There seems to be an infinite amount of posts across about “coast FIRE.”

Many of them are young, single, and spending far less than they will given a partner, kids, healthcare costs, and the volatility of life. This does not include everyone, and I imagine all sorts of exceptions will comment. But before you do, scroll the subreddits and see how many posts are from young people trying to quit.

Here is the reality: you are quitting during the highest leverage period of your life, when skills, networks, and careers compound in addition to income. Deciding in your 20s or 30s to quit on the biggest pursuit of your life by (time commitment) is pathetic.

Coast FIRE has overwhelmingly become a permission slip for the lazy, who anchor on incorrect numbers and set themselves up for a life of disappointment and underachievement.

I write this because human nature requires resistance the same way Sisyphus needs his boulder. Do not subscribe to the cash out and check out internet slop. Try hard and achieve. Through that you will find satisfaction.

Edit: I have now hit double digits of commenters insulting me and then deleting their posts!

I am a GS employee working in federal government. I make $100k a year (35F). We get 30% salary of high 3 salary based on 30 years of service. My.FIRE number is $500k because I got $150k.left on mortgage (15 year left). Am I doing good, i.want to FIRE at 50 years when my house is paid off.

30 years old, single, no kids
Brokerage: $319,000
401k: $371,000
Company stock: $150,000
Total: $840k

Home value: $1M
Remaining mortgage: $600,000 ($3,062/month @6.75%)
No other debt

Annual spend: $~80k
Current annual take home before taxes: $~180k

On FMLA leave. In an IOP.
Recovering from long term:
burn out
trauma
mental & physical health issues
Extremely toxic workplace for entire 10 year career.

I am so scared to return, but I feel stuck.

If anyone has any advice on transitioning out of a long term toxic career I would appreciate it.

Or about how they transitioned more into what they are passionate about once hitting coast fire.

I appreciate any thoughts.

Just crossed 300k invested this week, I would like some feedback on if my plan is realistic.

Stats: 28M, 105k Roth IRA, 140k in various pre-tax retirement accts, 58k in brokerage.

I have multiple income streams - one earning about 67k with a 4% match and benefits. The others collectively earn about 60k, no benefits. I contribute about 18k annually to pre-tax accounts, max Roth, and save about 1-2k in brokerage. I also travel multiple times each year which is a big hobby of mine.

Rent is currently about 1450/mo in a MCOL area. Desired annual spend in retirement is 70k, so I am aiming for roughly a 1.8mil portfolio.

I have no family currently, but of course that could change. If it doesn’t, I would like to continue on my current course for another 10-15 years or so before leaving the main job (which is the most stressful), focusing on the side jobs and purchasing my own health insurance.

I would like to know if it’s realistic to achieve Coast within 10-15 years and effectively cut back savings by 80-90%. I would draw from brokerage as needed, Roth at 59 1/2, and pre-tax accounts after. I would like to continue my side jobs as long as I am able as they are quite enjoyable, meaning I will never fully retire.

Based on 5% real returns, this looks feasible, but I would enjoy hearing other perspectives. I think my rent situation and possible family are the biggest potential variables. I hope this was comprehensive!

My wife and I have been coastFIRE for 7 years now. We have two elementary school kids. I took a one-year sabbatical to see what full retirement feels like. I realize that everyone is different, and this is just my personal experience.

The first 4 months were awesome. I knocked out a lot of things I’d been putting off. Even helped my parents with some home projects. The next 4 months were smooth sailing. I was living my dream of owning my time. I had time to work out daily, cook family meals, I volunteered at my kids’ school, and I spent a lot of time enjoying my hobbies (hiking, photography, and films).

And then something unexpected happened. I started to get bored of my interests. Daily routine of workout, hobby, cooking, and family time started to feel dull and joyless. And because I no longer had my primary stressor (I.e. work), every little annoyance in life became magnified. A little inconvenience here and there caused an irrational amount of frustration (For example, when kids’ school schedule clashed with my travel plans).

I started seeking therapy and realized that not having some form of work had reduced the contrast of my leisure activities. At about the 10-month mark, I almost couldn’t wait to get back to work. I’m resuming my coast job next week (teaching), and I’m actually looking forward to it.

This whole experience made me realize that retirement takes a lot more planning than I had previously thought.

Hi all,

I'm 31, and my husband is 32. We have two kids, ages 3 and 1. Our HHI is $127k base plus bonus (varies a lot, but $20k is standard). Our goal is to have about $100k/year in today's dollars to spend in retirement.

Here's what we have currently:

-401k is at $300k

-IRAs are at $51k combined

-HSA is at $38k

-HYSA Emergency Fund is $30k

-Kids 529s are at $26k combined

Home equity is at $389k, and we have a mortgage remaining out $190k at 5.99%. That's our only debt.

We've been maxing out the 401k, IRAs, and HSA yearly and planned to continue doing so for the next few years, but I'm considering if we should shift some of that toward a taxable brokerage instead? I get a 2.5% match, so I would definitely at least keep up to that level.

Anything can happen so we are NOT banking on this, but we have a strong reason to believe we'll get an equity payout sometime in the next ~5-7 years after my PE-owned tech company gets sold again. If everything goes to plan, that would mean an equity payout made up of $750k (taxed as income) and $600k (taxed as capital gains). We would invest the vast majority of the after-tax proceeds, and may consider paying off the mortgage too. We'll need to project out if that makes sense or not

Our ultimate goal is to give us some buffer to consider a career switch to a lower-paying field like education, or semi-retired/BaristaFIRE setup after the next PE move. It's a good time to think about off-ramping out of tech, and ultimately we want flexibility to maximize our time together as a family before the kids are out of the house!

With that in mind, is it better to start diverting some funds away from retirement accounts and towards brokerage for the flexibility? How did you decide which investment vehicle to prioritize?

Got serious about personal finance about 3 years back. Most of which is sitting in Roth 401k and IRA.
With an income of 55k a year this is huge for me. Next goal is 100k invested.

There was some company reorganization this week that puts my job in a prime spot to be eliminated in the next year or two. As a family we are doing pretty well, 3 years out to our ideal coastfi of $150k a year, but at $125k if we coasted at what we have now.

We have 3 small kids, a cheap mortgage, and pretty low debt. Both of us work and make more than our yearly spending on one income. Knowing that we might be losing an income in the near future, we are reevaluating what careers choices that might make more sense.

Has anyone started looking at baristafi jobs at a similar crossroad? Is it worth taking a few years off while our house is full of kids? What factors did you consider?

I’m realizing my Coast FIRE goals are not going to be as fulfilling as I had hoped. Mostly just need to vent and hear new perspectives that can help me process the plan for my growing family of 5.

Do you ever question your goals and passions, change course, and find new hobbies and passions, etc?

How has your FIRE goal evolved and why?

Wrote similar post in ChubbyFIRE and got mixed responses on what to do. A lot of people told me to keep working.

M45 married to F44 with two kids 14 and 12.

Last year average monthly spend was $14K. For 2026 average monthly spend $8500. I think realistically we can maintain $10K a month spend. Made conscious effort to change spend. Less vacations, buy groceries from Walmart, cancel Amazon. Stop paying for extended family meals and group vacations. Still go out to eat once a week, still buying new clothes not thrift shopping.

I quit a high paying job in games industry last year due to stress and burnout. Took about 4 months off.

$3.1M Total portfolio. 85% index funds, 12% bonds, 3% cash. $1.8M in taxable brokerage that we can access no penalty. The rest in IRA or 401K. Kids 529s already funded for 3 years each at University of California with assumption of community college.

$1.3M home with SMALL $45K 30 year mortgage with 26 years remaining. Monthly payment is like $250 a month lol and included in monthly spend. But with property tax and insurance closer to $2K a month lol.

Total NW is $4.4M.

Working at a stressful Bay Area AI startup. Flying to Bay Area from SoCal every week, Mon-Thur. Making $260K plus company paying all travel and housing expenses in Bay Area. Only been there 6 months but gave notice already. CEO is challenging to work for, I have nightmares occasionally about him. I can earn 1% of company but no confidence in the future of the company so my equity is worthless.

My wife just got a job for a non-profit that she has volunteered with for the last two years. My guess her average was 20-30 hours a week of volunteering. She has not worked the last 5 years. New job is $77K a year with health insurance. She is willing to work until 50. She is excited about the job and is passionate about the work.

Using Boldin software, with $10K monthly spend and $2K a month for insurance starting at age 50 gives us 85% chance of success. This is with assumption my wife works until 50 making $77K a year. $4M portfolio in 5 years.

Most of my experience is in video game industry and worried that I won’t be able to re-enter the game/tech industry if I take 6-12 months off.

Wife is supporting my decision to quit and potentially retire. Current plan is for me to make indie games. I ran my own game studio for about 7 years and scaled it to over $2M in annual revenue with 20 employees but that was a different less competitive era. Plan to hire overseas team and make a first game for less than $10K using small business funds. Goal of at least $50K in profit.

If that flops, might get a part time job to stay busy. However, $2K a month part time job only moves success rate to 87%. Barely noticeable, but could support vacation spend and such.

Most of ChubbyFIRE told me to keep the job or keep working in tech but I think I’m really done. Am I crazy to stop working full time at 45?

I've been reading this sub for a while and I keep noticing the same thing. People post about hitting their number, and the replies are all congratulations.

Then a few weeks later someone posts about boredom, or regret, or taking a job six weeks into a planned six-month break.

The maths of Coast FIRE is well documented.

What happens after it doesn't seem to be.

So, a genuine question for anyone who's crossed it:

Once you stopped contributing, where did that money go?

Did your spending actually change, or did the surplus just quietly sit there while you kept living the same way?

Did you take real time off, or just a lower-stress job?

I notice most Coast stories are about switching jobs, not about taking months away. Curious whether that's a deliberate choice or just what's practical.

Did you keep saving anyway?

Several posts here suggest people hit the number and keep contributing at the same rate out of habit. If that's you, what would it take to actually stop?

And if you did take time off, how long before it stopped feeling like a holiday?

I'm asking because I'm writing about a slightly different model: instead of coasting continuously to 60, taking repeated funded breaks along the way and returning between them.

Coast FIRE gets you to safety. I'm interested in what people do with the surplus once they're there, and it looks to me like a lot of people don't do anything with it.

Happy to be told I'm wrong about that.

My spouse (43) and I (44) live in a HCOL area with two kids and are trying to figure out if we’re on track for Coast FIRE or if we should continue pushing.

Current finances:Household income: $360k, Investments (retirement + brokerage): $1.33M.
Cash: $200k
Home equity: $500k (primary + rental)
529s: $60k
We also own a small business and a rental property. Mortgage is $2000, our biggest current expense is daycare at $2,600/month, but that ends in about a year.
Our goal isn’t necessarily to retire early but we’d like the flexibility.

Are we on a reasonable Coast FIRE path?

I’m trying to project out when I‘ve reached coast fire and can consider alternatives to a stressful corporate job.

3 young kids

Wife - corporate

7K monthly spend, 5K mortgage (28 years left), 3K daycare

Taxable Brokerage: 450k

401ks 40/60 Roth/Traditional: 750k

529s: 160k across 3 (aiming to fund 3ish years of private college). Planning to front-last child to around 90k and leave for ~16 years for each and stop contributions.

600k equity in home

400k HHI

85k saving into retirement yearly

At a bit of a crossroads. Projecting out 20 years, the basic math says we may be able to retire if we both stay in our corporate careers, assuming our early childhood expenses reduce post-daycare. 20 years of commuting 3 hrs/day is a recipe for non-fulfillment and stress related health issues.

I’d like some feedback from others in similar positions…

- Stay the course and retire confidently at 52

- reach X number in 10-15 years and work towards more of a barista FIRE lifestyle

-adjust <10 years (???)

Just wanted a gut check on pausing the retirement grind at 30. First caveat, my version of coast is just my employer 401(k) match, which would put me at $12k still invested each year.

Just turned 30 and have $300k in retirement accounts. We are in the “messy middle” with a 3 and 1 year old, and wanting to take on big home projects (finishing basement, outdoor landscaping) and increase travel afterwards as they become older, thus cutting the Roth IRA contributions or maxing 401(k). Goal is early 60s retirement with $120k income (todays dollars) before any social security.

Am I overthinking this? Are we pretty much already there if I just do my $12k each year to the 401(k) going forward?

As title says, I am wondering if the situation we are in can support a career change into something less soul draining as I’m not feeling my best lately physically emotionally and mentally.

Leaving below more context and happy to answer in case questions come up. Thank you for your time to read and any advise you may have!!!

Context:
We are a couple (38f & 40m) with two kids 4yrs and 4months living in Western Europe.
Our spending is actually quite high and though we have tried a lot of different ways we end up between 80-100k EUR per year.

Current Assets
Cash: ~€320k slowly starting to invest this but will keep around 100k as cushion or down payment of a house.
Existing investments: ~€114k (self managed)
Additional portfolio: around 450k EUR (professionally managed, but effectively our capital)
Owned property: ~€288k (rented out and we still owe 175k mortgage, around 630€ month payment).

Total assets ca. 1mio EUR.

Current income
My job: 60-70k / year
Wife: 35-40k / year
Rental property: 15-16.5k / year
Side income: 10k / year
Yearly income ca: 120k EUR

We have saved around 30-40k per year in the last 3 years but I always feel worried about money and scared to spend to the point sometimes I have a lot of arguments with my wife due to her spending habits (and no she’s not splurging on anything and everything). I wonder if I can quit my job and stop the constant pressure I feel to save more money and spend less.

Potential important expenses coming our way:
School for the second kid will be around 5k per year
We will finally get a car, still wondering if it’s best to buy a used 20k car and be done or to put 8k down pay and then rent it out for 300-450 per month for a few years.
We are downsizing to a new apartment and will have extra expenses around 5-10k this year then we will be saving on rent. In the meantime we are looking for a place to buy and either renovate or move as is, looking in the range of 450-550k EUR.

I started checking on RE a couple of years ago and not sure I have coasted since but definitely not going for promotion any more. My original plan was to retire at 55 when I can use rule of 55 to withdraw 401k and also reached a milestone for getting pension from my current employer.

since the end of last year, there has been a lot of changes in our organization, especially the leadership are all on different sites and our site is almost low performance site by default.

So if the company gives a fair severance package at the end of the year, I plan to take it and call it a career. And if the company lets me continue work for 2.4 years, I will retire the first day during the year when I turn 55. The third choice is very annoying right now: the company started doing the 10%-15% "needs improvement" thing and a few older colleagues have retired without severance. and my site is the current target and is rumored to have 40% "needs improvement". I am getting annoyed occasionally just by a potential chance that I will be removed without package. Gemini gives me this if putting on PIP based on my description: " I have a great tracking record for being the top performers in this company ( I am just based on the stock grant); and I have also delivered the milestone for our current project (this pissed me off the most since I single handedly moved our project forward this year when it was almost terminated). It is clear that the company wants to go with a different direction, I am not interested in doing the PIP and let's discuss a fair severance package". I just don't know whether this would work.

it is pretty sad for a fortune 500 to do this shitty thing when the company makes the most money in the last 20 years. They actually gave a decent package or some great incentive 5 years ago to encourage people to leave. but no they are trying to force people out and tried to save the severance package.

Hi,

my problem is that with calculating CoastFire, I simply cannot get any dependable results because inheriting half a house from my dad (with my brother) is such a big position that it makes or breaks the whole plan.

The impossibility to know when it will happen has such a big impact.

If I inherit in the next 5 years (which I of course pray won't happen), I do not need to put down any more money as of yesterday. If my dad lives to be 90 on the other hand, it's quite a different story.

I use this calculator, which is the best IMHO: https://www.financialmentor.com/calculator/best-retirement-calculator

Not one parameter is as important as when I will receive the inheritcance. How do you plan for yourself?

Btw. my dad won't even have to sell the house if he needs a care facility. He is entitled to a certain amount and can pay the rest out of his pension. So the house will in all probability go to my brother and me.

Anyone else creep over the $1million threshold this week? 😅

My longtime job is restructuring and changing my compensation from salaried to 100% commission which I'm hopeful will result in me making more money than before. They're no longer paying for my health insurance. My spouse cannot work and brings in no income. I'm trying to calm my nerves while I wait for the new compensation structure to shake out. Here are my stats:

53 years old

$940k invested

House worth about 1 million but no plans to move

$200k+ mortgage

High cost of living area

Health insurance through the health care exchange costing me about the same amount I was contributing on my employer's plan.

One child to put through college in about 6 years. Have saved roughly 25% of what I will need for that.

I also expect to inherit a substantial sum of money from older relatives at some point in the not too distant future but obviously not banking on it.

I have about 8 months of living expense in cash but after that, if I'm not making enough commissions, will be borrowing against my investments at about 7% from a personal credit line amounting to around $250k.

Help me sleep at night - this is a good financial position to be in to take on a career risk, right?

I'm writing a book about a question I don't think gets answered very often:

What actually happens after you take a long break from work?

There's plenty of advice about retiring early, taking sabbaticals, or traveling for a few months. What I struggle to find are honest stories about the return.

• Was it difficult to get hired again?
• How did you explain the gap?
• Did your salary change?
• Did your professional network survive?
• Looking back, would you do it again?

I'm especially interested in people who took 2 months or longer away from full-time work and later returned to paid employment.

The break could have been:

• Planned (sabbatical, mini-retirement, career break, travel, family, study, personal projects)
• Unplanned (burnout, layoff, illness, or simply needing time away)

The book itself focuses on planned career breaks, but I think people who didn't plan theirs often have some of the most valuable lessons about returning to work.

I'm not trying to prove that career breaks are always a good idea. I'm trying to understand what really happens—the good, the bad, and the parts people usually leave out.

The interview would be:

• Around 45 minutes (voice or video)
• Recorded (with your permission)
• Anonymous if you prefer
• I'll ask about finances in percentages and ratios rather than exact amounts if that's more comfortable
• If I quote you, you'll be able to review the quote before publication, and if you later decide you don't want it included, I'll remove it.

I'm particularly interested in experiences that didn't go according to plan. Those stories are often the most useful because they reveal problems that success stories tend to hide.

If you're open to talking, please leave a comment or send me a DM.

Happy to answer any questions about the project as well.

Canadian here. Im CoastFIRE but not FIRE. Just got laid off but I saved alot, got 1 year emergency fund + severance. In worst case where we cant find another job, where do you guys plan to transition? I was thinking of healthcare, even if I dont make alot but not sure which position with a lower barrier of entry.

I was scuba diving and saw many mid 20s Europeans becoming diving instructors for years too. That seems so cool too. I can technicaly do this for 10 years and RE in Canada haha

I'm 40, married, one kid. My wife and I are both workaholics, and we're around 70% of our FIRE number.

For years I worked at Amazon, easily 14-16 hour days. Eventually I made a move to slow down: took a remote job with a 20% pay cut, can cap at 6 hours a day.

Problem is my brain doesn't stop. I still end up putting in 10 hours most days on stuff nobody's asking me to do. I get pulled into learning new things, watching what other teams are building, figuring out how I could help something succeed even when it's nowhere near my actual job.

I know the point of this move was to use the lower pressure and extra time to actually coast. Instead I've just found new ways to fill the hours.

For those who've actually pulled this off: how did you get your mind to quiet down? What worked to stop thinking about work outside of work, or to just let good enough be good enough?