A target is what separates a plan from a hoard, so we agree on that part. The part I would push on is what the target is denominated in. One saver sets his number at "a year of expenses I could cover without selling anything". That target holds still, because it is measured in real things. Another sets his at a round figure in a unit that loses ground every month. He reaches the number and finds it buys less than it did when he started, so the goal recedes as he walks toward it. Identical discipline, completely different arithmetic. The worry in the second case is not a personality flaw. It is what a moving yardstick does to a person trying to measure his own safety with it.