The essence of “retirement” is autonomy. The goal is to have “enough” to be able to ignore compensation as a factor in determining the activities in which you wish to be engaged. When you are in your 20s and 30s, your thoughts about what is “enough“ may well be different compared to when you are in your 50s and 60s and 70s, especially if social safety net programs are eviscerated.

I admire your thinking. There is a huge difference between that which we need and that which we want. But, scraping by as an older person is a not a desirable long-term outcome. We need to have a longer-term vision of our economic ourselves