clients first. But the incentive structure doesn't help.)

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When you know what "enough" looks like, you can optimize for life satisfaction instead of just portfolio balance.

That’s where the power comes from.

Which brings me to my own story...

My $36,000 realization

I wish I could tell you I had this all figured out before I left my job and started Reflective Wealth. That would make for a better story.

The truth? I left that job hastily, without a plan. And I was scared.

I was leaving a steady paycheck. I was about to start dipping into savings I'd worked hard to build. And other than obtaining my CFP® certification, I wasn’t sure what was next.

And to make matters worse, about nine months later, I experienced a cancer relapse. Multiple surgeries and six rounds of chemotherapy meant that, wherever my next paycheck was coming from, it wouldn’t be for a while.

On the other side of all this, I knew I didn’t want to go back to a corporate job. Cancer likes bodies that are under a lot of stress. And I couldn’t put myself back in that situation again.

Unfortunately, this was about 2 years after I left my job. I had already burned through a good amount of my savings. So realistically, I began thinking that a steady paycheck from a corporate job might be my only option.

But something had shifted in me during this whole experience. I started wondering if maybe I could live more like Michael, who had taught me an important lesson just few years back.

Maybe it was facing mortality. Maybe it was just exhaustion from trying to live up to someone else's definition of success.

Either way, I finally asked myself: What actually matters?

Once I was able to see past the external validation I'd been chasing and the career milestones that were supposed to mean something but didn’t, I realized my "enough" wasn't nearly as complicated as I'd made it.

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This realization allowed me to start doing some real planning.

The first thing I needed to do was figure out what my retirement accounts would be worth after 20 more years of compounding, when I'd be in my 60s.

The stock market has historically averaged around 10% annual growth. I went with a more conservative 9%. And when I ran the numbers, my current balance projected out to more than $2 million by age 62.

Next, I looked at home equity. My wife and I agreed we'd be okay selling our house in retirement in favor of renting something smaller. So, this counted as retirement savings too.

Dallas homes have historically appreciated by around 4-5% annually. Knowing that our mortgage would be paid off by retirement, this meant we could expect at least another $1 million at that time.

With $3-4 million of projected assets (not including my wife’s 401k), retirement was basically secured.

That meant I could finally shift my focus to the present.

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And that's when things got interesting.

By living intentionally (and I mean really intentionally, stripping away everything that didn't align with what mattered most), we calculated that we only needed $36,000 of annual income on top of my wife's salary.

Let me say that again: $36,000.

With that amount, we could:

•    Preserve our retirement savings

•    Live comfortably (not frugally, but comfortably).

•    Send our kids to college.

•    Have my wife retire at 55 and me at 60.

You know what that number gave me? Freedom.

It gave me the freedom to choose entrepreneurship over another corporate job. Freedom from the pressure to chase clients I didn't want to work with. Freedom to say no to opportunities that paid well but felt wrong.

It gave me freedom to make lots of mistakes, learn from them, and keep plowing forward. And it even gave me freedom to dip into my retirement savings, if absolutely necessary.

Because I wasn't desperate for income, I could be patient. I could focus on partnering with the right clients. I could spend more time improving my service instead of scaling up fast.

And here's the ironic part: by focusing only on what I truly needed, I ended up building something that will probably give me far more than I need. My wife might retire well before 55 if she wants to. I might have the option to retire before 60.

But I probably won't. Because when you're not running away from work, retirement loses its appeal.

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Pause here

Before continuing to the framework below, take a moment: What if your "enough" was lower than you thought, maybe significantly lower?

How might that change the decisions you're facing right now?

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Your turn: Finding your "enough"

So, here's the question I'd like you to sit with: What does "enough" actually look like for you?

Not "enough to be wealthy." Not "enough to keep up with others." Not "enough to feel successful by some external measure."

Just...enough. Enough to live well. Enough to focus on what matters. Enough to stop chasing and start living.

If you're not sure how to answer that, you're not alone. Most people haven't thought about it this way. We're conditioned to optimize for "more," not "enough."

But I genuinely believe this might be the most important financial question you'll ever answer. Because once you know your number, everything else gets clearer.

The "enough" framework

Want to explore this for yourself? Here's a framework to start with:

Step 1: Calculate your estimated retirement nest egg

Use a compound interest calculator to estimate what your current savings will be worth at traditional retirement age, assuming 8-10% annual returns.

Step 2: Calculate other retirement income

Get estimates for any other retirement income (pension, Social Security, rental income).

Step 3: Estimate your future retirement expenses

What do you think you'll spend annually in retirement (in today's dollars)? Then adjust for 3% annual inflation through retirement age.

Step 4: Calculate the gap

Subtract your other income (Step 2) from your expenses (Step 3). This is what you'll need to withdraw from your portfolio.

Step 5: Calculate your withdrawal rate

Divide your withdrawal amount (Step 4) by your nest egg (Step 1).

Step 6: Assess security

If your withdrawal rate is 5% or less, you're in pretty good shape for retirement.

And here's the real opportunity

If Step 6 shows you're on track for retirement, you can shift focus to the present.

You can calculate your minimum required income today: the amount you need to maintain security and fund your most important goals while living the life you actually want to live.

That's when things open up. That's when you get leverage.

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If you'd like help working through this with more sophisticated analysis (Monte Carlo simulations, cash flow projections, different scenarios), I'm always happy to talk.

But even if you never hire a financial advisor, I'd encourage you to at least do the basic math. Figure out your "enough."

Because knowing that number might just change everything.

One more question before you go

Think about the decisions you keep putting off.

The job you're considering leaving. The career pivot you've been too scared to make. The year off you've been dreaming about.

What becomes possible when you realize you might already have enough?