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.

Hi all, I’m hoping for some advice. I’m 32 and I’ve reached half way - ish to my coast FI number and I want to travel extensively again. I don’t have kids, don’t want kids, don’t really see myself getting married, don’t need to support family members financially but willing to physically, don’t own a home, most likely will in the future but not ready to settle now, don’t own a car, take public transit, live simply.

tldr; Should I take advantage of my youth and “freedom” to travel long term which would mean a pause in investing OR suck it up and continue saving/investing and only when I reach my number, consider slow travel or anything I want really?

I traveled a lot in my early to mid 20s. I lived and worked abroad in various countries during those times. I would like to do this again in one of the countries I’ve already worked and lived in. I’ve been looking to study the language and then work in Asia (most likely teaching English). This would mean I would halt my investing for a few years. I might be able to contribute claiming FTC but need to research more. I can always contribute again once I return, but honestly, unsure when that would be, especially if I really enjoy living there again or if I wanted to continue this lifestyle for a bit before returning. Maybe in 2-3 years. Maybe longer? I wonder if I should have a set time frame for doing this and a plan on when to return to save aggressively again. I worry that upon returning, how difficult would it be to start a new career to earn more than I am now since I’ll have to essentially play catch up? I feel I’ll have to work twice as hard to make up for those lost years.

Or should I keep saving/investing and take smaller vacations and wait to do my long slow travel after I’ve actually reached coast FI? I’m even willing and able to take a few month-long trips during these years. I worry that when I reach coast FI, will I want to teach English abroad? I worry that I will let my dreams pass by. I also feel like if I do stay to invest and save, it’ll be such a slog. It seems never ending especially since I earn so little. But, the thought of starting a new career to earn more now exhausts me and I already burned myself out these past two years. In truth, I really just want to go and travel but I have to worry about investing for my retirement. Someone I know also just recently died this week and he was 26. It has me thinking a lot. Should I take advantage of my age and life style now or wait?

I feel like I’m at a weird in between because I am in my prime years for compounding but also great years for this style of travel since I may not want travel this way when I’m older. Any advice welcome. Maybe I’m being too idealistic and need a good kick back into reality. Maybe I can hear from others who were able to travel at this time in their life and return and still be on track and thrive. Thank you in advance

Hi,

How do you integrate real estate in your COAST FIRE calculations?

I plan to quit my job at 62 and take early social security benefits ($2,000 a month). When I called them, they told me all the MORE money I will get if I wait another 5 years (67 at $2,500 a month) or another 8 years (70 at $3,000 a month)! I have rental income ($4,000 a month ) and retirement income from 401k (4% withdrawal will mean $2,000 a month) that will cover my living expenses. I have a part time job that provides health insurance and $2,000 a month in income. Any feedback on my plan will be appreciated. Thank you.

Hi there! (28F)

I have some questions about savings. Although I have been following Fire, CoastFire and Barista fire ~ I'm not sure if this is the right place for this.

Financial security is super important to me as I grew up extremely poor. I've been making $120k for a few years, and my career path is pretty steady (potentially steady increases but not sure if anything is huge).

Right now I have close to $120k between my Roth IRA & 401k. My brokerage account savings went to purchasing a home, so not much additional savings other than home equity (I know from a fire perspective it doesn't really count, but not sure if relevant).

I plan to (at least) max out Roth IRA & 401k yearly so ~30k ish. I would love to up my savings if possible.

A huge goal of mine is to start a family ~ probably before 35. I talk to my friends a lot about finances and it seems like a lot of my friends save the around 6% in retirement plus a employer match etc, which makes me feel good about what I'm saving, but of course doesn't seem great compared to some of the posts on here.

I guess my goal isn't to CoastFire, but slow down when I have children so that I can work part time or raise my children so that I don't need childcare (I have a lot of flexibility & options here so not needing childcare advice).

I know most answers will be like "everyone's situation is different, we need more information" but at this point I am trying to at least figure out what questions to be asking or looking into. I.e. if I save 30k for 5 more years then have kids and have roughly $270k at 33, is that considered a healthy investment to slow down for a little? Again, I know there's a lot of moving parts but my family didn't teach me hardly anything about money growing up, and being present in my kids lives is such a priority to me.

If anyone could offer some questions to consider, that would be great.

I’m American with a dad living in New Zealand. My dad lives in a sort of tiny home/trailer park. It’s not a bad situation all in all; he pays $300 usd per month to have his tiny home there and it’s next to the beach. Sometime soonish though the park will be shutting down so he’ll have to move.

He’s 70 with perhaps $500k in investments/savings but in his part of the country he’d need maybe $600-700k or more to buy a decent house.

I have maybe 1.5M total net worth with about 200k in cash right now so I’m at lean or coast fire. I’ve thought about if there is a way I could help get him into a house where he’d have space to garden and work on projects (he has no space right now) and also have it be an investment for me.

Has anyone done something like this? I haven’t floated the idea to him because I don’t even know what terms to suggest.

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!

Getting fed up with work and decided over the weekend to stop before summer is over. Now just a matter of when and how. Just wanted to share my thoughts somewhere 🤷.

The numbers are the fun part so here are the stats.

39M & 39F; 2 kids, 4 & 2

• Current HHI: $600,000
• Current annual spend: $120,000

NW: $3.75MM

• $200k taxable
• $1.15MM 401k/IRA
• $50k HSA
• $400k Deferred Comp
• $500k Franchise
• $300k Primary residence equity
• $300k Secondary residence equity
• $450k Investor real estate equity
• $400k Other real estate investments
• $100k Alternatives

Near term planned cash flow: $150k

• Spouse part time work: $60k
• Franchise income: $75k
• Rental income: $15k

My plans:

• Help manage the franchise
• Travel more
• Spend more time with kids
• Transition to be a fee only FA

Still need to work on perfecting the tax implications over the next 2-3 years as we unwind the deferred comp, real estate investments, capital gains, and depreciation from franchise.

Feel free to ask me whatever!

Hello! Going through chemo for lymphoma since Feb. Going through that experience has me naturally thinking about priorities. However given I live in HCOL area and my net worth I really can only coastFire I think? (not moving areas due to family ties)

Age: 33 NW:~500k all liquid (~250k hysa,~250k investments). High hysa because I was saving for down payment, but might dump 100k of that in investments soon. Current yearly spend/expenses: ~40k (wife spends another 40k). We both work and make around 140k pretax each. My wife doesn't plan to coastFire, just me. I'd plan on either reducing work hours or find a less stressful entry level job.

fyi that net worth is also my own net worth excluding my wife's. we track our finances separately due to different financial goals. Me coastfirin should not affect her own finances.

Some thoughts: coastFire at this point would mean essentially cut out house buying. Would need to keep a job with good healthcare or else piggyback off wife. this wouldn't be immediate, so maybe targeting early next year to get some time to plan. I am essentially looking to mostly spend more time outside, enjoying nature and travel, as well as maybe taking more classes that are hobby related.

Any tips or advice? I'm new to this sub!

Hello. How does CoastFIRE work with buying a home? Once people hit their coastFIRE numbers and change to lower paying jobs, do they just settle for a cheaper home with lower mortgage payments?

My wife and I have built up a net worth of $2 million across retirement accounts, taxable brokerage, some crypto, and real estate. We've done it all on our own up until now, but I want to make sure we're making smart decisions beyond investments.

There are different types of financial professionals out there, like financial planners, estate planners, insurance agents, and accountants. How do we know if we need all of them, just one, or none?
For those of you who have worked with these professionals, what made you decide to hire one? How did you choose the right one for your needs? Did you find it helpful to work with multiple experts, or did you prefer having just one person to work with?

I don't feel I need help managing my investments. I have a simple portfolio consisting mostly of ETFs and individual stocks that I really believe in over the long-term plus bitcoin and ethereum. I read a lot of Substack and Twitter research, use Mezzi to consolidate different accounts, monitor capital gains tax, and change allocations, and do some analysis with Morningstar.

I do feel I need help with more complicated matters or at least making sure I shouldn't be thinking about something more complicated. What does everyone else do? Have you consulted with any outside experts? If so, what for? I clearly have a lot of questions, but I don' really have a clear idea of what I need and if I may be missing something.

Thanks for your input!My wife and I have built up a net worth of $2 million across retirement accounts, taxable brokerage, some crypto, and real estate. We've done it all on our own up until now, but I want to make sure we're making smart decisions beyond investments.

There are different types of financial professionals out there, like financial planners, estate planners, insurance agents, and accountants. How do we know if we need all of them, just one, or none?
For those of you who have worked with these professionals, what made you decide to hire one? How did you choose the right one for your needs? Did you find it helpful to work with multiple experts, or did you prefer having just one person to work with?

I don't feel I need help managing my investments. I have a simple portfolio consisting mostly of ETFs and individual stocks that I really believe in over the long-term plus bitcoin and ethereum. I read a lot of Substack and Twitter research, use Mezzi to consolidate different accounts, monitor capital gains tax, and change allocations, and do some analysis with Morningstar,

I do feel I need help with more complicated matters or at least making sure I shouldn't be thinking about something more complicated. What does everyone else do? Have you consulted with any outside experts? If so, what for? I clearly have a lot of questions, but I don' really have a clear idea of what I need and if I may be missing something.

Thanks for your input!

Has anyone done this? Do people do it? How has it worked?

37m from UK, married not planning on having children. I'm a freelance Civil Engineer, so would be relatively easy for me to work 3-4 months and then have long periods off.

NW of roughly £600k, 50% is in my home and the other 50% is investments. So the thought was that if i were to start coasting now, work for 3-4 months here then head to SEA with £15-20kish(i live a simple life, this would go along way). Then i would have 600k compounding rather than the current 300k, i would rent my home so mortgage would be getting paid off and the cashflow going into Stocks and shares(isa).

I think it could take anywhere from 5-10 years to get another 300k in investments, this way i would release straight away. And live a very nice life during them years rather than working and saving, don't get me wrong i actually quite like my job but it is still a job. So if i had to coast till 55-60 it wouldn't bother me.

Also my FI number once both mortgages are paid off is 500k which i'm well on track to coast to.

This is something that entered my brain recently, not same i'm going to do it just interested in thoughts/experiences?

Wife and I wanted to raise our daughter in a rural location. We left life as W2 slaves and started farm coasting. Objective of the farm was only to cover expenses. Seven years on, I can definately say it was a great decision. The lifestyle is really good, hard work, but rewarding. Financially, the usda support has been a big help, and the tax breaks keep our taxes very low. As our stock portfolio grows in the background, we live a healthy, productive life, that is busy, but not hectic. Something to think about if you are looking to coast a little differently.

Home equity is on top of NW.

What are the options for health insurance coverage for people who leave the workforce which comes with employer subsidized health insurance? Thanks.

Don’t mind if it’s lower paying or 30-40 hours a week as long as it’s fully remote can work from anywhere and it’s got some job security and benefits.

I have an electrical engineering degree and have worked in aerospace but honestly don’t mind changing industries as long as the job has the above.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Sub 40 coasters! I see a lot of posts bringing up coasting as a permanent thing. Are we ready to coast and treat it like it is the finish line. You can always reenter the workforce or find a newer job! That is the beauty of the coast, you have the freedom to make that choice.

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Example! I'm in my early 30s, I have 6-month-old daughter and I'm feeling burned out at my work. I'm looking to take a step back and coast. Is there a chance I want to go back to work? Yes. Is there a chance I want to make a career pivot? Yes. Nothing is permanent it's just a season!

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48yo. Met with Fidelity investment advisor and ran thru the numbers for a retirement at 56yo. Confirmed reaching coast fire. Yay.

It sure felt good to lower that 401k contribution percent to 0! (Yes I won't get employer match so I may get tempted and raise it later but I know I can always go back to 0).

UPDATE: thanks a lot for all your comments! I plan on hitting max 401k to get the full employer match for reasons well outlined by y'all (even if I withdraw and pay penalty i come ahead!)

Couple

MCOL Area

Salary 290k

Expense(Excl Child care) 8k/MO

Mortgage/Taxes $2,300/MO

House Equity $300-350k after transaction prices

Retirement Savings $700k

Investment Account $100k

Cash Savings $100k

We have two small children 1 & 3. We both work full time, but love spending time with our kids. While we were on parental leave we both have thought about quiting/going part time. We have a few thoughts that we'd be interested in getting peoples opinions on:

1. Do we have enough to COAST FIRE? We're early 30's so significant time to "traditional" retirement age.
2. we've thought about moving to a house we could payoff in cash reducing our expenses by ~1.5-2k per month. lowering total expenses to $6k-$6.5k. Has anyone done this or thought of doing this? What are the pro's and cons?
3. Has anyone either gone part time or quit in this type of situation, and if so how did you feel about it? Did you like spending time with your kids? Did you feel like you missed out on your "career"?

The numbers seem to suggest outside of vacations this a very doable option for us, and we're curious what other people think about this situation?

Hi everyone! Late 20s here with about 250k NW. Been "coasting" the last year, IE left my high-paying stressful job and have been working about 25 hours a week on a contract role. I'm still saving about 2k a month from my current job as the 250k numbers seems to be on the lower-end on the coastfire spectrum.

My plan was essentially to continue to contribute 2k a year for the next couple of decades which would put me at a very comfortable spot at retirement age.

The thing is I just realized that I would like to enter a new career as an artist. The issue is I know this field does not pay well and I'll be luckily to be able to save much working in it. On top of that it will likely take a substantial amount of financial and time resources to make this switch. Basically this realization has thrown a wrench in the plan of saving 2k a month for the next couple of decades.

I feel I am now faced with a choice of either going back to a high-paying job for the next few years to offset the future time/financial costs of education + lower income. Or accept more risk in my financial projections and future.

For some more context, I likely would not make the hard pivot for at least another 4-5 years because of some romantic relationship timing reasons. So in the meantime, I could either continue to learn and practice my art in the extra time I have from working a part-time and accept the risky outcomes or go back to work which would offset future costs but would basically set me back several years of developing the skills and connections in my future career path.

So I guess my question to this group is if prioritizing the art/future career now makes sense or does front loading my savings and pushing back my Coastfire target a few years make sense, in your opinion of course. Thank you!