Abbott says Texas data centers "dug their own grave" by expanding too fast, with fewer than 10% responding to a state electricity demand survey. Claiming Social Security at 63 instead of 67 permanently locks in just 75% of the full benefit, costing a $2,500 earner roughly $625 monthly. A long-term ground lease can bridge the income gap to delay Social Security claiming, and passive rental income generally avoids the Social Security earnings test.
Two retirees, same $1 million, same 4% rule, buy one finished with $1.4 million, the other hit $0 in 12 years. Our free reader guide explains the flaw that separated them, and the income-first method built to avoid it. Texas spent years courting the data-center boom.
Greg Abbott says the industry "dug their own grave" by expanding too quickly without winning over the communities expected to host the projects. Fewer than 10% of data-center companies responded to a state request for information needed to forecast future electricity demand, according to Abbott, and Texas has begun auditing projects seeking grid connections. Nationally, 61% of Americans now oppose construction of a new data center in their area.
None of that eliminates one thing developers still need in Texas: land. Picture a 63-year-old West Texas rancher offered a long-term ground lease on acreage he has no intention of selling. The developer gets the site.
He keeps the ranch and starts collecting rent. That income could give him something particularly valuable at 63: enough room to leave work without immediately turning on Social Security. Every retiree knows about the 4% rule, but it frames retirement as a slow liquidation and still causes retirees with seven-figure accounts to agonize over a dinner out.
There's a different way to run the math that makes more sense today. Build an income floor — dividends, interest, and Social Security that cover your essential bills every month — and you never have to sell shares into a down market just to pay them. Our free reader guide, The 4% Rule Is Broken, walks through it in about 15 minutes.
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