Everyone would like to achieve a certain level of wealth for their desired quality of life.
It's quite ironic that if you ask nearly everyone in the world if they have enough money, they'll say "just a bit more" would bring them closer to their perfect life.
One of the only people I've heard regularly say he has too much money is Warren Buffett. So, all you need to do is become one of the richest people in the world and at that point you may feel you have too much.
According to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (AFSA), the level of income required for comfortable lifestyle for a couple aged around 65 is $61,061 per year if they own their own home. If your portfolio has a 6% dividend yield then you'd need just over $1 million. If you're single the level of income needed is $43,255.
The above amounts assumes you make purchases like household goods, private health insurance, a reasonable car, good clothes, a range of electronic equipment, domestic holidays and occasionally international holiday travel.
I think one of the main things to think about here is what you want to spend your money on. If you're able to adjust your expenses slightly in a few areas, you can retire with less money or spend more in other areas. For example, the difference between a new Mercedes and a new Mazda might be more than $50,000 but both get you from A to B with a similar level of comfort.
Learning to enjoy cooking good (or bad) food could be a great skill and save thousands on eating out with some meals, that's not to say you can't ever eat out. Services like Marley Spoon AG (ASX: MMM) are designed for this exact purpose of providing the recipes and ingredients.
Reducing the cash demand from your investments could be just as useful as all the energy undertaken to grow your wealth.
When you think of it in that way it might be easier to reach your desired quality of life, retire earlier and perhaps fill your portfolio with higher-quality but lower yielding dividend shares like Rural Funds Group (ASX: RFF), Brickworks Limited (ASX: BKW) and WAM Microcap Limited (ASX: WMI) instead of shares like Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) and Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS).
