I've informally researched this off and on, both here and on other forums. But I've never seen a survey question like this. Some further qualifications and general comments on the background of the question:
- The survey options (e.g. "3% or 35x expenses") are phrased as simple inversions. E.g., the inverse of 3% (1/0.03) is 33.3. This seems to be the typical way to structure a "how much do I need to retire" question, either as a multiple of average annual expenses, or as a portfolio withdrawal percentage.
- The assumption is that one is planning to live exclusively off the portfolio. Income from any part-time work or side gigs will be treated as unplanned income (i.e. like a gift).
- At age 45, life expectancy plus any portfolio longevity padding is well beyond the 30 years typically used for traditional retirement planning.
- Whatever your predictions/expectations for Social Security, this age is low enough that SS contributions are sub-optimal. If nothing else, it creates a very long time before any social security payments can be received.
- The Social Security considerations also apply to health care coverage (i.e. self-funding required for a non-trivial amount of time).
- Many parents at this age are likely to still have kids living at home, possibly facing college tuition.
- I tend to think (ironically?) the earlier one retires, the greater the longevity risk due to there being more time for the next medical breakthrough that (for example) doubles the average lifespan.