I’m 39 with $1,000,000 saved and planning for a frugal lifestyle — with no wife or kids. Can I retire on $40,000 a year?

Here are some of the biggest issues with retiring at 39 with just $1 million — along with some tips on how to overcome them if you're set on leaving work sooner rather than later.

How to decide if early retirement is for you

If you have a $1 million nest egg, the 4% rule says you can withdraw $40,000 in Yar 1 and then adjust upwards for inflation if you want to avoid running short of funds. This approach is designed to ensure your money lasts for around 30 years.

There are a few big problems with assuming your $1 million can produce $40,000 a year for you, though. The first issue is that if you are trying to retire at 39, you'll need your money to last much longer than someone retiring at age 65.

The second is that the 4% rule has been revised downward by experts, so you're now looking at a 3.7% rule if you want your money to last.

If you stick with this conservative withdrawal rate, you'd only have $37,000 to live on — and you'd have a lot to cover with that money, including health insurance premiums since you won't likely be eligible for Medicare until you’re 65. This alone could take an average of $8,951 out of your income, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. So, now you're down to $28,049 to cover everything else, including taxes, housing, food and transportation.

As if that isn't hard enough, you have to remember that you have decades of inflation to deal with. Let's say that you live until age 85. To enjoy the equivalent buying power of $37,000 in today's dollars, you would need $114,117 in your 85th year. It's going to be a lot harder for you to produce that much out of your nest egg when you've been drawing it down the whole time.

How to make early retirement work for you

If you're convinced that retiring very early is something you want to pursue, you're most likely going to need to save a lot more money in the coming years. Specifically, before leaving work, you'll need to make sure:

• You have money outside of traditional retirement accounts, like a 401(k) or an individual retirement account (IRA), as you can't access money in these tax-advantaged plans until age 59 ½ without penalties.

• You have an emergency fund with 3 to 6 months of living expenses set aside so you don't have to draw from your retirement accounts when unexpected expenses pop up.

• You have money earmarked for insurance premiums and any out-of-pocket medical bills you may face.

• You've chosen a safe withdrawal rate and understand exactly how much income your investments can provide.

• You have an investment portfolio that exposes you to the right level of risk so your money can grow without any outsized risk of loss.

• You've considered the impact of future inflation on your nest egg, since you'll have many years of retirement during which prices can steadily rise.

• You've made a strict budget accounting for all of your essential expenses, and you're confident you can afford them with the income you have coming in.

As you go through these steps, you may find that you can make retirement work at an earlier age if you're willing to do some part-time work. For example, a side hustle could help bring in some income while still providing you freedom and flexibility.

On the other hand, you may decide you're going to make very drastic lifestyle changes, such as moving outside of the United States to someplace with a much lower cost of living so you can afford to retire earlier.

Finally, you should consider working with a financial adviser to set a realistic savings goal and make sure you have a withdrawal rate that will actually ensure your money lasts for 40 or 50 years. After all, the last thing you want is to live it up in your 40s and then find yourself broke with no prospects in your 80s, when you can't fix your financial woes.