The hedonic treadmill really gets away from some people. I've had coworkers on 7 figures talk about how they couldn't possibly retire because the costs of living in (HCOL city) are far too high for that.

When you dig down into it, there's usually some insane luxury that they're completely unwilling to give up on.

If you're a software engineer in the United States, or in London, you can almost certainly FIRE.