I didn't intend to say "do your own thing" to mean "make no effort to generate any earned income." You could instead slow down and take on a la carte freelance/contract work. -Or you could take a risk for a couple years, and maybe your project launches into the abyss of space, never to be seen by a single soul; at least you'll have something to show for your work gap years.
-But I would caution against treating life too much like an Excel spreadsheet, too. It's never going to turn out anything like you plan, and I'd advise to critically examine wealth advisor boilerplate. At least for federal US tax code filing HoH (which is what I'm familiar with), we get >$60k tax-free to realize in long-term capital gains each year. If you can generate what you need now to live on with investment growth at least matching inflation -- and I'll point out you can get a serviceable house on an acre in a safe neighborhood for <$150k in most US states if you're willing to live away from a major metro -- you can likely generate enough to live on in retirement, especially if social security and medicare still exist. I take ~$20k/year in contract work and keep my unearned income under $11,950 for EITC purposes, with remainder/majority of my annual deduction eaten at least partially by my daughter's capital gains (she gets SSI survivorship which I dump directly into an individual/unsheltered brokerage account), and without mortgage payments, things are peachy -- I don't even spend that much per year.
-But I would caution against treating life too much like an Excel spreadsheet, too. It's never going to turn out anything like you plan, and I'd advise to critically examine wealth advisor boilerplate. At least for federal US tax code filing HoH (which is what I'm familiar with), we get >$60k tax-free to realize in long-term capital gains each year. If you can generate what you need now to live on with investment growth at least matching inflation -- and I'll point out you can get a serviceable house on an acre in a safe neighborhood for <$150k in most US states if you're willing to live away from a major metro -- you can likely generate enough to live on in retirement, especially if social security and medicare still exist. I take ~$20k/year in contract work and keep my unearned income under $11,950 for EITC purposes, with remainder/majority of my annual deduction eaten at least partially by my daughter's capital gains (she gets SSI survivorship which I dump directly into an individual/unsheltered brokerage account), and without mortgage payments, things are peachy -- I don't even spend that much per year.