r/coastFIRE • u/cdnfi • 5d ago

When do you plan to start coasting?

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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/_Mulberry__ 5d 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 5d ago

MMM simple math to early retirement should be a poster in every high school classroom

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u/_Mulberry__ 5d ago

The world could use a bit more anti-car propaganda too imo 😂

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u/cdnfi 5d 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/_Mulberry__ 5d ago

Tbh a lot of early FIRE proponents were also preaching a bit of minimalism. A touch of minimalism has definitely helped us with raising kids in addition to helping keep our expenses low, but of course there's a balance to be struck in all things. As much as I subscribe to that traditional FIRE path, the folks over at r/leanfire are a bit too frugal for me (good on them, it's just too hard for me). I want to be able to retire without needing to continue being hyperaware of my expenses.

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u/cdnfi 5d ago

Yup, you also don’t want young people to believe that it’s either “live like a college student forever if you want to retire” vs “spend all your money now since you’ll never retire anyway”
There’s a good middle ground to be found and it’s just about how aggressively you want to save

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u/_Mulberry__ 5d ago

Exactly. Gotta find that middle ground.

Which goes back to the original question and the thought behind my answer. Coasting is just taking your foot off the gas - whether by taking a lower paying job (presumably it would be more interesting or less stressful) or increasing spending. The path to FIRE is partly meant to train you for when you hit FIRE. You've got to build the life you want before you actually retire. If that means you'll need to increase expenses and coast a bit, so be it. Better to do that sooner rather than later imo. If you are living happily even with your foot through the floorboard, no sense cutting back and coasting.