45, spouse is 38. I’m looking to quit working at 50.

Current assets:
Brokerage: $1.4M
Roth: $576K
Trad IRA: $550K

3 kids, 2 that will be off to college in 3 years and one that’s got 10 years left at home.

No carried debt, house is paid off and worth $1.3M, cars are both new and paid off.

HH income = $270k in a HCOL area. Max the Roth accounts and my 401k yearly.

I estimate that at age 50, we’ll need a budget of roughly $85k.

Is hanging it up in 5 years doable?

Is it a part-time job? A job that cannot earn more than x a year? A job which you have to think 0 about after work?

My husband and I (both 30) want to work towards complete retirement around 55. Looking at our finances this weekend, I think we may be able to do that, while also making me a SAHM / part time worker when we have kids. I'd plan to do this in the next couple years. Do our numbers make sense for this?

- Combined Roth 401k + Roth IRA: $600k

- Current monthly expenses: $6k

- Assuming monthly expenses at retirement: $12k

- Husband's income: $150k before bonuses

- House down payment savings: $130k

- Other brokerage savings: $40k

- My employee stock shares: $50k

- My HSA: $13k

Our plan moving forward would be to keep saving/investing at our current rate ($4k/mo), but in a brokerage account we'd be able to access before 59 1/2. We kind of realized we're likely on track for early retirement, but wouldn't be able to access the 401k or IRA money without penalty.

Does it sound like we'd be on track for this? If I were to become a SAHM in a couple years, we'd drop from saving our current $4k/mo to roughly $2k/mo solely from my husbands income. Once kids are school aged, I want to do something part time to cover some expenses.

I'm 30 starting medical school soon. My prior career allowed me to save and accumulate a stock portfolio of ~$1.2M. No debt and all med school tuition expenses are covered from my 529 plan.

I'll have small income from a part-time gig that I do virtually(~$1200/mo) and plan to continue throughout the first 2 years of med school prior to clinical rotations, but will be relying on drawing from my portfolio for a majority of my living expenses.

By my math I'm CoastFIRE and the monthly draw doesn't stress me out too much, but I'm also not trying to be reckless and am torn between leaning on the frugal side vs spending more towards quality of life.

Here are my options:

**Option 1 — Live with roommate, $1,895/mo (2bd)**

Walking distance to campus, gym, tons of cafes/restaurants nearby. Roommate is a friend, easygoing, no issues. Just the usual roommate tradeoffs (can't fully control the space, have to coordinate guests, not truly independent, especially at 30 this does play a small but present factor)....But cost is reasonable and they're a known quantity.

**Option 2 — Live alone, $2,750/mo (1bd)**

Same building, walking distance to campus, gym, tons of cafes/restaurants nearby. Full independence. ~$855/mo more than option 1, ~$33k/year. Financially feasible but the cost is definitely reaching premium territory. I'm conscious that I might be romanticizing the solo apartment, but I also think the freedom to decompress fully, have people over freely, and have my own sanctuary during what will be an intense 4 years might hold some real value and improve my quality of life during this time. I am inherently frugal though and do feel guilty for spending this amount of money, especially this early on when it could be invested and compounded for the future.

**Option 3 — Free housing, but at home with parents**

Back home with family (basement of parents' house). Saves everything but loses the walkability and independence that feel important to me at my age and this stage in life. Commute is about a 35 minute drive to campus, but can get upwards of 1hr+ during peak traffic either in the morning or during rush hour.

Walkability is a big plus to me whether it's walking distance to campus, the gym, and a good social/food scene. That's a quality of life factor especially during the grind of med school that I think will be worth spending extra for.

So my question is which of these three options would you pick, and is going with option 2 over option 1 just lifestyle creep? Or is it a no brainer to take the free housing with parents if given the opportunity?

Appreciate any perspective. Thank you

38M, ~$1.25M liquid, considering redesigning my life instead of climbing the career ladder

38, single, no kids, earning about $180k/year in a corporate job. Mentally ready for a different chapter.

Current finances:
Retirement accounts: ~$430k
Taxable brokerage: ~$800k mostly growth index funds with some international
Cash: ~$15k - thinking of taking $ from a fund to build cash buffer of 100k and take a tax hit instead of slowly building over a few years.
Total liquid assets: ~$1.25M
No debt
No house, rent is 3k
I also have a ecommerce side hustle - $33k/year.

My focus has been maximizing income and investing for financial independence, but I no longer want to climb the corporate ladder.

What I want instead:
More control over my schedule
Time for health and fitness
A stronger social life and community
A long-term partner
More travel while I’m still relatively young

The challenge is defining the next job/lifestyle and deciding where to live. I could move somewhere cheaper, or spend time abroad.

Financially, I have flexibility (trying to figure out if can coast, barista fire?). Emotionally, leaving a high-paying path feels risky, even though i don’t see my identity and future there.

I’m 29 and have looked at different approaches to COAST FIRE as things change such as house, children, etc. for example, I’ve been considering changing from a more aggressive savings rate to a moderate to aggressive rate to ease cash flow as life demands change with time. Thoughts?

How has your income and savings approach changed over time with these goals? Some want to hit coast FIRE as soon as possible and then stop all together, but are others changing pace as time goes on? Just curious!

Single. 38F. 1 kid 6 years old go to public school.

1 Primary residence(worth 500k) paying off in 10 years. 2.25% interest rate. Monthly Mortage 2.6K. (including Property tax and insurance approximately 1K a month.)

1 Rental Home (worth 600k). Loan 314K. Mortage is $3,200. Rent $4,050. Self manage. Had to spent close to 20K last year in repairs. (one AC unit replacement, fix plumbing and put back. the other AC is going bad soon).

1. 400K. 2/3 in retirement Roth IRA, 1/3 investment.

Been unemployed for 3 months. Got an offer to go make $160k a year, but it is looking like a sweatshop. I feel like I have to take it. Bad offer is better than no offer.

I (37) and my wife (35) just made some career changes that I hope you will not say were foolish.

We previously worked at the same corporate employer with overall earnings of approximately $350K ($175K base and the rest in almost guaranteed bonus). These roles included travel for both - monthly for me and quarterly for her.

We both recently left, myself for a competitor making $175K base with $100K in uncertain bonus potential. She will stay unemployed for a bit while looking for something more flexible. The thought process behind this change was more upward momentum for me and her to have more flexibility to be hands on with our one year old.

MCOL area with $1.75M net worth
$1M in retirement
$215K taxable brokerage
$295K home equity
$150K cash
$70K vehicles

Only debt:
$1,200/month mortgage
Also pay $1,500/month daycare in $600/month for a country club membership.

We were spending about $100K/year spending and saving as we pleased. No real final plan on when or how lavishly to retire, just know we want to do so early. We do want to eventually upgrade to our forever home (no more than $1M purchase price) but have put that on pause at the moment.

Feels good to have ejected but will miss being able to max two retirement plans. My wife already has several folks reaching out to her for employment but we intend to take it slowly for now. We have not goofed have we?

I think I’m there… according to the formula on the internet.

41yrs old
1.1mm in Sep IRA
50k in brokerage (heavily S&P Index)
Paid off mortgage this year (650k)
Net worth 1.8mm
Monthly expenses 7k (with 3 growing boys)

I am 35 years old and single. I am a registered nurse.

Luckily I do have 1.4 million in net worth. All liquid aassets. I did well with my investment. My income didnt contribute to it very much.

I quit my nursing job that pays 32 dollars per hour about 3 months ago for some personal reasons. I have been in between jobs for 3 months.

I am just happy not working now..i didn't like forcing myself to go to sleep early when I didnt feel sleepy for work the next day. I hated waking up early for my work when i wanted to sleep more. I didnt like dealing with rude coworkers or patients and pretending being nice and cool. I just didn't like living my life around my work.

I am so happy now.

I go to gym for work out and I run and take a walk every day. I read books and study Spanish. And i meet up with friends and family.

I dont spend much money. Only less than 2000 dollars per month including utilities.. my net worth has grown since I quit my job.

I have been hunting for jobs ever since. I got job offers 3 times but declined them all of them. Because I didnt want to get into daily grinds of spending my pricelss life and time at work and around my work...

My friends and family dont know I have money. So I just tell them I am in between jobs... i might eventually find a job of my cup of tea and start working.. but I might not do so..i might not get back into the workforce for a while.. maybe forever.

I dont know where my life is going but I am so happy.

I hope i can get to 1.5 million dollar by the end of this year so I can just retire early.

I never really considered the idea of semi retirement early until I saw some YouTube videos on this concept. Now it has me questioning everything

I am a 39 year old CFP planner at a credit union managing around 150M of client money and making 350-400k a year now (income ramped up drastically the last 3 years). I got into saving/investment mid 30s unfortunately not earlier. I was not making this much money until recently and prior to my income shooting up my savings went towards buying my home.

I am currently aggressively saving catching up on unused RRSP and TFSA room. Currently have around 300k in RRSP/TFSA investments in fairly typical equity ETFs. I am currently saving around 100-120k a year now. I also have around 300k in a work DCPP pension. I figure I could work another 5 years in this job and at my current savings rate I should be somewhere in the 1.5M liquid asset range by age 45.

I own a home worth 700k and only owe 200k on my mortgage. Whenever my dad passes away he said he will be leaving me at least 200-300k thru his estate so I will pay off the mortgage completely at that point. My dad is getting older so that could be anytime in the next 5-10 yrs

I enjoy my job and the money is fantastic. But at the same time the thought of maybe working til 45 then getting a less stressful/part time job sounds so appealing. I love golf. I wish I could golf every day. The thought of just working at a golf course or a golf store sounds very relaxing. But it’s so hard to think about giving up a 400k/yr income.

The other wild card is my wife’s side of the family. Her parents are younger and quite wealthy. I’d imagine we will inherite at least 1-2M eventually from them but they are very private and that might not happen for another 20-25 years.

Is 1.5M at age 45 a decent goal? Would I be crazy to give up my career? I just want to pursue my love of golf more lol

Any advice?

Hi everyone,

I'd appreciate a sanity check on our financial plan and whether there are any blind spots as we think about the next decade.

Family

• Me: 40M
• Wife: 37F
• One 3-year-old girl
• Living in a MCOL area

Income

• Me: $180k base + 14% annual bonus
• Wife: ~$165k salary

Combined household income is roughly $350k before my bonus.

Current Net Worth (~$1.7M)

Investments (~$1.0M)

• 401(k)s: ~$800k
• Taxable brokerage: ~$90k
• HSA: ~$46k
• Child's 529: ~$24k
• Child's brokerage: ~$6k
• Crypto: ~$80k

The vast majority of our retirement and taxable investments are invested in low-cost index funds, with approximately 85% in the S&P 500 and 15% in VXUS. We don't own individual stocks outside of our crypto allocation.

Emergency fund:

• $90k cash

Home:

• Current value: ~$950k
• Mortgage balance: ~$320k
• 20-year mortgage at 2.5%
• No plans to pay it off early.

Current savings

Every year we:

• Max both 401(k)s
• Max our family HSA
• Contribute $500/month to our son's 529
• Contribute $600/month to our son's brokerage account

Any remaining savings go into our taxable brokerage account.

Goals

• Financial independence around age 55
• Build a much larger taxable brokerage over the next 10 years for flexibility before retirement
• Continue enjoying life while avoiding unnecessary lifestyle inflation

Spending

I would say we're relatively conservative overall. We own our home, have luxury vehicles that we plan to keep for a long time, and don't tend to upgrade things frequently.

That said, it feels like expenses are constant. Between childcare, insurance, healthcare, taxes, vacations, homeownership, and general life, there always seems to be another large expense.

Even with all of that, our investments still increased by roughly $95k over the last year, which made me realize our savings rate is probably stronger than it feels month to month.

Questions

1. If you were in our position, what would you optimize over the next 10 years?
2. Would you focus primarily on building taxable investments now that our retirement accounts are fairly well funded?
3. Would you change anything about our asset allocation?
4. At what point would you feel comfortable easing off savings and letting compounding do more of the work?
5. Is there anything we're overlooking or doing inefficiently?

I'm genuinely looking for constructive criticism. If these were your finances, what would you do differently over the next decade?

I think I may have invented a new term, someone tell me if this is already a thing somewhere.

Between the pedal-to-the-floor full-speed grinding to FIRE and taking your foot completely off the gas to Coast to FIRE, what if we slow down to Cruise at a normal speed to FIRE?

Here is definition of terms:

• Normal FIRE (Grinding to FIRE): Putting in full effort to cut spending and maximize income to build up the retirement portfolio as fast as possible. Grinding at "Gazelle Intensity" aiming for a massive 30%-50% savings rate. The focus is on hitting the FIRE number as quickly as possible.

• CoastFIRE (Coasting to FIRE): Having a large enough retirement portfolio that you can let the compounding do all the heavy lifting. You only need enough income to cover current expenses, with a retirement savings rate near zero. This allows stepping down from High-End High-Stress High-Pay High-Burnout job to Lower-End Lower-Stress Lower-Pay Lower-Burnout position.

• CruiseFIRE (Cruising to FIRE): The missing middle gear. After building up to an initial milestone in your retirement portfolio, you downshift to a normal 10%-20% savings rate. You grow your portfolio steadily at a sustainable pace that doesn't exhaust you.

Instead of going straight from an extremely high savings rate to a zero savings rate, reducing effort down to CruiseFIRE for a few years could get the portfolio much closer to the FIRE number without burning out from a full Grind.

It feels like most of us pursuing FIRE will do this anyway—why give up an employer match or tax-advantaged retirement account access? I consider myself mostly CoastFIRE, but I am still maxing out my 401k and HSA (though my limit is very low due to HCE status). Why wouldn't I?

• What are your thoughts on the term "CruiseFIRE"?
• Is this really just CoastFIRE++ with a new name, or does it deserve its own category?

Note: The key difference between CruiseFIRE (or even CoastFIRE) and traditional retirement planning is front-loading the heavy lifting.
You still have to do the initial grind to build enough of a retirement portfolio so that compounding growth works the market magic.
CruiseFIRE and CoastFIRE are more like early off-ramps from the FIRE highway, not the entire route.

48M/43F, kids: 2 high schoolers. We are planning for a 2032 return after our older one graduates and planning to send the younger one to India to pursue MBBS in 2030. Feedback on our plans based on below portfolio?

US Portfolio:

401K- $950K
Cash- $200K
Investments (RH/IBKR/Public): $460K
RSU: $400K
Home Equity: $475K (planning to pay off by 2028 which will take the equity to ~$700K)

India Portfolio:

3 Paid off 3 bedroom Apartments in Hyderabad (Miyapur; Secunderabad; Narsing)
15Cr cash planning to invest partial in SWP
6acrs farm land
3 land parcels outskirts of Hyd; future city
Gold/Silver: 3Cr

Hey everyone,

Looking for a quick sanity check on my timeline. My goal is to pull the plug on full-time IT work and transition to a Coast FIRE lifestyle in 2 years when I hit 31.

My Background:

• Age/Income: 29M, making $100k in IT. 7 years of total experience across public/private sectors + a few years running a business before that.
• Location: Quebec, Canada (good social safety net, low cost of living).

The Financials (~$500k Liquid NW + Home Equity):

• Invested: $160k in RRSPs and TFSAs.
• Cash/GICs: $250k in GICs (recently sold a property, currently dollar-cost averaging this into global equity ETFs).
• Crypto: $15k (self-custody, outside of registered accounts).
• Tangible Assets: ~$20k in collectibles/miscellaneous assets.
• Pension: 5 years in the public service. Cash-out value right now is $50k+.
• Primary Residence: Bought last year for $450k ($90k down, $350k mortgage balance on a 30-year amortization). Highly walkable/bikeable location.

Lifestyle & Expenses:

• Fixed Housing: ~$2,300/month covers everything (mortgage, heating, insurance, property taxes, internet).
• Transport: Own an old, paid-off car ($50/month insurance). I plan to sell it soon and rely entirely on walking/biking/transit since I barely use it.
• Discretionary: Very low maintenance. Hobbies are working out at home, outdoor activities, gaming, and reading/streaming. Mostly free or cheap.

The 2-Year Plan (Age 31): I expect to hit roughly $600k in liquid capital + my property and pension. At that point, I plan to leave the $100k IT grind.

To fund my life:

1. The House Hack: The property has a completely separate entrance and a full parental suite in the basement (2 bedrooms, full kitchen, 1.5 bathrooms). Renting this out will easily command $1,500/month in my local market. This slashes my out-of-pocket housing costs from $2,300 to $800/month.
2. Drawdown: Pull a conservative ~2% from my investment portfolio annually.
3. Coast Income: Work low-stress, flexible gigs or help out startups on a casual basis to cover any remaining lifestyle gaps.

My Main Question:

• Portfolio Strategy Post-IT: Since I’ll be stopping aggressive W2 contributions at 31, should I keep my portfolio heavily positioned in aggressive growth equities and crypto to maximize compounding over the next 20+ years, or is it wiser to shift a portion into dividend/income-producing assets to help smooth out my low-drawdown years?
• The Gig Work Reality Check: For those who transitioned to casual startup consulting or low-stress gigs, did you actually find it lower stress? I’m mapping out a relaxed schedule, but I want to make sure I'm not trading corporate IT stress for the unstable/chaotic stress of early-stage startups and gig hunting.
• With a 30-year mortgage and a $600k target in two years, are these numbers providing an adequate safety margin for Quebec's cost of living? Or would grinding for just 1 or 2 additional years significantly alter my long-term success probability by buffering against a potential multi-year market downturn right after I leave?
• Does this plan look airtight for a low-maintenance Coast FIRE life at 31, or am I overlooking something? Thanks for any feedback!

How common is it to actually stop investing when you hit coast fire? It’s been a really fun goal setting process for me, and I hit coast fire but I *want* to keep investing. Now my focus has shifted to my fire number and it just made me wonder how common it is

When I started working towards coast I hated my job, and I don’t anymore which I think is a big factor here. And it made me wonder how common it is!

Bullets often work better than sentences when dumping data; this should be a template to fill out:

• Household income,
• Consumer Debt
• Housing and mortgage
• Current Spending budget
• Current Savings rate
• Current Retirement Portfolio
• Planned retirement spending budget
• Target FIRE number
• Target Time horizon

All of those numbers should basically always included because otherwise it is just going to get asked later.

Roast my plan.

I see three issues with FIRE

1. Longevity risk; retiring at 30 or 40 has a significantly long time horizon. What if the stock market returns are 0?
2. Leaving your profession. Participating in a profession gives you meaning, identity, community and competence. 
3. General boredom. Does it get boring?

Facts of my case

35m 33f 

Work 4 days a week

Heavily in low interest debt to fund experiences

Over the next 5 years I think we can get to $400k in joint income (Midwest) while only working 3 days a week. We can use AI to automate portions of our jobs - same or better outcomes at work for less hours. 

Within 10 years I think we can get to $400k in joint income while only working 2 days a week. 

In our 30s, 40s and 50s I want to use our free time and ALL of our money on things like hiking, skiing, paddleboarding, pickleball, golf and traveling. These are all things that will be harder once our bodies break down at a ‘traditional’ retirement age. I only plan to actually save $10k to $20k a year. 

In our 60s I want to go back to working 3-4 days a week. This is how we will hedge against longevity risk. Have kids via surrogacy or adoption as well once we have an appropriate amount of life perspective to raise good adults. 

Hi all, below is my financial and personal profile. Wanted to get thoughts on whether I can reasonably coast as someone who's never been the most financially savvy. Thank you to anyone who spends their time reading this!

Profile

• Personal: 24, single, living in Washington DC and working as a Software Engineer
• Household income: 155k/yr pre-tax
• Structured Settlement: 1k/mo and 11k/yr tax-free, as well as a one-time 50k lump sum when I turn 25 and a 150k lump sum when I turn 30. Prefer not to get into specifics of how I got the windfall as it's a little traumatic for me 😿
• Consumer Debt: None
• Housing: 3k/mo renting in Washington DC. Definitely paying too much but my living situation has been turbulent with me trying to transfer locations to San Francisco for work. I don't expect to stay on the East coast long-term.
• Discretionary Budget: 1k/mo
• Savings Rate: Maxing 401k, HSA, Roth IRA, and putting 2.8k/mo in taxable brokerage. Altogether ~64k/yr closer to ~70k/yr with employer 401k match.
• Current Retirement Portfolio
  • Brokerage: 800k
  • 401k #1: 78k
  • 401k #2: 12k
  • Roth IRA: 71k
  • HSA: 9k
  • Total Investments: ~970k, 100% in VOO and other large cap ETFs
  • Checking: 10k
  • Savings: 23k
• Planned retirement spending budget: Very roughly 100k/yr, flexible
• Target FIRE number: 3.3MM @ a 3% SWR (could wiggle up to 3.5%+, not sure)
• Target Time horizon: Flexible, but tentatively 40-45?

Do I have enough of a financial windfall/cushion that I can leavetech, moving back home to the West coast, and simply coastFIRE to retirement? I feel like my tax-free structured settlement windfall is a unique component to this that would help out a lot.

Happy to answer any clarifying questions about my situation too as obviously it's highly unusual. I've been enjoying my time on the East coast but being away from friends/family coupled with disillusionment with being in tech has me dreaming of coasting. If coastFIRE isn't realistic I'm more than happy staying the course. Again, thank you for your time!

My wife and I are higher income earners. We've reached a good coast number for us. We're planning to throttle back our contributions and I'll be moving towards part time work. I'm in a union so my retirement contributions are all paid by the company. My wife is still maxing out her 401k. Currently 25% of our funds are in taxable brokerages and 50% in pre tax 401k contributions. The remainder is a mix between HSA and Roth IRA funds.

My question is, should we decrease my wife's 401k contributions and use that to fund our roth ira contributions?

Edit to add more info- both 30 years old, planning to retire at 55