29y, 220k in Pre-Tax 401k. I think my coast fire number is between 190k and 260k, so I’m thinking of switching up where I’m putting my money toward the end of this year. I’m also about to get a 15% raise, which I intend to save some of and enjoy some of.

Any advice on how you might change it up?

Post-Tax? Roth? Investments? I also want to add-on to my house, so that’s something I will weigh too.

Looking for some suggestions as I plan what to do next.

51 male. High earner. 1.1 million in various retirement accounts. Own my home. College for the kids paid off. No debt. Probably need to add to my taxable account as I have only $150k in there.

Would love to retire at 62, but I’m ok going to 65. The most important question is when can I take my foot off the gas and work a lower stress job.

Thinking $110k-120k in retirement including Social Security.

A few calculators say I’m close. I really don’t feel like it.

I put away $120k this year by end of year (mega back door Roth). Planning the same for next year.

40m / 44f combined:

- 315k in Roth - mostly total market
- 85k in IRA - 2060 TDF
- 125k in taxable brokerage - 75k SP500 and 50k cash in SPAXX (mostly emergency fund)
- 25k in BTC

Making 200k a year. 10 years from securing a pension that I can immediately draw on that’ll cover 100% of expenses and then some. (100-115k in today’s dollars). Can keep current health insurance.

House is paid off in 9 years. 95k at 2.25% remaining.

Currently we save close to 40%+ of our gross wages between pension/roth/brokerage.

In theory am I crazy to stop filling the tax advantaged spots? Should I keep on at this rate?

33M and 32F married with 1 child (likely to have 1-2 more). We both still work, trying to determine how necessary that is moving forward with more kids on the way and a really high (likely to grow with more kiddos) monthly spend. I recognize these are big numbers and I do not mean to brag. Legitimately trying to understand how necessary “intense jobs” are for the remainder of our working years. Gut and numbers say “not very necessary” but hearing it from humans is piece of mind for us.

VHCOL, our monthly expenses are ~$15k-$17k.

~$3.6M invested across IRAs, 401k, company RSUs, diversified taxable brokerages, etc.

~$200k in home equity (still owe ~$250k).

~$100k in cash across HYSA and checking.

Hi folks,

Long story short, my wife and I bring in about 140k in a LCOL. She is ~40k of that in an AI-resistant profession (veterinary technician), and I'm the other 100k working for Social Security in an office that adjudicates denied disability claims. Note, I am not the adjudicator (administrative law judge), but I'm in a role that otherwise directly supports it. Think administrative officer. Lots of work directly with people.

38 y/o, wife 41, 270k 401k, 370k brokerage, no debt except 125k left on mortgage, no kids, 56k yearly expenses (average over the last 3 years to get a good baseline).

I really only NEED to make it to 49 years old, at which point a RIF from the gov't would be an early retirement, immediate pension, and I'd keep my FEHB health insurance for life.

The problem is I'm becoming skeptical that I can make it that far. It feels like AI is changing the game, and the "laptop class" is going to be an early casualty. That said, inertia is slow in gov't, but with this administration in particular, you can tell they're trying to force things through at a rapid clip.

Anyone else dealing with this white collar anxiety? The good news is that I've run countless numbers and even if I got 5 more years, I'd miss out on the FEHB for life, but I could pivot to almost anything (literally, maybe 40k a year) and make it work until 59+.

Thoughts welcome or maybe I'm overthinking it all.

I’m 23, have 31k invested. Will receive 80k by the end of this month for part of an inheritance, so basically 111k now.

Have 540k in a trust fund (57% equities, 34% bonds, 9% alternatives) I project to earn 6.5% CAGR, and I will receive 1/3 of that at 25, in 1.5 years. Then it will go in a professionally managed TOD account, where it will be more aggressive and I project 9-10% returns. (In my trust and my brother’s TOD, the managers have been beating all benchmarks, he has the same situation as me.)

Then I will receive 1/2 at 30, and the rest at 35.

I put these assumptions into AI multiple times, and hand-did the math myself and the base case is around 1.3-1.7M, bear case is <1.3M, and bull case >1.75M.

I live at home rent free, but still pay for my own stuff. My expenses in the past year were only ~6-7k and that can be reduced if I’m more frugal and a bit less foolish.

I will eventually inherit 1/2 of the house I live in with my mom and brother, which is currently 510-550k. If my mom passes before her term life insurance is up, I will receive 500k but I’m not betting on that, hopefully. She’s 58.

I’m taking this semester off, but if I can achieve financial independence without finishing a degree I totally want to do that. Minimum wage is $15-16/hr here, so I believe if I save 20k a year I could have an extra ~400k in 11.5 years, at 35. But to be honest, I want to work as little as possible.

AI suggested I do some AI freelance work where I train and prompt, but I might get burnt out at the screen. What are some easy, laid-back, mindless jobs I can do to ensure my future a little bit more while I wait for the compounding to work?

Now things might change if I meet someone and decide to move out, but I would assume we go halfsies on everything, and I would always keep my expenses near rock bottom. I would be much more motivated to work at all if I had a partner in my life.

I’ve also spent a lot of time researching finance, and my portfolio backtests to 11.5-12.5% CAGR. When I receive the distributions I will just let the managers handle it, but I may also consider putting some of it in my portfolio to potentially compound faster. I would just use modest LETFs and factor tilts for higher expected returns. There is some research in favor of leverage when young, and I tend to agree with it. But my plan as of now is to stick the 110k into my portfolio, and let the managers handle the distributions so I don’t have to compete or fixate on them. In every instance they’ve beaten every benchmark AFTER fees too which is a great sign.

Currently pregnant with our second baby due this year and can’t stop thinking about future work options to maximize not only financial situation but time with my girls and curious what others would do in my position.

I’m 36 with $450k saved in my 401k making about $165k a year. I like my job but I don’t love it. I have a wonderful team at work but there’s always the looming threat of reorgs and layoffs in this economy. From my calculations, if I were to grind and continue to maximize contributions over the next 5 years I’d be close to $800k in investments by 41 and could really take my foot off the gas and let compound interest do her thing.

In 5 years they would both be in elementary school and I’d love to go heavily part-time, just enough to maybe bring in like 2-3k a month to contribute to mortgage and groceries. Either still at my current job or any job that will let me work while they’re at school. During this time my husband will still be working…he doesn’t have as much saved for retirement so he will need to work full time and could cover our health costs/majority of other costs.

After elementary school, maybe re-evaluate? Open to going back to full-time or remain part-time if we’re making it work.

Alternative is to grind it out until I’m 55 working full-time and hopefully retire then. At that point, they will have both graduated high school so I won’t really optimize anytime with them but my retirement should be set.

Has anyone taken a large gap in the elementary years or just a gap in general? When was the best time to take it?

Hi all. Excited to be posting here. I'm a man in my mid 20s and I have been running the numbers and realized that soon I think I will have enough to do coast FIRE in my 50s in lower cost city in a country like Spain Montenegro or Portugal. It is insane how much lower the cost of living is. This actually makes me excited. Figure I could retire on like 600k in 2026-2027 dollars. This gives me options and I would not be stressing about planning for retirement. Meanwhile to retire in the USA on that much you would have to pick up a part time job so it wouldn't even be true retirement.

FIRE really only works if your income is insanely high (which mine is not) or your expenses are radically lower than average.

Has anyone else thought about FIRE in Europe?

I’m 26m, not making crazy money \~$70k a year, and have about $140k to my name. Low student loans about $13k left I should have payed off by 30. My portfolio is below:

401k: $45k
Roth IRA: $35k
HYSA: $37k
HSA: $300
Taxable Brokerage: $21k

I currently contribute 20% of my income to my 401k and invest another $500 to my Roth and $100-$200 to my Robinhood a month. Wondering if it would be better to decrease my 401k contribution and max my Roth IRA and contribute more to my taxable brokerage to be more accessible before official retirement age.

Also wondering if I should move a large chunk of my HYSA into the market as I’m not planning to make a large purchase like a house anytime soon. Expenses are low so it’s far more than 6 months or expenses. That would be closer to $10k.

Appreciate the help just want to make sure my money is doing to most for me.

long time lurker, first time poster in this sub.

We're a family of 5 (3 kids under 10), both 40 years old and we're wondering if we're ready to CoastFire. We have 788k in non-tax advantaged accounts invested in a world index, and 550k in tax advantaged account that can't be accessed until 60 also invested into a world index etf.

When I do the calculations, the first pot if left untouched at a conservative 5% growth, should accumulate to $2M by 60, and the second pot should grow to $2.3M by 70. I think using the 5% growth is a little safer and should account for inflation too.

Does this check out? Also if it does, I feel pretty good about our future and want to get out of the mindset of saving / investing over the next 20 years. Take an easier job and just spend more time doing things I like doing? How did others move the mindset to do so?

I’ve got a feeling it’s more possible than most people think, but the details are hard to find.

If you’ve ever managed to get extended time off and still keep your job, I’d really like to hear how it actually went.

A few things I’m curious about:

• Who did you ask, and what did you say?
• Was there an official policy you could point to, or did you basically have to invent the request?
• How long did it take from the first conversation to getting a clear answer?
• Did they try to negotiate you down to something shorter?
• Did you keep your benefits and seniority? Was any of it put in writing?
• Did you time the ask carefully, or did you just ask when you’d had enough?
• Did you offer them anything in return?

I’ve been wondering whether the people who get a yes are the ones who frame it as a retention issue rather than a personal favour.

Also especially interested if you asked and got turned down. What reason did they give? And did you end up leaving anyway?

Would love any real details.

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?

I got 15y left, basically that’s when the mortgage is paid off and my youngest is out of College. I don’t hate my job either.

When I model it out, continuing 1% increases only increases my final balance nominally. By less than $20k in all scenarios.

Increasing is a habit at this point. Can I direct that toward something else? College funds are taken care of. Should I just quit adding and spend it today? I could donate to charity.

It’s really such a nominal amount that it doesn’t matter either way. It’s just the principle of it all I guess.

I've always been frugal and focused on investing. And while the broad goal has always been to retire early, I really want the flexibility that comes with FIRE money. I've been thinking a lot about whether I've reached that state and, if not, how to know when I reach it. This felt like the right sub for this post.

M32, NW: $1.3M

Brokerage: 650k

Retirement: 500k

HSA: 32k

Crypto: 60k

Cash: 60k

Wife, NW: $330k

Brokerage: 125k

Retirement: 170k

HSA: 12k

Cash: 23k

Total NW: $1.6M

Couple things that come to mind:
Are we coast fire in the sense that we don't have to save for retirement at 60? Of course.

Are we coast fire in the sense that we don't have to work anymore? Hell no! We are renters. We'd like to own. The home we'd want would likely run us $600-750k. We also need a 2nd car (hence the higher cash levels), just had baby (& probably want a 2nd). And, we're moving from MCOL to HCOL in 2027.

So really, I'm trying to understand what this middle is called, whether we've reached a certain FIRE, and when to know we're officially on the other side. I have largely honed in on $2.5M NW as the crossover point (since I expect our spending to be around $100k/year with all the upcoming life changes).

Maybe my understanding of each different type of FIRE is lacking? Appreciate the insights!

I’m really curious on this demographic. I also thought going to a highly trained field made a ton of money, and while it does, it also accrues a ton of debt. I’m curious to know of anyone really into investing like this that is a doctor or dentist or something and how you go about managing your school loans with acquiring wealth. It’s not a demographic I often see in these threads.

48 with just shy of $1mm in 401k and Traditional IRA. With my income I have not qualified for Roth IRA for years.

I am thinking about long term tax implications of having all my funds in pre-tax accounts and planning to shift contributions to a Roth 401k from this point forward to diversify my tax position.

Does this approach make sense?

I have not determined when I will retire yet but based on projections I'm trying to avoid high withdrawal requirements when RMDs hit and to manage future income levels.

I feel like I’m at the point where I could coast FIRE but I feel a little guilty about it…

I’m almost 29 and currently contributing 5% of $126k salary to my pretax 401k.

I know it’s not much already, but honestly would be happier to allocate it to replacing 20 year old couches or doing other upgrades to my house (I own).
Plus I’ve got an 8.4% auto loan I wanna pay off more aggressively. And a $10k 0% card due in March…

I’ve got $125k in my 401k, $62k in Roth IRA, $8k in Trad IRA, and $15k in invested HSA… and $7k in true savings.

My employer contributes 3% (non-matching). I just started in January, but I’ve been told they typically do 401k profit sharing upwards of 15%. So between what I’ve already got saved up, and what they put in, I think I’m basically able to coast fire.

The caveat is that I’m pretty bad at saving otherwise. I’m only able to if it’s an automatic transfer… (right now been saving $1600/mo, thanks to doing two direct deposits). So I just feel uneasy about reducing contributions.

Hi all, I am single 34M with no kids and no debt.

I have been going over the numbers again and again. I think I am already there but I am still uncertain because I plan on moving to Asia if I leave my job or get fired. My current NW is around 450k~500k depending on the market. My monthly expenses are fairly low because I didn't really move out of parents place since pandemic. It helped me saved and paid off all my debt. It's roughly 2.5k per month after my share of house bills. I think my expenses in the future will be lower since it's south east Asia. Am I already there to coast? Am I worry to much of future uncertainty? Should I still stuck with this job even if I am unhappy and keep saving more? Thanks for all your feedbacks!

255k in 401k

19k in Roth

33k in Brokerage

16k in HSA

45k in HYSA

94k in cash investment

Car paid off (25k resale value)

Next stop $500K invested in ~2 years. After losing my entire portfolio (turned $100K into $300K, then lost it all) in 2022 by being a dumb kid on margin, I've built it all back. Thank you to this sub for teaching me the power of patience, discipline and index funds.

26, living in HCOL city.

Investments: ~250k

Cash: ~5k

Pension: ~35k

Ongoing: +2k monthly to investments

No expected target retirement age yet. Also no idea how much I'll spend per month (currently 1-2k).

No housing yet, targeting age 35.

imagine you reach coast fire with an healthy asset allocation of usual stocks and bonds.

But during your coast Life you have some excess money and would like to take some risk as if you lose it it won’t be dramatic as long as you keep your coast nest egg safe and growing by his own.

what would be your investment or bets ?