For four decades, patient savers able to grit their teeth through bubbles, crashes and geopolitical upheaval won the money game. But the formula of building a nest egg by rebalancing a standard mix of stocks and bonds isn’t going to work nearly as well as it has.
Control what you can control.
I’m a risk-averse person, so I’ve always favored reducing expenses. Definitely no debt of any kind at that point. Assets in good condition: hopefully 2 relatively new cars (unless my city gets better urbanism over the next few decades), a house, relatively new roof, appliances, etc. No major repairs or renovations expected, just basic maintenance for a solid 20-30 years.
Between my mortgage, student loans, and car payment today that’s about 60% of today’s budget that I won’t have to worry about in retirement. That just leaves food, utilities, clothes, maintenance costs, etc. If things go well I will be able to live in relative luxury (eating fine food at restaurants, traveling, etc).
From there, the performance of my investments and state of my savings (along with my health) will determine my lifestyle. Maybe I end up spending my twilight years in my house catching up on the backlog of books, videogames, and movies I never got around to. I can live with that.