I posted this in the weekly thread, but didn't get any responses, so figured I would just make a separate post.

My wife (34F) and I (38M) have been working toward FI for a while now, and had originally planned to grind it out until we reached our number. We started to reevaluate that recently, and my wife wants to go freelance and coast to our FI number instead. We're currently both W2 employees and I make around $70,000/yr and my wife makes around $65,000/yr. Our current annual spend is around $50,000/yr, so our FI number is 1.5 million at a 3.5% withdrawal rate.

My wife is going to quit her job in July, while I'll plan on staying with my employer for the next ~2 years. This will allow her to stay on my health and dental insurance in the meantime while we figure out how much she'll be able to make freelance. I'm currently enrolled in VA healthcare priority group 3, but I've never actually used it since I have an HDHP through my work. My disability rating is only 10%, so my spouse isn't eligible for VA healthcare and will have to go through the ACA for health insurance.

After 2 more years of working, I'm going to quit my job in the spring of 2026. I'm planning on taking a mini retirement at this point to thru-hike the Pacific Crest Trail. Afterward, I'd like to keep traveling a bit more before going back to work, but my wife is undecided on what she wants to do. She may want to keep growing her freelance business rather than take a break. I may do some solo traveling at this point before I return to working in a part-time capacity.

We currently own a home that is worth $400,000 according to Zillow, and we owe $122,000 at 2.75%. It's too big of a house for 2 people and a lot of work to clean and maintain, so I'd like to sell the house eventually. If we stay in the same area, we would ideally just buy a smaller house or condo that better fits our needs. I'd like to live in the western US for a few years, with better access to hiking and other outdoor activities.

It seems easy enough to coast since we only really need to each bring home $25,000 to $30,000/yr after taxes to cover our expenses. I currently work in a corporate IT job that I don't hate, but it's boring and unfulfilling. And it feels like I'm wasting the best years of my life in front of a computer screen when I would rather be outside hiking or biking. I've always been a super saver, so I think the hardest part for me will be not saving anything and eventually shifting to spending our nest egg. Furthermore, I would like to have at least $1 million invested before I quit my job, so I'm going to keep maxing out my 401(k), IRA and HSA even if my contributions hardly make a dent.

As a person that likes to plan things out in detail, I have a lot of fear and anxiety around the unknown. We'll just have to continuously reevaluate our plan and keep communicating to make sure we're on the same page. I keep telling my wife that we don't know what the future holds, but at least we have options. I may try to move up my coast FI date to 2025 if everything goes well with my wife's freelance business in the first year, but for now I'm mentally preparing myself to stay at my current job until 2026.

Any glaring issues with this plan? It seems like we're a long way off from our FI number, but I know that market returns over the next few years can drastically shorten or lengthen that path. I forgot to mention that I have around $13,000 saved and earmarked for my thru-hike, and we have around $16,000 saved in a high-yield savings account for our emergency fund. Hopefully my wife is able to make enough to cover the immediate expenses while I'm gone, but want to keep building up the emergency fund just in case. We also have at least $10,000 in receipts from medical/dental/vision expenses, so we can withdraw a chunk of money from our HSA without penalty, if needed.

Here's a break-down of our current investments. I sold some crypto this year to fund our IRA contributions, and plan to continue to do so each year as long as the crypto I have is worth something. All of our other investments are in low cost index funds. I don't think I mentioned previously, but we have no debt other than the mortgage.

tl,dr: Wife plans on leaving her job in a few months to go freelance in her field. I'm going to stay at my job for another 2 years while she builds up her clients. We spend ~$50k/yr and currently have around $940k invested, so we should be good to coast, but I plan on maxing 401(k), IRA and HSA for as long as I can. I'm planning on taking a mini-retirement or sabbatical to thru-hike after I leave my full-time job in 2026. After that, who knows what's next.

I'm a 24-year-old male earning between 60-70k annually, debt-free, and owner of a small house I paid cash for. My brokerage account holds 100k in VOO, while my Roth IRA contains 40k in the same investment. My financial independence stems solely from my own efforts; my parents have only gave me love and support. I've embraced financial responsibility from a young age, I knew the value of a dollar. I save around 40k annually.

My aspiration is to semi-retire around age 30, By the time I reach 30, I anticipate my brokerage account to grow to roughly 500k, allowing for an annual withdrawal of 40k, with a 3% increase each year until I turn 60. At that point, I aim to transition to living off my Roth IRA, projected to accumulate around 1.5m in 2024 dollars, if I continue investing 500 dollars monthly.

I plan to continue working, with reduced hours. While I recognize the need for occasional budget adjustments, I feel comfortable with a 40k+3%.

My question is whether it's wise to utilize my brokerage account as a bridge to support my Roth IRA strategy?

My husband (42) and myself (41) officially have both been coasting for 1.5 years now. Actually I’ve been coasting for 2 but he still had a full time job with benefits. Own a house in a HCOL area, had the opportunity to take care of grandmothers home during the winters near a small mom/pop ski area and town of 600. In the summers, we chose to live in our truck bed camper. We have $1m liquid investments and $1.75m net worth. We both became ski patrollers and work seasonal jobs in the summer ($15/hr). I was in tech sales and husband was in construction for our previous careers. We were debt free for 2 years and just purchased a lot/uninhabitable home for $80k in my grandmothers town and rent out our original home as STR/MTR. We love this adventure and are continuously learning.

So what have we learned? People think we are crazy and we have to deal with a ton of judgement. I’m not comfortable with blabbing our net worth and we are doing this for personal adventure as well. Get thick skin and be ok with others losing their shit when you make these decisions.

When renting out a home - expect only 60% of what you are charging to come into your bank account. We moved away so we have to pay a PM agency, we understand that we can’t get 100% but but much more goes into renting your place out.

Life is easier when you are handy. I couldn’t do any of this without an amazing partner who loves to do projects, learn new skills on YouTube and have a much higher tolerance for physical risk. He takes the time to think through how to tear apart a house, he makes friends with the garbage man who hauls stuff for free now… I guess that’s another amazing characteristic. Being friendly and making connections with people.

Get used to having hard conversations with your partner. I’m the finance person in our relationship and we’ve gotten very good at not getting defensive and listening to the other persons needs/perspective. Just like they say, no good stories come from when things always go perfectly; so much growth and learning comes from having physically demanding jobs and having hard conversations.

You are choosing your hard. Read that again. Is it hard now to live on a strict budget? Yes. But we have the free time to do what we want to do. Was it hard to be making loads of money through sales commissions and never having a moment to myself? Or the ability to take time off to use that money? So much more so.

You don’t need as much shit as you think you do. Stop buying stuff for 2 months. When you downsize or relocate or rent out your home, you will donate so much stuff. Stop. Buying. Now.

Track your expenses, track all income, tax refunds, etc - get used to using spreadsheets. Maybe you will choose a coast that gives you more flexibility. We like to play with our numbers and scenarios based on jobs, life changes, home purchases, trips, etc. I take 30 minutes weekly to reconcile all the numbers.

What would you add to this list??

Can someone help me with Coast Fire calculation? How do I allow for passive income if that was allocated to brokerage / IRA during Coast FIRE?

Right now: Age: both 42 Combined 401k: $1.2M Brokerage: $600k Real Estate (non primary): $600k Passive income: $4-$5k / mo

Desired Retirement spending: $150k /yr

I’m trying to calculate the Coast FIRE number for where we would still continue to contribute to 401k but could work less stressful jobs if we got laid off. Ideally jobs in the $150k-$175k TC range for each.

Throwaway account.

M(42) and wife is (40). She is a stay-at-home mother. We have a 2 year old and a 1 year old in a LCOL area.

2.2m saved in a mix of index funds and retirement accounts. 2.5-3 years of living expenses in cash. I have 35k saved in index funds for each child. I figured this could be college money, trade school money, or FIRE money for them someday, depending on what they choose to do with their life. My average salary over the past 5 years is $250-300k. I don’t know how much our yearly spend is going to be as the children get older. We do plan on home schooling. Right now, we probably spend $80k per year, after taxes. I would be most comfortable FIREing with $100k per year, after taxes. Preferably by age 52.

I own my own business and am losing my mind from decades of stress that goes along with it. It’s not the type of business I can sell. When I stop, the business stops. Please no suggestions about selling the business or hiring employees. The business is 100% me and it’s just not that type of business. Customer acquisition is the biggest source of stress.

My entire self worth has been tied up in my business for the past 20 years. I built it from the ground up and even had to sleep in there on occasion. I never enjoyed a minute of it. I had a poor upbringing and worked hard with the goal of creating some sort of financial security for the future because I have so much anxiety about being destitute. Now that I have a family, that anxiety is x 100!

I’m to the point where I don’t even want to wake up in the morning anymore, save my children. They are my world, but I am so anxious that I am not the best version of myself with them.

I am not on track to make my normal salary this year. I have not kept up with the customer acquisition aspect as diligently as usually for the past two years—instead, I’ve been pouring my free time into my children. The idea of making less scares me because:

1. I feel like I am failing vs. previous years. Self-worth.
2. It prolongs FIRE.
3. I’m afraid it could eventually drop to the point that I’m not even covering living expenses (although, not likely).

I’m at a crossroads of what to do. I could strip myself away from time at home to pour six months into customer acquisition and reap the financial benefits down the road. I could consider this the start of downshifting and coasting to fire. I just feel confused and stressed.

Can anyone relate or provide some perspective? I’m not sure exactly what I’m looking for other than talking to other people and hearing their experiences/thoughts.

Thank you.

I see a lot of people posting about total NW combining all their assets as the number to retire off of. If I have let’s say 700k but about half of that is in 401k accounts and the other is in HYSA/nvestment accounts, how would I do my calculations? Ie: HYSA is not going to the same kind of growth or compounding as investments. I’m trying to figure out how I would calculate based on retiring early and a portion is stuck in retirement accounts. Would I just calculate numbers with the liquid investments only up till 65 if I want to retire around 50?

Title. Isn’t it better to invest in a Roth 401k now that there are no RMDs and you can effectively control your SWR throughout your retirement?

Edit: Guys, I’m talking about RMDs as it pertains to the suggested 4% SWR or for people with even lower SWRs. The new rule for Roth 401k states that there are no more RMDs.

Hi y’all. I think I may be overthinking this but I could use some advice for some peace of mind.

My wife is 13 years older than me and will probably retire at 64 due to the hospital’s “Rule of 85”. I want to ensure that we’ll be good for her retirement. Because of this, I’ll probably look into early retirement, 51-54, just so we can enjoy retirement together. We have no kids and no plans to adopt in the future.

Because of the early retirement plans, I’m assuming we won’t be able to touch our 401k/TSP/IRA/Roth until age 59.5. So how would we do so? My guess is to have taxable brokerage with enough to get by until then? Or are we looking to work enough to get by?

Part of my confusion is the calculator makes the assumption of your entire portfolio. But since I have early retirement in mind, I wouldn’t be able to access the majority of my portfolios until later. If my thought process is correct, then I assume I should put more emphasis on growing my taxable account to cover that gap.

For context: Wife and I make $230k annually and are contributing max $30k each to our 457/TSP, and full Roth $7k each. Right now we are contributing about $150 a month in our taxable account. Taxable brokerage is $22k but Total investment assets a little over $300k. We spend about $90k annually but most likely will reduce that amount once she retires. I just assume we’ll be spending that much annually just to be safe in the calculations. Only debts are about $340k for 2 cars and a mortgage.

My confusion lies in the concept of CoastFI. Do I aggressively grow the Taxable account to cover that work gap? Or is this more like a Barista Fire where I’m looking for part time until i hit traditional retirement?

Edit: ugh I realized after the post that in this scenario, my wife would be over the age of 59.5 and so she would be eligible to utilize her 457. So that might answer my question. However, I also did the math wrong and apparently the rule of 85 would actually put my wife at 9 years till retirement (she worked 18 years 49+18=57, 85-57=18). So then my question still applies because then she would be 58 at her retirement date.

I recently answered finance questions for a recent college graduate, and wondered what advice this group would have for me. If you’ve achieved coast fire, what advice would you give to a middle-aged dude?

I’m 45m, married to a 35f, with three little kids. My wife and I both make decent salaries. We live within our means. Right now we’re spending 40k per year on daycare and that will continue for a while. We’ll probably spend that amount on home improvement projects when we’re not paying for daycare! Then maybe spend 40k a year to send them to college. We still manage to save almost 20% of our salaries.

When I achieve coast fire, I’m going to open my own business, spend half of my time on art, and just break even. My wife might continue to work for a few years more, but I’m not quitting the corporate job until I know we can BOTH afford to coast.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Left my job where I traveled a ton (3-4 night away from home a week). Change of leadership made it much tougher to be there.

Transitioning from a job at 160k to a 120k job 4 days a week.

660k in investments at 34 feels pretty coast. It’s hard to take a step back and am leaving sales. Was doing medical device but have a RN and am transitioning back to the hospital for a bit.

Anybody else do anything similar? It’ll be interesting to make less money and see how I feel. I feel grateful I’ll still make a pretty good wage.

Happy coasting!

Hi everyone - first of all, I want to acknowledge that compared to most people who lose their job, I am in a better position than most. Yet, I'm struggling to have the right mindset, as it comes at a time when we could technically coastFIRE.

I'm 40, DINKWAD with about $1.1M in investments and an extra $1.1M in home equity, living in HCOL in Canada. Our household salary up (both in tech) until recently was ~$500k, of which I contributed a larger portion. Abruptly, the startup I was working for shut down. My partner's salary can cover (just) our living expenses.

Obviously, losing a job is hard emotionally for anyone. I tried telling myself that we are in a very good position, and that I can take my time to find something I love, or perhaps even do much less work (part time consulting, advising, that sort of thing) and COAST.

One of the reasons this is a bit of a mindf#% is that, while we have always planned on retiring abroad (south of spain) with a much lower COL, our FIRE numbers were always ambitious enough to be able to stay here, if we wanted. It really felt like we were on our way with the money we were making. Even if we expatFIRE, it would still be a couple of years away, I think. My partner needs to stay in North America for work and wants to do that for another 1-2 years.

All of this is to say that I feel lost and stressed, and even guilty for perhaps not having the right attitude, or seeing things clearly, objectively.

So many questions in my head that shape how I take on each day.

If we are at coastFIRE based on Spain numbers, why not take this time to trial that and work the bare minimum or not at all given that my partner can currently cover living expenses?

Am I ever going to get a high paying salary like the one I had? Should I focus my energy on finding another job soon, get back on the wheel, and keep adding to our nest egg?

Why do I feel so down and worried about the future when we have a financial cushion? I suppose it has to do with feeling so close to FIRE, and then fearing taking steps backwards.

Anyway, I would love your thoughts, either as critique or support. If someone has had a similar experience (needing to take time off work, losing a job, etc.) when in the back 9 of your FIRE journey, how did you feel? what helped you navigate that period?

Thank you, all. I love this community.

I had a bit of an epiphany recently. I think the reason I want to FIRE so badly is because work causes me a lot of anxiety. I’m a B2B tech marketer in the Bay Area and I slowed down to part time freelance/contract work a couple years ago. It’s less stress than full time tech jobs, but there are still plenty of nights I wake up at 3am with anxiety about work projects.

Realistically I have about 7-10 years left until I can fully retire, and I need to earn at least $130k during that time. [edit: I could probably go down to the $115-120 range if it’s a w2 job with good benefits, and even lower if I’m willing to start drawing down my portfolio a tiny bit.]

Any ideas for very low stress jobs or do those not really exist?

I love the input and opinions from this group. The general standard is 10% - 15% of is your car budget.

Do you think that 10% - 15% of take home pay changes once you've hit CoastFIRE?

Two kids - 13 & 11 - and we are in the thick of it with sports, car pools, road trips, etc. Have a '13 Highlander with 200K that has served us extremely well! But it is time to upgrade.

For those who are new, welcome to r/coastFIRE! This thread is intended to be our weekly watering hole for advice, feedback and mentorship related to Coast FIRE. Please try to keep the discussion related to Coast FIRE as r/financialindependence has their own weekly "Help me FIRE" thread if you are more full-FIRE-inclined.

If you are new to Coast FIRE, we recommend you check out the WalletBurst Coast FIRE Calculator and this article by The Fioneers.

In this thread you can share your personal case study and ask for advice on your plan. Here are some personal data points you can share to help us help you:

• Introduce yourself
• Your Age / Career / Location
• General goals
• Target full retirement age / Annual spending in retirement / Safe Withdrawal Rate / Location
• Educational background and plans
• Career situation and plans
• Current and future income breakdown, including one-time events
• Budget breakdown
• Asset breakdown, including home, cars, etc.
• Debt breakdown
• Any health concerns
• Family: current situation / future plans / special needs / elderly parents

Thanks all, have a great week!

I’ve decided to coast as a salt water fishing guide. I own a place on the coast. 40 years of amateur experience. Had a successful 25 year career. I love to teach. I think it will take 6 months of fishing nearly everyday to improve my chops and confidence. I have no illusions of ever making much money. Any others?

Hi all Coast FIRE practitioners, I’ve only discovered the Coast variation recently and found it so much more doable and less mentally exhausting than the traditional FIRE. Above is a screenshot from the most well known Coast FIRE calculator from walletburst.com, with its default figures.

While using the calculator, I’m curious, if the planned retirement is still many years away (say, I’m 30 and planning to fully retire at 60-65), how do you actually estimate your annual spending in such a distant future?

If for example, I’m fine with my current lifestyle of 5,000/month, that’s 60,000 annual spending. I’m not from the States/UK/Europe so I’ll just omit the currency for the sake of discussion.

1. Does the adjustable inflation % below already taken into account on inflation 35 years later? Or do I need to give a higher amount on my “Annual spending in retirement“ bracket? I ran some calculations myself and apparently it’s the former. Because at 7% returns and 3% inflation it uses a 4% compound interest in calculation, so inflation is already factored in for me even if I put only 60,000 there. Correct me if I’m wrong.

2. How do you account for increased cost of healthcare/insurance when it comes to old age? I can’t expect to spend the same and get the same QoL if I’m 35 years older correct? Or do you spend less on other things as you age and it balances out?

3. Do you set your annual spending higher just to make things more realistic even if that delays your CoastFIRE target?

4. Bonus question for those who already achieved CoastFIRE: do you find it relatively easy to still save/invest out of habit (or perhaps sense of insecurity) or you’ll been living your life to the fullest since then? Were there any major change in life decision (e.g marriage, kids) that made you reset your numbers and grind again?

Hope to hear from all of you!

Can I take a career break? Early 40s, been in a well paying field for almost 20 years. Liquid NW approaching 400k (with an additional 400k+ in tax advantaged accounts + home equity). Married, no kids (and none planned), wife earns less than me, but has substantial savings of her own as well (and is also interested in a sabbatical). Low mortgage in a HCOL ($2200/mo), and trying to live under our means, cooking at home and have inexpensive hobbies.

Problem is, I'm just bored/tired of doing the same type of work, and craving a break. May open my mind to something new, or starting a business with the wife (food service, a mutual passion). At a minimum I can work part time doing the same boring work, or go independent (would need to hustle to get clients but it's doable and might make things more interesting). As a backup, both of us are employable in our respective fields.

But at the moment all I really want to do is travel, meditate, write, play music, garden, and chill the f out, without anyone expecting me to turn in the next TPS report. I'm imagining a minimum 6 month sabbatical, maybe longer. Is it possible? How should i go about planning this? Thanks

How do you get over the guild of spending money? We were super savers for 15 years. Bought a house, paid off the mortgage, saved 530k in cash. Because of our low expenses we were able to go down to one income after my daughter was born. Then recently we decided to yolo on a big reno that will have me working an extra 4-5 years to pay off the loan. We just felt so uncomfortable in our house after baby arrived. We initially bought a fixer upper and delayed updating it. I feel remorse for not doing the reno sooner when materials were cheaper and interest rates were lower. I don’t want to make the same mistake again so we are renovating before trying for baby number 2.

I have a million ways to move forward in my career to make more money and i have been working on starting my own business but every once in a while this decision stings thinking about delaying fire.

Hi!

I originally posted this in a different sub and got some recommendation that I try posting here for advice.

Im 34 years old and make $120,000 a year. I genuinely do enjoy what I do, but I do feel like I hit a dead end in my current company because there is very little room for raise or promotion (which I guess technically matters lot less now)

My dad passed away recently leaving me a fully paid off $3 million dollar house (unfortunately in an area I don’t want to live in so looking to sell soon as possible), $1 million in cash equivalents, and $2 million in stocks.

On top of that, I have about $400,000 in my own assets not including $100,000 in my retirement accounts.

Im pretty frugal. My current expenses are only about $3000 a month and most of that is rent. I know the general rule is if you can survive off of 4% withdrawal you’ll be ok, which in this case, between the inheritance and my own asset is $260,000, way below my current $36,000 in annual expenses.

Few things holding me back

I’m questioning whether $6.5 million is enough when I’m retiring so young. You just never know what could happen

Another thing is it doesn’t feel quite right to use the inheritance to retire, as if I haven’t earned it.

Also retiring right after my dad passes away feels just really icky to me, as if I been waiting for him to die just so I can quit my job.

An option I’m considering is to not retire but instead pursue something I genuinely enjoy that may only earn me half of what I’m making now.

What should I do? Also advice on how to best deploy the inheritance would also be welcome

So my(34f) husband (35m) and I want to get to a point of financial security where we work as little or as much as we want. Currently, we have about $250k between our retirement accounts and we max them out annually (only started maxing out a few years ago). $50k in hysa. And $130k home equity.

Here's the "problem". We bought our home in 2020 with a 2.5% interest rate. For a good price. BUT... it's not our "ideal" neighborhood and not our "dream house" (though honestly it could be because our dream is now to work less in a comfortable house/condo/whocares). It's a decent neighborhood but the public schools are not good. The private schools are $10k a year minimum. So we always planned to move to a nicer school district once our child got to school age. They're 3 now and we are approaching that time but the housing market is absolute 💩. So (all other factors remaining the same)... do we:

Stay at our home?, $2200 mortgage, home will need a new roof and furnace/ac within the next few years plus other basic maintenance, $10k year for school

Or rent? Probably $2500-$3000 a month rent, no home maintenance to keep up with financially, risk of increasing rent and dealing with landlord but $0 in school tuition. Plus $130k straight to the brokerage account/CD.

Anyone else out there trying to practice StealthWealth and sometimes find it hard or awkward during conversations with your new coworkers at your coastFIRE job?

My wife and I are in our late 40's and do not talk money with our new coworkers and totally avoid the topic of salary and raises the best we can. Though when coworkers realize you are taking two weeks off and they ask about your plans as small talk, of course it's probably not a good idea to lie. So when we tell them we are going to Hawaii, a cruise in Spain, etc, etc it's just seems to make it an awkward answer.

Some of our coworkers still have students loans, monthly mortgage/rent, very young kids with daycare expenses. Some of them haven't gone on a vacation for over 5 years and never eat out because of the cost.

My wife and I work less now versus before, so our neighbors see our cars at home most of the time now. A few years ago we'd be gone from sunrise to sunset. It's obvious something has changed. Same rule applies of not talking about money and work with neighbors.

CoastFIRE is something we should be proud of, but for some reason we feel the need to hide it from family, friends and coworkers.

Job doesn’t offer an employer match, just profit sharing but obviously needs to be vested. Maxed out Roth IRA and HSA - do I even contribute to 401k. Lowers taxable income but doesn’t shift me to a different tax bracket - do I still try to max 401k or maybe taxable brokerage?

25, about 55k (30k Roth IRA, 13k 401k, 10k HSA, $0 in Brokerage) - leaning towards a Die With Zero/Coast Fire approach where I can stop or at very least reduce contributions as aggressively as I had been.

Not asking SHOULD contribute to 401k (I am), asking how much to contribute and wether I MAX 401k or focus money elsewhere

For those who are new, welcome to r/coastFIRE! This thread is intended to be our weekly watering hole for advice, feedback and mentorship related to Coast FIRE. Please try to keep the discussion related to Coast FIRE as r/financialindependence has their own weekly "Help me FIRE" thread if you are more full-FIRE-inclined.

If you are new to Coast FIRE, we recommend you check out the WalletBurst Coast FIRE Calculator and this article by The Fioneers.

In this thread you can share your personal case study and ask for advice on your plan. Here are some personal data points you can share to help us help you:

• Introduce yourself
• Your Age / Career / Location
• General goals
• Target full retirement age / Annual spending in retirement / Safe Withdrawal Rate / Location
• Educational background and plans
• Career situation and plans
• Current and future income breakdown, including one-time events
• Budget breakdown
• Asset breakdown, including home, cars, etc.
• Debt breakdown
• Any health concerns
• Family: current situation / future plans / special needs / elderly parents

Thanks all, have a great week!

I’ve only heard about normal fire and coastFIRE is starting to look very appealing, but I have a lot of variables to consider like marriage with my long term partner, children, and a home. My current breakdown is:

Income: 115K - 130K (variable dependent on suplemental freelance work I pick up.)
Taxable Brokerage: 188k
HSA: 17K
Retirement accounts (SEP & Roth) : 94K
Emergency fund: 25K

The tricky part is I currently have little to no expenses as I live at home. Currently spending around 1k in monthly expenses (insurance, helping my parents with odd payments, food, dates, etc). Currently putting away 4-5K / month.

Now with my current situation is there a certain approach one with more experience would take? Also in the cards is receiving the home I currently I live in (400k) from my parents as they plan to retire in their home country within 3 years. There would be potential to sell it or rent it out and move elsewhere.

Hi -

I am a 29 m, my net worth is a little over 400k. I believe in 3 to 6 years I will hit my coastfire number.

My intention as of now is to switch careers to something related to horticulture, which is know in my area pays a lot less than what I make but I think it will be a long term fit for me. If my life situation changes I would reconsider the occupation change entirely.

My main question though - I can make all the plans in the world to switch careers and take a pay cut. But how many people have actually "cut the cord" with their higher paying occupation upon hitting coast? I am planning on spending some money (very small % of my net worth) on training and education related to the new job. But I'm wondering if I will decide when I hit coast number that it actually isnt high enough and move the goalpost. I've done that with other things.

Thank you

I’ve been with my current company for about ten years and make good money ($180k in MCOL area). The work can be stressful and require occasional travel but I’m generally not clocking more than 45-50 hours per week and the flexibility is pretty decent (2-3 days in office when needed). I don’t get calls at all hours and usually am able to workout 4 days a week. However the workplace culture is pretty poor and I’m mostly checked out mentally. There is high turnover and I’m constantly worried about who I’m going to need to backfill on my team to keep the machine going.

My wife and I (36/37 years old, two kids 6/3) hit our coast fire number last year and now I’ve got an opportunity to move into a state government job which would be about a 50% pay cut. Our family can operate on that with a few lifestyle cuts and it offers better benefits, full remote, and a more laid back lifestyle. However I know government jobs sometimes have a reputation for being full of red tape and generally a career dead end. I’m struggling with the decision on these trade offs especially as I get together with friends that work across different industries and companies who are at various levels of boredom, apathy, etc with their workplaces.

So it raises the question to me….do many people feel the same way about their jobs? Would I just be trading one set of problems for another but reducing my income by 50% in the process? I don’t want to stay until things are completely unbearable but am worried about making rash decisions.

Hey all, I’m a bit new to coast fire, but currently (age 35) I’ve got around 100k invested… however, it’s across 3 different accounts: 2 Roth IRA’s (1 each for my wife and I) and an individual investment account.

When calculating my growth trajectory, do I count it all together? Or does the math work differently because it’s split across 3 accounts?

Thanks!

Just turned 50. Other than insurances 1000 (car home health), other expenses are utilities (400) , groceries $300 , leisure travel $1000. ~3k/month. Car and house are paid off. Collecting dividends of 8k/month on an investment of ~1M. House is worth $1.3M and paid off. Did not accumulate enough early on but now saving 50%+ of salary. I know health insurance is subsidized and it will jump to $1300 from 300/month. I love the team I am in at work and enjoy work as it’s 100% remote and interesting work. Other than rsus won’t get any promotions or meaningful increases.

Dividends are from 2 of the income ETFs which have been very consistent with 10%+ rate without eating up into NAV.

Based on dividends and expenses, I have decent margin. But if I work 4-5yrs, savings will get to 1.5-1.6M assuming market remains flat next 5 yrs

do I continue work or just send an email on Monday ?

Hey everyone, I have been saving towards my goal in the last few years (30F) and still have a way to go. The calculator said it’ll take another 15 years or so. I work in a big tech company working 45-50 hours a week. I know it’s not a lot compared to others but still it’s stressful and i experience burn out. Lately I’ve been looking into some options that when I reach my coastFIRE number I’d have less hours and more time to focus on my hobbies but I don’t know what that would look like for someone who’s been in corporate America for the last 6 years. Every job I look for is full time eng manager or product manager type of thing and I can’t seem to even picture how to coast with my background? I’m considering doing something completely different too, like selling plants and organic produce. Any suggestions would be appreciated, thank you.

I posted a lengthy post yesterday. I think it was too long. Here is a bare-bones version.

I think we've achieved CoastFI. Tell me if you think I'm wrong. All dollars are today-dollars and assume a 3% inflation rate for the calculations. CAGR is assumed at 7% absolute (not adjusted for inflation).

Current:

• We have $1,300,000 invested and will continue to contribute a total of $1945/mo (50% Roth contribution / 50% trad company match), which includes the company's match.
• Targeting full retirement as early as 2039 (15yrs from now).
  • Kids will be graduated
  • House will be paid off
  • Pension eligibility of $73,814/yr (2024 dollars)

Math:

• The $1.3M + $1,945/mo will grow to $4.2 by 2023.
  • 3.5% SWR of $4.2M is $147,000 in 2039, or $94,353 today.
  • $94,353 3.5% SWR + $73,814 Pension = $168,167/yr

Expenses:

• Current burn rate is $160k/yr, but $30k of that can disappear ($15k/yr <12mo from now, $15k/yr >12 from now). Planning on a burn rate of $130k in today's dollars
• We will not have a mortgage, retirement contributions, or a 529 (which total $67,050/yr now)

Conclusion:

• $168,167 > $160,000 current burn.
• Retirement will see $67,050/yr of costs disappear.
• $168,167 > $93,000 (just checking)
• We can coast, and coast with a great degree of confidence.