Note the caveats about “baseline for covering essential costs” and not accounting for things like inflation, lifestyle, or unexpected costs.
There will be lots of unexpected costs in retirement, some for unforeseen essential things and others for pleasurable pursuits with all that newly found free time.
“pleasurable pursuits with all that newly found free time”
We take several trips a year, usually one big one and then other smaller ones. Last year was Death Valley for several days, 17 days in the UK, then a smaller 7-day driving tour through Montana with my sister and BIL. My wife loves going to sporting events and she goes to the big tennis tournament in Indian Wells, CA every year with a girlfriend.
Other than that, our pleasurable pursuits are simple - gym, pickleball, dinner parties and dining out with friends, hiking (cheapest of all pursuits!). Oh, there’s boating, too. The boat gets expensive with the dock fees and storage.
Life is good. We are both 74 and we figure that many of these things will be ending in a few years.