The actual end goal of investing

I think so many people that are new to investing just have the complete wrong idea of what the end goal with investing is. For example, a lot of people that I talk to that are interested in investing or maybe just started, they think that they're just gonna pull all their money out once they hit a certain number. Let's just say $3 million. For example, is the number they have in mind. They think once they get to that point, they're just gonna sell it all, move it to cash, and then just live off of that until they die, pretty much. The thing is, that's not the actual goal of most long-term investors. Generally, you're not just gonna want to lump sum of cash and just be spending it down as time goes on. You want a portfolio that's supporting your lifestyle, allowing you to live off of it, but working for you at the same time. If you've never heard of the 4% rule, this is generally a pretty good idea to go off of if you're ever wondering how much money you need to retire. Let's say you're ready to retire and you have $3 million in a Roth IRA. Using the 4% rule, you would be ready to retire as long as you're comfortable living on $120,000 a year or less. To be clear, the idea is not just selling your whole portfolio and then living on $120,000 a year. Keeping the $3 million invested outside of the 4% rule that you can live on, which is $120,000 in this case. This works because generally, if you're keeping your money invested, it's going to grow. So you're going to be living off of the interest of your capital, not just your capital alone. Again, since your money is still invested and it's working for you, your gains should be outpacing what you're pulling. You could expect by the time you die, you still have at least $3 million in the portfolio, if not more. The goal should be to be living off the interest of your capital, not just your capital alone.