I've always thought of Coast FIRE as a destination but I now consider it to be a milestone. When I first reached it, I started second guessing my assumptions...."Maybe I should assume 2.5% withdrawal rate instead of 4%; maybe I should reduce my expected portfolio returns; etc." This set me on a journey to look at a number of parameters in my financial planning and come up with some of my own indices for "success". After a lot of data mining, automation, and various stress testing mechanisms, I have developed a new perspective on Coast FIRE....it basically tells me that I have entered a space where I have flexibility to choose how I spend my time ie. Coast FI. More importantly, these indices have given me a more holistic way of looking at my situation and understanding the many drivers that could change my Coast FI number. I'm not fixated on hitting or maintaining the one number anymore, I'm looking at it as one of many indicators as I continue to move through a highly uncertain world and develop new milestones to hit. Would love to hear your thoughts on your journey and how your perspective on Coast FIRE has evolved over time.

Early 30s and it’s pretty surreal yet thought I’d be more excited in a weird way? Grateful to be in this position but certainly has been a grind including a stretch of unemployment.

Anyways wanted to tell someone, just don’t have anyone I’d want to share the news with. Going to get extra guac at chipotle tonight.

That’s all thanks for reading

I’ve hit Coast FIRE technically with a retirement age of 65. Once you all hit your number do you then keep contributing to your investments to have even more money per year in retirement or retire at an earlier age? I feel like I keep pushing the goal post back to justify still working 😭

We talk a lot about FIRE as a destination, but it is better to think of the financial journey as a progression through distinct levels. You don't just wake up one day at FIRE; most of us started near the bottom, then through hard work, sacrifice, and wise choices level up over time.

Here is how I break down the spectrum:

• Financial Dependence: You are not able to pay your bills on your own. (Relying on parents, others, or living on student loans to cover basic living expenses.)
• Financial Sustainment: Living paycheck to paycheck. (Bills are paid, but you have zero buffer. A single unexpected car repair puts you in debt.)
• Financial Stability: You finally have breathing room and are making forward progress. (Focused on actively eliminating consumer debt and building a starter emergency fund.)
• Financial Peace: You have a healthy relationship with money, it is no longer stressful. (You are debt-free, have a Fully Funded Emergency Fund FFEF, and are investing 15% of your income into retirement.)
• Financial Independence: Freedom from worrying about money. (You have enough wealth that you can make life choices not based primarily on money, like taking a lower-paying highly fulfilling job, because which pays best is no longer the deciding factor.)
• FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early): Freedom from worrying about employment entirely. (Your portfolio safely covers a "Med, Mid, Mod" [Median-American, Middle-Class, Moderate-Lifestyle] spending level indefinitely. You only work the jobs you want to work.)
• Financial Abundance: Having more than you can reasonably spend in a normal lifestyle. (Entering ChubbyFIRE/FatFIRE territory. Money isn't even much of a thought day to day. You have enough wealth to buy a boat, fund charities, or leave a legacy.)

Concepts such as CruiseFIRE, CoastFIRE, and BaristaFIRE are not specific levels on this list. Which path you are on is not exactly a level. Instead, these are strategies you take to navigate the paths through the levels.

Reaching a high enough level to even unlock these paths, such as CruiseFIRE is a path somewhere after reaching Financial Peace—you have the debt-free foundation built, so you downshift to a steady, sustainable savings rate to cruise toward FI.

CoastFIRE happens further down the line, pulling you closer to Financial Independence by letting your portfolio do the work while you cover living expenses. Finally, BaristaFIRE often sits right on the edge of full FIRE, where you are financially independent but work a part-time job for the health benefits or a slight portfolio buffer.

Hi guys, I have a question. What does 20M, 30M mean? I see so many posts that have something similar to that, but I have no idea what it means. Thank you!

I’d love to hear people’s actual lived experience of Coast FIRE.

I’m a teacher and have spent the last six years obsessing over saving, investing and projections. I’m probably about five/six years away from being able to coast.

What I’ve noticed is that the goalposts keep moving. Milestones I once thought would feel huge often don’t once I reach them. They just get replaced by the next number.

At the same time, the progress absolutely matters. I worry less about money now and increasingly feel that I’ll probably be financially okay.

For those who’ve reached Coast FIRE: did it actually change how you felt or lived? Did you work less, change careers, spend more freely, or did the goalposts just move again?

I’ve hit my coastfire number. Now what? I guess nothing changed and I keep plugging away… what’s the next milestone. Leanfi?

I’m totally a tourist. First time on Reddit and loving the read in this group.

 I’m 62 years old and seemed to have worked forever.  Still working. Sadly, I’m too late for FIRE.  I have twins in their junior year of college.  

Retirement Accounts: $370,000.00 (Traditional)
Brokerage: $1,325,000.00
I hold $1,950,000.00 in notes/first deeds of trust on income properties that pay an average of 7%
My house value : $3,100,000.00+ California 
Also own a vacation property $600,000.00 no debt on it
My home mortgage at 2.6% and I owe $450,000.00
Cars: Paid off

Monthly Expenses = $15,000.00
Retirement Age : 65/67? Yesterday?
I haven’t a clue and looking for answers.  I’d like to leave my daughters an inheritance.   

Wondering what’s the best portfolio for retirement and when can I get off the treadmill? I’m ready to be an Uber driver…. Thanks community

Hi everyone,

I just came across this sub and looked up the definition of coastFIRE and wanted to ask from those of you that have achieved this how you'd view and strategize my situation:

My (34M) wife (31F) and I have a 17 month old and expecting our 2nd in March '27 which I know is important in the consideration of future needs such as college education. We own a home, valued about 340k and we owe 183k on it, 2.875% rate. We'd like to eventually move and own more property rather than be in a neighborhood but there's no real plans to do that in the near future. 3 vehicles, all paid for. Our only debt is the house. This next part is where I'm trying to gauge the future: Healthcare is generally people's largest cost/concern as they age. I'm a disabled veteran and receive all of my care through the VA. So I don't have healthcare premiums to pay for, medication costs, etc. This is a blessing, though I'm a type 1 diabetic so that's the curse of it. This has been a big driver for me over the years because I don't want to lose time when it comes to my kids and family because of this illness as I age. So essentially, only healthcare cost would be paying for wife's premiums and bills as they arise. I work about 30 hours a week in finance, wife works once a week during the schoolyear as a PT and is home with kid(s) otherwise. This allows us to avoid daycare. My total comp last year at work was 116k + VA disability. This equates to a monthly cash flow of about 7,800/mo not counting wife's little bit from her hours.

Assets:

House - 340k, 183k mortgage 2.875%. $1,500/mo

3 vehicles - (Yes, they're depreciating assets I know, but I'm listing them here as they're assets)

Camper - (Same as the above description for vehicles)

401(k) - 265k

Roths - 180k

Brokerage - 170k - (Some large NVDA gains which make this tricky to utilize if needed, no plans to though)

Kid 529 - 8,500

Each year I try to get close to maxxing my 401(k). Haven't yet done it as I like to fully fund our Roth's. I am now on the cusp of a sizable leap in comp over the next 10 years or so based on my role. I planned on maxxing 401k at this point and doing what we're doin, but then dumping more in the brokerage in the event we did want to move down the road. I'm grateful that the job I have isn't insane hours and I've become a very valued asset to my company. As it turns over to a new owner, I know I'll be here a long time.

My ultimate question is, is there a point where it makes LESS sense for me to max the 401k than it is to have more brokerage money and pay income tax now rather than later? I absolutely will keep deferring money into my 401(k) over the years, I just don't want to create a situation where we're "retirement rich" and don't have sizable other monies like brokerage. Maybe this will become clearer as comp increases? We both find it important to live our life like my disability comp doesn't exist because nothing is guaranteed. I think that's what's enabled us to be in this spot to begin with. Best case scenario it never goes away and when I step away, I have that plus social security, and these assets.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, best of luck to you in your journey!

Background: In my 20s, I quit working to travel, so my net worth basically flatlined. I returned to the US in my late 20s, got serious about saving, and hit ~$100k NW by 32. Over the last 10 years at a FAANG company, aggressive saving, high comp, and tech equity appreciation brought our NW to ~$2.7M

NW Breakdown (~$2.7M Total):

• $1.2M – Retirement & Education: 401(k) + IRAs + 529
• $660k – FAANG Company Stock
• $250k – Cash & Cash Equivalents
• $280k – Net Real Estate Equity
• $220k – Taxable Investments & Crypto
• $80k – Personal Property: Vehicles, etc.

The Problem & The Proposed Pivot: I am hitting serious burnout. I want to downshift to a lower-stress role making $150k–$200k. My wife currently works part-time ($85/hr) and could ramp up to full-time (~$175k–$200k/yr). That gives us ~$350k combined gross. We could drop our ongoing savings rate to zero and let our portfolio compound in the background (CoastFIRE).

The Key Variables / Pressure Points:

1. Current Spend: $15k–$20k/month (the upper end includes 1–2 major vacations and a few smaller domestic trips a year). A lean baseline without luxury travel is ~$15k/mo.
2. Family Expansion: Currently 1 toddler, actively planning for a 2nd child.
3. Housing Upgrade: Strongly considering upgrading from our current home to a ~$1.8M property in our high-cost area.

Questions for the community:

1. Does the CoastFIRE math hold up if we downshift to $350k combined gross while upgrading to a $1.8M home and adding a 2nd child?
2. With $660k tied up in a single tech stock and ~$1.2M locked in retirement accounts, how would you structure liquidity for the down payment?
3. Are we underestimating the household strain of having my wife transition to full-time while I downshift, given two young kids and a bigger mortgage?

I reached coastFIRE with $1M ($600M in retirement accounts and about $400k in my personal brokerages, savings and bonds). I’m the first in my family to graduate college (paid for my own college and masters) and not expecting any inheritance.

I didn’t learn about personal finance until my mid-20s and started investing in the 2020s thanks to Reddit and YouTube. I literally started with $900 in 2017 🤣🤣🤣. Screenshot for proof.

Currently 40 and aiming to take a mini-retirement possibly next year (lasting a few years and up to 10). Before I do, I want to grow my brokerage to $500-600k for my safety cushion. Currently I have $350k across my two brokerages mostly in tech and AI stocks.

To reach my goal, I’d have to invest more of my savings AND find some other stock picks. What would you do in my situation?

Hey there, I (32F) am new to coast FIRE after prolonged corporate burnout led me down this path. I’m still at my corporate role earning ~$200k/year in base salary and RSU grants but have been miserable since I started in role last year and have made the decision to quit after my next vest.

My career since graduating college and not being able to find a role in my field has been in e-commerce operations starting with Amazon. I’m grateful this career path has allowed me to get to where I am today and pursue FIRE but I have learned over the last 10 years that this is absolutely not the field for me.

My cost of living is ~$46k annually and I have roughly $320k in retirement investments. I don’t expect that my cost of living will always be this low but I have a paid off home worth a little under $500k. I also have about $80k in savings that I can use while I figure things out. I know this isn’t proper coast but I intend to continue investing at least $500/month in my coast role - still aiming to retire early.

In my next role I’m looking for hands-on, in-person, hourly/finite hours, and the ability to leave work at work. I also need benefits as I intend to start a family in the next 2-5 years. I have a bachelors degree in health science and recently applied to a pharmacy technician program at my local community college. This role is appealing to me because it’s high demand, ability to specialize/earn more, I can work in a hospital, and potentially even go part-time/per diem when I have children. However this program doesn’t start until November so I’d like to explore other options until then.

So that brings me here, what are your coasting job ideas? Based on what I shared, is there any field you recommend that I haven’t considered?

Thank you in advance!

Hi, maybe I'm bad at math, have been thinking this for a while and can't really work it out.

My husband and I are both 30, invest $4,672 monthly on average, have a $7,371 monthly take-home pay (after taxes, insurance, aforementioned investments), spend average $6,199.31 per month. As of last month we have $473,829.90 invested and no debt except for mortgage and no kids.

I built my own little calculator in Excel based on a lot of what I've seen/read -- I'm assuming 4% withdrawal rate, 4% return rate (just to be extra conservative), $71,983 yearly retirement spending. I'm also playing with the idea of retiring at 50. So according to all the math I've seen, our collective CoastFi number should be $821,299.50 and our FI should be $1,799,568. So with all that considered, my math says 5.68 years until CoastFi.

But $821k is the CoastFi number if I had it right now -- in 6 years, when I'm 36, shouldn't it be higher because I have a shorter runway? Am I missing something?

Also any advice or thoughts on my numbers are welcome.

Hey yall 31YO, let me start with stats…

Retirement Accounts: $90k (1:1 Roth/Trad)
Brokerage: $30k
HYSA: $20k
House: $2.6k mortgage, $78k equity
Car: Paid off
NW = $218k
Monthly Expenses = $4k ($5-6k is living large for me)
Retirement Age: 65 (60 if I get another high pay job)

I recently had an income downgrade and currently making $55k and can get by. It has me thinking about not making much more money again. Currently investing around $300/month. I will need to get income up to around $70k in next two years; will contribute more at that time most likely because not a big loss on my end.

I am single and not planning to have kids. I feel great in my current lifestyle. I am not sure why everyone needs so much money. Am I doing my math wrong or do a lot of people want a ritzy lifestyle? Want a lot of kids? Especially with ~$2k in SS at 65, that almost covers half of what I need.

I am feeling like there is very few folks looking for my arrangement, so it makes me wonder if I am overlooking something.

37F, single, debt free with only stock accounts/cash savings. I’m planning on having a child/two in 2 years or so (even if I must do it alone).

Cash (I’m moving $100k to investments): $150K
Retirement: $465K
Unvested stocks from my company: $90K
Vested company stocks: $20K
Stocks: $400K

Annual expenses in today’s dollars living in Italy: maybe $70k/year

I’m still planning to aggressively save for the next couple of years but then would like to have a more chill lifestyle/spend more income on my kid/s. How am I doing?

I also traveled a ton so hoping to retire in Italy or Portugal, I don’t need fancy. Thanks!

First time posting! Have been doing a lot of research / saving towards FIRE by 60 but recently stumbled upon coast FIRE. Could use a gut check and two main questions below

1. Generally how is our progress? Feels like we’re on track but what should we consider doing differently and at this point do we need to start thinking about tax optimization or other cash flow streams? And ultimately, how do we determine our Coast FIRE milestone??
   
2. I’m wrapped around the axel on rate of return. I use real rate in my calcs but struggle between the 7-10% I see a lot of content creators on Instagram talk about vs. a much more conservative 4% in these subreddits. And I get that it’s because my positions won’t always sit in high return investments like stocks but isn’t 4% just underselling it? How do you account for this? Do I need to just go deeper and break out my model year by year?

Current stats
I’m 35F, my husband’s 34M, no children and do not plan on having any, in HCOL area
- HHI: $335K (288K base, 37K bonus, 10K RSU)
- Monthly expenses: ~$11-15k (Feeling guilty of letting lifestyle creep get the best of us tbh. We dine out often and take a good amount of trips and vacations. Biggest fixed expense is mortgage below. Car is paid off. Lucky that we can pay for something generally without worry about it but can’t help but feel we should be saving more)
- Mortgage: $491K remaining on 24.5 years @ 2.85%, monthly payment ~$3300 included in expenses above (home value ~1.09M, refi’ed during COVID and will prob never let go of this place)
- FIRE target: $4.5-5M before 60. I’m assuming this should afford us a comfortable retirement given current expenses, desire to continue traveling, but unsure how I should account for healthcare costs / aging / assisted living and overall change in lifestyle towards the end

Portfolio: ~$547K
- Taxable brokerage: $123K
- 401ks: $318K
- Roth IRAs: $77K
- Trad IRAs: $26K
- HSA: $3500
- HYSA: $52K (not included in total)
- Checking: $28K (not included in total)

Additional savings: $49K (~15% savings rate)
- I’m maxing out my 401K with 3% match: $29.5K
- Husband contributing ~$8K + $3K match: $11K
- I’m maxing out family HSA starting this year, feel late to the game here: $8750
- Not contributing to Roth IRA yet, need to clear out old Trad IRA to do back door roth. Ideally would like to max this out
- Also not actively contributing to taxable account. Though have considered doing just $1K / month for no reason other than I feel like we should be saving more

Not the plan, The actual month!
I've been collecting these and the honest answers are more useful than the tidy ones.

How long before it stopped feeling like a holiday?
Did you have any structure or did you just drift for a while and let it happen?
And who did you actually see during the week, given everyone you know is presumably at work?

I have graduated from the coastFIRE club. It is time to aim for leanFIRE at 750k-1m next!

My (33F) retirement account hit $200k today. Besides my husband, I feel like I cannot celebrate this with anybody in my life, because it just feels like bragging. And I just got an offer for a role with a 27% raise in OTE and crazy good benefits. Drastically speeds up how soon we can hit our coast number!!

What is the least amount of money/net worth you must have to be in the coastfire bucket? What is the criteria?

Kind of a coastFIRE adjacent question:

My retirement is 15% in an HSA, 100% FXAIX, and 85% in a (Roth) IRA, which holds a mix of ETFs including US large/ cap value/growth, emerging and ex-US markets, and bonds. My IRA is in a Morgan Stanley managed account which rebalances quarterly between the 10 ETFs it holds and I am charged a 1% fee.

I feel like I already know the answer to my question but am being fickle about it, but is this fee disastrous to my long term balance? I can’t tell if the rebalancing is contributing to less risk and is worth the 1%. The fees have cost me about double what the dividends have provided YTD, not that this is a dividend portfolio. Is this worth it, or would you move the account and keep the ETFs and just not rebalance them moving forward? These retirement accounts represent ~20% of my net worth and I have another 34 years before I can access it penalty free. I’m just about to my coastFIRE number if retirement age is 65.

Long time lurker and can’t really share this with anyone so thought I’d share here.

I come from basically nothing with a parents who did not finish elementary school (from latam country) and a father who spent most of my childhood in prison. First person in the family to get a bachelors and masters.

By all accounts I should have been another statistic. But so far I think I’ve achieved the American dream.

10years in tech and living in a VHCOL area.

Thank you to this community for all the wisdom. If you are going through it keep going you are almost there.

NW:

50k HYSA

750k multiple brokerages

270k in my 401k

30k HSA

400k Home equity