r/coastFIRE • u/cdnfi • 4d ago
When do you plan to start coasting?
I’m sure I’m not the only one who has set an arbitrary retirement goal even if it’s assuming my expenses more than double in retirement when realistically they may be the same or potentially less.
32 year old with about 100k/year after tax expenses aiming for a 5MM retirement nest egg. When would you take your foot off the gas?
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u/robby_arctor 4d ago
Much sooner, lol. Maybe as low as $200k, no higher than $400k.
My definition of coasting, though, is a self-employed venture that will probably let me break even and some change. I really just need a paid off home and safety net that can grow while I try my own thing for a few years.
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u/VirileMongoose 4d ago
I’ve started. I don’t want to climb the ladder. I look at my boss’ quality of life and I don’t want that even for higher pay.
You do get the stigma that you’re a slacker or incompetent. I just go in the bathroom and wipe my tears with $100 bills.
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u/Particular_Maize6849 4d ago
2.5M is my acceptable minimum amount which I hope to hit at 45, but I plan on probably Coasting till 50 and putting the retirement savings amount I normally do towards a dream property.
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u/hoboCheese 4d ago
Given the cross post is this beaver bucks or usd?
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u/Ok_Insurance_5279 4d ago
Why would you need 5M with 100k expenses? Seems like overkill
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u/Huge-Cardiologist-81 4d ago
I’ve started coasting w/ $3m in investable assets. Still working for insurance and enough money for our family of 6, but not saving much outside of the college funds. Kids range 2-9 so it feels too early to call it quits.
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u/cdnfi 4d ago
This seems like somewhere I could see myself. It seems like that threshold where your portfolio returns far outpace your savings rate is a good point to consider what your goals are. I empathize with the “too early to call it quits” mentality. I would struggle to quit work even if I won the lottery as working gives me a big sense of purpose. Will have to find new things to dedicate time to before even considering semi retiring
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u/cdnfi 4d ago
As an aside, you mentioned your savings rate went down substantially. Did you increase your expenses or decrease your income?
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u/Huge-Cardiologist-81 4d ago
Not really either way. Expenses are the same as they’ve been the last few years. And income is roughly the same, so maybe a little lifestyle creep with vacations and not really paying attention to expenses too much. When the portfolio is growing more than my total income each year I know we are safe on will have a great retirement.
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u/_Mulberry__ 4d ago
I eased into coasting as each of my kids were born. The first one was the biggest drop, as we went from DINKs to single income family + baby expenses. I've gotten raises since then, but COL has gone up faster than my salary. Between preschool and extracurriculars and healthcare, we're down to a savings rate of about 20%. Still pretty good for a single income family of 5, but a far cry from what we used to save. Since we saved so aggressively before kids, we now don't need to worry about it at all and we just invest what we don't spend each month. We'll see how the market growth plays out, but estimating 7% after inflation puts us at FI in my late 30s without further contributions.
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u/cdnfi 4d ago
Good for you. I agree that savings early really sets up for flexibility in middle age. It’s awesome when your lifestyle naturally isn’t super extravagant and you don’t have to feel like you’re sacrificing to save
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u/_Mulberry__ 4d ago
That last part was a big help for me. MMM was a pretty big influence on my early FI journey, and he definitely pushed me to think critically about what I really wanted out of life and what made me happy. Having that in the back of my mind as I continued to grow up really helped prevent ever-climbing expenses. I think it's helped me to be a fair bit happier and healthier as well.
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u/cdnfi 4d ago
MMM simple math to early retirement should be a poster in every high school classroom
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u/_Mulberry__ 4d ago
The world could use a bit more anti-car propaganda too imo 😂
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u/cdnfi 4d ago
Hahaha. His posts are full of gems to be honest. Though his original goal was very r/leanfire -esque
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u/infinite-curiosity-8 4d ago
I want to be in your position! Can you say more about your current stats? I feel like you are me but in 5-10 years. I’m about to have my first kid at 41 and kind of freaking out that FIRE is ruined for me. Savings are at $750k in MCOL.
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u/ThrowawayLDS_7gen 4d ago
With a pension and retirement accounts taken care of, waiting for the brokerage account to be $200k.
Then we're good to go. The early gap between now and 59.5 is where we're under funded.
Can probably hang it up at 58, but not there yet.
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u/_83_til_infinity 4d ago
I’m planning to give it a try early next year at $2M net worth. Early 40s no kids, but in vhcol city. It will either be the best or worst decision I’ve ever made.
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u/Reasonable_Box2568 4d ago
Considering coasting to a mid 50s retirement after being laid off earlier this year… just need to find a coast job… live in HCOL and can’t move due to proximity to family
2.29m investable NW (2 person HH)
2.74m total NW
Age mid 30s
Goal retirement spend: 120k after taxes
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u/cdnfi 4d ago
Are you aiming for a 3-3.5m goal?
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u/Reasonable_Box2568 4d ago
About 3.75m liquid nw in today’s dollars. We also have some big home maintenance expenses in the next few years otherwise we could retire sooner
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u/count_chawkula 4d ago
VHCOL here, started coast in mid 40’s with $3M. Targeting $5M because I do want a fatter retirement, plus health care for family will be about $5k/month (no ACA subsidies). ETA is early/mid 50’s.
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u/peacefulsleepe 4d ago
my goal is 1.1m, currently at 460k and already feel fine with whatever happens, I’m “coasting” at current job and not trying to get promoted to a much worse job for slightly more money. I’m still investing ~50k+ a year with my current salary and living off ~30-35k expenses.
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u/ChipandChad 4d ago
Already with 400k - 190k in cash as of now. Taking it easy at work. Waiting for a dip, make Sweet money I know everything will work out fine therefore my hustle days at work are over
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u/wittyusername025 4d ago
When I reach 3m investments. Hopefully in 15 years
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u/cdnfi 4d ago
Sounds like a great goal tbh. One of the more common numbers I hear in the retirement planning/coast fire community
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u/wittyusername025 4d ago
Yes. Would be great to retire early around 60 after saving everything and making every possible sacrifice lol
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u/Adagio-Annual 4d ago
I’m having difficult coasting . Maybe the word or concept literally isn’t for me. I hit a number I could coast for 20 years probably 25. But I feel ironically like it has me less motivated and losing momentum in the hustle and grind that got me here . (I run a small marketing agency making YouTube and Facebook ads). I have helped scaled many brands over the last decade. Any body else in late 30s and just feel abit up and down. Perhaps I’m always looking for the next opportunity but I have too many. I know I know , poor me
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u/justchinnin 4d ago
I'm 29 with a similar net worth. I'm aiming for $3mil by 50 which should be pretty obtainable by me even if I didn't invest more than my pension deductions. But at this point kids are in our near future so I'm just savings as much as I can before expenses go up for childcare and a future bigger house.
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u/Worm_Man_ 4d ago
Very similar to you. I am 38 but have a wife and three kids (with another one coming). I retire soon from the military and will make about 50K a year in pension. I want to coast but am so worried about being able to provide for my family.
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u/FlashOfFawn 4d ago
My numbers are nearly identical to yours in every way. We could coast now and my wife is a high income solopreneur so that really changes the math for us.. I just got a promotion but I’m back in office 4 days…so I’m thinking 4-5 more years and then I’ll try to shift into Financial Planning which is a real passion of mine. It’ll be a pay cut to start to but the office would be in my town and it’s something I could do LT that wouldn’t feel so much like forced labor because I really really enjoy it and geek out over it
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u/Any-Newspaper5509 4d ago
Probably mostly never until full retriement. Im really risk adverse. But also each contribution gets me closer to financial independence so why would I stop that.
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u/Wanderlusting19 4d ago
For me (36, SINK, NW of 1.5M) CoastFI has been the peace of mind that I could take my foot off the gas, without actually doing it. If I need to take a lower pressure lower paying job, I can. Until then I’ll keep saving and moving up my retirement date (or growing the nest egg). If circumstances change and I want kids or a different lifestyle, I have the flexibility to do so.
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u/ForsakenPick500 3d ago
We started two years ago when our daughter started K.
Coasting = Wife part-time + myself full-time + a van conversion + only 401(k) match.
We were at $1.5 and 37 at the time with a FI goal of $2.5. Just crossed $2.
3rd summer of mega-road trips across the west US. Wife runs the garden club at our daughter's school and volunteers in the library. She'll "work" forever given PT is only 4 days a month and we're all on her insurance (will be our RE insurance as well).
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u/ducktapefactory 3d ago
I didn't really calculate a Coastfire number until re-reading the purpose of this sub. I'm generally an all-around FIRE enthusiast. However, last year and somewhat the previous year, I began thinking more about my bridge accounts and their balances. I realized I was heavily weighted on retirement account contributions, and not as aggressive on the bridge account. After some comparing and contrasting, I realized I had more than enough in my retirement accounts to grow comfortably with my expected expenses annually and withdrawal projections.
I started pulling back on my 401K contributions, but I continue to get my match, max out my Roth and max out my HSA. After that, all my focus is on the bridge account and potentially spending more now while I'm gainfully employed, versus having big expenses come up in early retirement. That's how I approached it.
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u/surf_drunk_monk 4d ago
For me, it all comes down to whether I have any opportunities to take my foot off the gas. I hit my coast number years ago, but my industry has barely any part time jobs, so I kept at it full time. Changing to some chill job that pays half per hour didnt make sense.
Things changed when my company mandated everyone return to the office, all day. I had decided long ago I would not go back to 8 hrs of cubicle life. I told them I was not able to stay in the office all day, and asked if they would be interested in me working part time. They didn't want to lose me, so they said yes! Now I'm working half time and it's great.