I'm 44, have a net worth of $1.3M, and earn $180k/year. I’m saving $60-70k annually in a high-cost area (expenses are $110-120k in VHCOL, rising with inflation), and have no debt. My retirement accounts total $598k in a 401(k) and $92k in a Roth IRA, with an additional $610k in a brokerage account (everything primarily in VTSAX).

My goal is early retirement, and I plan to use the brokerage account to bridge the gap until I can access my 401(k) at 59½. Given this, should I stop contributing to my 401(k) entirely and focus on maxing out the brokerage account, since it’s more accessible for early retirement? I don’t have an employer match but it feels odd to stop contributing due to the tax advantages. It does however seem like the right move for early retirement. Mega Back Door is also not an option. Thoughts?

35M, HCOL, 3 kids all under 7.

756k in retirement accounts.

Finding it hard to estimate how much I'll need at 60-62 per year to figure out my coast #.

Am I on track?

I'm a 39M that has already hit my coastFIRE number. I have a low stress job that pays well above my living expenses and allows me to save a lot to FIRE on. I'm considering a lifestyle change with family. I know I'll have plenty to live off of by my 50s or 60s, and just baristaFIREing for a few more years would get me more also in a couple years time later on.

But when I look at the coastFIRE calculator and think about how much more I could live off of if I keep working this job, it's hard to give that up.

How do you weigh the balance between living well now and the thoughts of living way better without coasting?

Current job ($25.50/hour) has become a nitpick fest and it's the first time in my 20 year career where I feel stressed out all the time. Im worried I'll be put on a PIP when my review comes in January and I only have $15k in savings so I'd prefer to not be unexpectedly unemployed for too long. Considering getting a job at a bakery for $18/hour plus health insurance where one major benefit is that it's within walking distance of my house.

Currently have $425k in traditional and Roth IRAs and will get a $30k ESOP 6 years after I leave my job. Annual expenses (calculated as gross minus taxes minus IRA contributions) have been a consistent $31-40k for the last 10 years so $18/hour seems doable especially if I'm cutting $1200/year in gas by not commuting.

With 8% annual return I should have ~1.1M in 12 years without putting any more in.

Is this playing it too tight to the belt or should I hold out for something else in the $22 or higher/hour range?

I could probably retire, but it is such a big jump and I know I will never get back into a job like I have now. I can't think of another 'less stressful' job I would like.

Looking for some inspiration for what it looks like on the other side.

About to turn 40 with 2 small kids and feeling burnt out from my job and industry. My current role has become really toxic, as were the last few, and it’s taking a toll on my well-being. I currently make around $300k a year, and my wife earns about $250k. Despite the high income, I’m seriously considering quitting and finding a simple job that pays $50-60k a year for the sake of my happiness. We’ve saved about $2.5 million, including retirement. We live about a $120k/year lifestyle. Not sure my wife is on board and only thinks about the income loss if I quit. Anyone else made a similar move? How did it work out?

My partner (38M) and I (35F) DINKs just hit our first $1M in net worth. We’ve made a lot of sacrifices, like being frugal and living below our means, though we’ve taken a few budget-friendly trips abroad. I can finally coastFIRE, but my partner will continue working for a few more years until he retires. The feeling is great, but I feel empty! I guess money doesn’t buy happiness….

My employer has decided to make me redundant. This may be the nudge I've been waiting for but, as the main earner for our household, it's hard to think of that income not coming in.

As we have a baby due April, I'm planning on now taking about 7 months off, with a view to returning to work next summer. Whether I return to a high paying/high stress job again or do something more coast oriented (part time, lifestyle focused, passion project) is what I'm trying to workout.

Me (35M) and wife (35F) earn(ed) 300k and 60k respectively, before tax.

Our household outgoings are about 7000 per month. This includes mortgage 1500, childcare for 1 at 1000.

Our investments are roughly 1M. I will also receive roughly 75-85k after tax from employer as redundancy payout.

My wife is pregnant and due April. She plans to return to work a year after the birth.

My thinking is with my redundancy pay + my wife's income (salary + generous maternity pay) we have a decent runway to play with.

Appreciate thoughts on of there is something I'm missing?

I'm 46 and have essentially "soft" retired 6 years ago. The why and the how is a different discussion.  I want to focus on the path forward.

I've been investing my whole life and have been rather frugal. My financial situation is outlined below and I'm wondering if I should spend more. Every calculator I've run across tells me I'm in great shape, so I'm wondering if I should spend more on some things that will make me happier. I'm well versed in the 4% rule. My personality has led me to hoard my finances at times and I've likely missed out on experiences that I could have greatly enjoyed and remembered forever based on being cheap... or frugal if you want to put it that way.

Comment as you wish... Can I dial up the spending and treat myself more? A lot more? Am I overly safe? Do I have too positive of an outlook on my finances?

$3.2MM Net Worth
$1.72MM Stocks (taxable / S&P 500, Index ETFs, Tech, Aggressive)
$560K Roth IRA
$170K Traditional IRA
$455K BTC
$650K Real Estate (My Condo + Rental + some land)
$5K Cash
$25K Vehicle

$340K Mortgages

$1,900 Rental Income / $500 Net per month

$1,100 Health Insurance Premium per month (probably overkill but I don't want to bother with getting nickel and dimed)

I live in a very high cost of living area. My monthly expenses are $4,700 per month, which includes the insurance and rental expenses (but not income) listed above.  This covers everything I pay a fixed amount for, monthly, yearly, etc. I don't budget or track other spending, but a rough estimate would be $1,200 for everything else, food, entertainment, travel, etc.

Also, for full transparency, unless something goes sideways, I will inherit $750K - $1.25MM in the not too distant future.

That's the story.

35 and 31, 800k invested in VOO and VTI. 200k hhi. 2 kids. Personally making around 120k+/- with good benefits and pension but on average not home until 7pmish every night but never sure when I will be home everyday. Thinking about coast fire, working a full time easy job with good benefits and a nice schedule, expecting to make about half as much as I am now. Does this seem doable and does it seem responsible? Tired of missing my life with my family

I couldn't find something exactly like what I wanted online, so I made this spreadsheet for myself and hopefully someone else gets use out of it as well!

For me: right now, I'm maxing out my 401K, but I expect to stop doing that next year when we have to pay for daycare, and instead drop the contribution to the minimum required to still get a company match. I wanted to play with CoastFI numbers based on these several steps of decreasing contributions over time periods (as opposed to a single point where you stop contributing altogether)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uEOEYqeCRQApJCLAKGIiPKvJ9Ds2MIxf5CsrqKuEb8E/edit?usp=sharing

Let me know if it's useful for you as well! Or also if you want to check my math - I did my best to validate against existing CoastFI calculators and I'm pretty sure it's accurate.

https://www.reddit.com/r/coastFIRE/s/pLsXBGxMf5

A few months after I made the above post, I accepted the company’s offer to take a severance package of 1x annual salary. Job market is bad so little/no hope of getting a new gig anytime soon, but hopefully more business friendly tax policies will thaw hiring within the next year. Current burn is $12k/month but the market has been so insane my NW is up to $2.4M from the $1.8M when I posted last year. Roughly 15-20% in TSLA but I’m gonna let it ride 🤑

What are the things you really want right now—those “must-haves” that aren’t true necessities—but you’re sticking to a budget because you’re coasting? Here is my list I can live without but feel like I need it now!!

• New off-road wheels/tires on Defender ($3K)
• Sworks Specialized Tarmac SL8 ($13K)
• Maxx Trax for Defender ($500)
• Rooftent for Defender ($3K)
• Peloton Tread ($2500)
• Steph Curry signed rookie card ($2k)
• Vuori Clothes ($1K)

Feels good to write that out and realize I don’t need them 😂

I’m 51 years old, have right at 1 million in total assets and living pretty comfortably currently on about $60k yearly net income at a part time but very stressful job that offers full medical benefits. I am afraid that my employer wants to get rid of me for younger workers that will take less pay. (I’m getting written up for petty things and pretty sure they’re trying to force me out.)

I want to transition to something more enjoyable or less stressful. I’m considering going back to college for 2 years to get a BS in dental hygiene due to high demand, good pay, and great hours/ability to do it part time. My current career is medically related so a lot of my previous Bachelors degree should transfer.

I’m divorced with a son who will be going to college in 2 years and he has 90k in a 529 to help him. I’m thinking about going back to college when he goes so we will maximally qualify for grant money.

Is there a way to make my income look low the year prior to him going to college so he and I can get grants for school and possibly qualify for Medicaid for our insurance?

The breakdown of what I have:

$633k in investments in 401k/RothIRA/HSA/pension.

$94k liquid cash in HYSA/MM Fund

$335 assets in home/car.

I’m new to the coastFIRE community so any recommendations of reading or tools would be welcomed.

I think I’m coastFire. 44, having a second kid soon and buying a house soon.

I’ve done pretty well investing over the last 6 years, added some money to all my accts. Some of my money is in TQQQ and I’d really like to become a millionaire. Somewhat diversified. Seems like I have a huge setback every year or two. 2 steps forward, 1 step back type of thing.

Anyway, I love that I’m having another kid but now that I need a house I’m a little stressed about buying a $450,000 house with over 3k in extra bills. I can barely afford it but all the $350,000 houses look like garbage and I want my kids to have a nice place.

So the rough plan is to put $90,000 down and get a super expensive mortgage. I don’t mind the down payment but I’ll have to completely stop saving/investing every month and might even have to withdraw $500/month once in a while because my rent is $1800 now and the new mortgage with all the extra costs will be like $3000/month. Not 100% sure I can afford that every month without withdrawing a small amount.

I feel like I’m coastFire, but even though I would choose to continue working, I feel like I’m forced to work now to afford a nicer place. Not sure I like the feeling of withdrawing from my savings monthly before I’m a millionaire, even if it is a small amount.

Feels financially backwards.

27 male in UK

Salary - £40k

Mortgage - £70k left to pay (£210k home)

Investments - £40k in vanguard

In my position, would try to pay off home in next 3/4 years? Would you concentrate fully on investing? Or would you do a combo of both?

For context, my mortgage rate is 4.6%. 2 year fixed. I will start a new term March 2026.

I’m extremely burnt out. Been doing sales for 10 years and healthcare sales for the last 7

Wife is a nurse. She’s not concerned about being able to pick work as needed.

I live in the western US and recreate in the mountains and desert of the US. The weekends are my saving grace but I have a hard time reintegrating almost every single Monday morning. I’ve worked very hard (had no help through school, found myself in a lot of debt afterward and paid it all off) but I don’t know how much more I can give to this. I’m burnt out. I want to take a year, buy a nice van and drive around and mountain bike across North America.

My fear is that I don’t have relevant skills to come back in a year and make the kind of money I’m used to.

With that being said I’m ok making less. I just wouldn’t do what I do now for less.

Just interested in hearing what folks from this community would do. TIA

Like the title says. Hypothetically say you hate your job and the stress it causes and the issues it causes at home you also have to switch back and fourth from night shift to day shift every month. Day and night shifts are also 14 hr days. Say the annual income is $225,000.

BUT you have 600K invested properly in the stock market and have a overall net worth of $880K at the the age of 31.

How many people would keep hating life because of the high paying job vs how many people would take a pay cut and a typical 8-5 job something you enjoy doing and be home more with the family?

Those planning to coastfire and take an easier, lower paying job. Do you have concerns about negatively impacting your SSN payout with lower salaries later on in life? I read in a couple of places that say that you should maximize your annual salary up to and including at age 60 to get the most SSN benefit. The SSN payout specifically looks at income at age 60 in its calculation. (Yes, I know people say there won’t be much SSN benefit left soon, but I don’t want that to dominate the discussion)

I am severely depressed. I can not function at work, let alone at home. I feel so mentally crippled, and I want to be altruistic by not spreading depression and withdrawing from work.

Is there a place in this world where I can move to like Laos or Burma, which can allow me to live off of a 4%swr? I just want to last long enough to where I am able to withdraw from my 401k.

What are your thoughts?

EDIT: for those of you telling me it is not possible to retire, could you at least tell me how long 125K would last in SEA? I just want to go as long as possible without working. Maybe while I am over there I can take time to study and become an expert in something. That way incase money runs out I have a marketable skill. But I need to know how long I can go without being in a state where I owe someone my labor/time in order to survive. Also I did go to a therapist a while ago. I went to several throughout the course of my life time. But the one therapist I liked and was super comfortable with is no longer

What age did you CF, how much did you have invested, and what are your expected expenses in retirement?

(i.e. Not I’m 25 yrs old, left FAANG for an easy job, and CoastFIRE’d with 1.5MM)

I have been feeling unfulfilled at work for the past few years. I have been in the same company for over 10years. The company culture is good and flexibility but the work has become sooo boring. The pay isn’t bad . I make six figure at a manager role but I could make more if I change jobs. But I don’t want to look for another job because I don’t feel like climbing the corporate ladder. But then I go on linked in and see all my college friends climbing the corporate ladder and holding senior leadership role. I start feeling like I’m behind . I’m just confused do I keep striving , do I stop working . Does anyone else ever feel this way . Based on my math I am 5 years away from reaching FIRE. But it feels so far away

I'm about to unplug for a week and could use something to read. Retirement is several years away (with a coast path likely beforehand), and while I'm very educated on saving for retirement, I'm much less educated on what spending for retirement looks like. Would appreciate recommendations on anything you found helpful.

My wife and I have ~1.5M (50% still in pre-tax) in retirement accounts and ~500k in non-retirement accounts. My wife is younger and just got out of grad school, makes around ~125k and isn't burnt out (yet) in her career.

The current house we live in is nearly paid off but too small for our needs, and will likely need to change that at some point soon.

We have an investment RE property that currently has ~200k in value but needs work before becoming being able to be sold, but I think theres good profit opportunity there also.

We also have a newborn. Pre-newborn expenses from that are still TBD but certainly non-zero. I'd say our expenses are currently somewhere around 50-80k/year, but seems quite variable. Most months are around 4k in expenses but sometimes we blow way through that.

I'm trying to figure out how crazy it would be to quit my job that i'm starting to hate (~150k) and transition to a passion side project that I expect could generate ~50k/yr in net worth after a few years if things succeed. Certainly theres a risk associate here so it could be 0 or 100k, and with a child i'm trying to process what my risk acceptance is for that.

[I may delete the OP later.]

I have been considering leaving my high-earning, high-stress job to take something with less stress, less demand on my time and schedule, even if it means less money. I have heard that a good job to transition to would be Accountant or Bookkeeping, and in doing research I have seen a ton of 'courses' that can teach you how to do it. This raises concern for me as it seems like a bit of a scam or grift. Has anyone done this, or has anyone started out in bookkeeping and accounting, that can provide perspective. Is it really less stress and less demand on time? How hard is it to gain competency and/or certification/education? If anyone has done this, I would love to hear your story, thoughts, would you do it again, anything you can provide to help me decide if this is something I really may want to consider. Thanks!

If the US GDP is +2.5% per year, but the market returns 7+% (i know its been more), how does that compute over time?

Hello! I am wondering why people want to pay off their mortgage in retirement. If I have a loan @ 2.75% and put and extra payment into a side account making 4.4% wouldn’t that be the logical thing to do? I don’t understand the high desire to have your home clear and free. In addition to that, once your money is in your home it’s gone forever. Your home asset can no longer be leveraged? What am I missing here? I have 3 rental properties all financed with one @2.75, 1@3.65, and our primary @2.65. I would rather keep cash and have it work for than buy down these mortgages to 0. Please tell me why I’m wrong. I need to learn. Cheers!

41m looking to CoastFIRE at 45.

Current salary is 80k and I'd look to go part-time in four years (<20 hours per week) for another five years, before ramping down further at 51/52.

Wife and two young kids. Kids will be 18 before I fully FIRE.

I have a property that's conservatively worth 400k with a mortgage of 200k that I split with my partner. No other debts.

I have 200k split almost 50/50 across pensions and savings. I can't access the pension until 57.

I also have an apartment worth around 100k in another country where my work is that is mortgage free. I'd rent it out once I'm finished with work, which should get about 3-4k in extra income each year after expenses. I'd also look to sell our main house eventually and move into the apartment to free up the equity.

I also have a business with 50k in cash reserves that I've built up to help bridge between retirement.

Expenses are tough to work out as my life will be very different without commuting to another country for work and maintaining two properties. I have gone through our household expenses and would estimate 25-30k combined is all we need to live frugally.

My wife wants to keep working and doesn't have much savings or pension (around 15k in a pension she started paying into recently). It's very frustrating that she doesn't engage with these things, but not a lot I can do. I have tried repeatedly to get her to think about it. I calculate my expenses to be around 15k a year to maintain the basics and probably closer to 20k a year to travel a little/maintain the apartment. Obviously if I keep working part time, I would be able to continue to save.

If you were in my shoes, what would you do? I could probably CoastFIRE within a year on my own or work another ten years to top my wife's accounts up?

Edit: my partner earns a lot more than I do. She wants to work until they kick her out as she loves her job. I do not.

42 male in BC Canada. Married with 2 young kids 2 & 3 years old. Single income household, wife raises kids at home. I am so burnt out at work with recent doubling of work load. Work is effecting my health and there is no way I can do this long term, current role includes frequent travel. I have an opportunity to transition from the private industry to government with a 50% pay decrease. New role doesn't even require a company phone!

Current

• 200k income
• 13 years invested in DB pension
• own 1 million dollar home outright
• 750k savings in tax sheltered and non sheltered accts
• own all assets inc vehicles outright
• no debt whatsoever

Future

• government opportunity for a 100k role with far less responsibility
• wife will be able to work in a few years but is a low earner

I think this is may be a good opportunity to coast. My concerns are that I won't make enought money to contribute to investment going forward and will need to funds kids as they grow, potential new income would leave very little for that. I tend to overthink this kind of stuff sometimes. Any thought thoughts??