I actually see no point in holding what we have upon doing further sums, we'd actually be labouring for nothing. ( simply labouring to pay bank interest) Pretty senseless indeed
There are other risks. Inflation and market risk, mainly.
Holding what you have for longer means you get the future capital gains as well.
The fewer assets you hold, the higher the risk that you don't have enough cashflow or run out of assets.
A simple example. Someone 'needs' 50k to live. So they achieve 1.5m in net assets, sells to pay down loans and generates enough 50k + something for inflation. However, if they're young, there's a lot of uncertainty in the future. There might be years when rent doesn't go up while inflation does, forcing them to eat into capital. Expenses might increase due to health or other issues, forcing them to use some of their capital.
There is risk in defining what you need to live now, and assuming that this stays at the same level as you get old(er), and not allowing for specific events. Part of the problem is that if you sell and then quit your job, your serviceability drops and even if, in the future, you realise you need to build up more assets, you will find it harder.
