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There are people stressing about whether they can afford gas, and then there are people sitting on $12 million who still cannot bring themselves to quit working because shopping for health insurance sounds annoying.

A man explained in a post on Reddit that despite having roughly $12 million in net worth, he has not retired because sticking with his current low-stress job feels easier than untangling the logistics of managing his money independently. “I haven’t retired yet because I’m too lazy to buy my own health insurance and setup my assets for a steady income stream,” he wrote. “My current job is easy and low stress, keeping the status quo is probably not the optimal solution, but it is the easiest path forward.”

The post appeared in response to a discussion about whether $10 million is the “optimal” amount for early retirement, a number popularized by a post from Financial Samurai arguing that accumulating more than that can actually reduce happiness rather than improve it.

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The Reddit poster said his own finances already sit above that threshold, with roughly $2 million tied up in a primary residence and another $10 million invested in stocks and exchange-traded funds. Yet instead of feeling fully financially free, he admitted he remains parked in the workforce largely because the alternative feels like paperwork.

The Internet Was Not Buying The ‘Too Lazy’ Explanation

Many commenters immediately pushed back on the idea that someone capable of building an eight-figure portfolio could suddenly become helpless when it came to setting up insurance and income streams.

One commenter argued those tasks could realistically be handled in less than a day or outsourced entirely for a relatively small fee. Another suggested the man was not actually lazy at all, but simply comfortable continuing to work and unwilling to admit it outright.

Others pointed out that once someone reaches a certain wealth level, retirement stops being purely about money and starts becoming a psychological question. Several commenters described continuing to work after hitting multimillion-dollar milestones because they still enjoyed their careers, liked the structure, or simply did not know what they would replace work with.

One person broke retirement wealth into tiers: around $5 million meant “safe,” $10 million meant “done,” and $15 million meant “rich.”

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Why $10 Million Keeps Showing Up In Retirement Conversations

The idea behind the $10 million target is not entirely random.

Using a conservative 3% withdrawal rate, a $10 million portfolio could theoretically generate around $300,000 annually before taxes while still preserving substantial long-term wealth. At a 4% withdrawal rate, the number climbs closer to $400,000 annually.

That level of income changes retirement from “careful budgeting” into something far more flexible. Health-care costs become manageable. Market downturns become uncomfortable instead of catastrophic. Long-term care, travel, helping family members, and absorbing inflation over decades become far less threatening.

The catch, of course, is that very few people will ever accumulate anywhere near $10 million, even after decades of disciplined saving.

That disconnect is part of why retirement conversations online increasingly sound detached from everyday reality. For some households, financial independence means living modestly with a paid-off home and enough predictable income to cover expenses. For others, anything short of extreme wealth still feels financially exposed.

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The Real Fear Might Not Be Running Out Of Money

The most revealing part of the Reddit post was not the size of the portfolio. It was how much emotional weight still sat behind the idea of walking away from work entirely.

Even with $12 million, the poster still framed retirement as something requiring effort, decisions, risk, and disruption to a system that already felt comfortable.

That hesitation reflects a broader reality many wealthy professionals quietly wrestle with. At a certain point, the challenge is no longer simply building wealth. It is figuring out when security actually feels secure enough to stop optimizing for more.

That is also why retirement planning at higher asset levels often becomes less about hitting a magic number and more about building systems that can survive uncertainty. Health-care planning, withdrawal strategy, tax exposure, market risk, estate planning, and generating reliable income streams all start mattering more once someone transitions from accumulating wealth to actually living off it. Working with a financial advisor can help retirees structure portfolios around long-term stability instead of simply chasing larger balances indefinitely.

The Reddit poster may still be working because buying private health insurance feels like a hassle. But underneath that explanation sat a much bigger question that surfaces constantly in modern retirement conversations: if $12 million does not feel like enough certainty to leave work behind, what number actually does?

Read Next: Retirees With $1M+ In Savings Are Rethinking Their Tax Strategy — Here’s Why Some Are Turning To Specialized Advisors

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This article Man Says He’s Got $12M Net Worth And Won’t Retire Because He’s Too Lazy To Get Own Health Insurance — ‘It’s the Easiest Path Forward’ originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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