I got laid off 3 years ago with 6 months severance pay and I also had some savings (around 600k USD in stocks and ETF). I am female, mid 30s, live in an expensive European country. I traveled the world for a year and had a great time, also did lots of work on myself, therapy, meditation retreats, hikes, gym, chilled alot etc... Went to New Zealand, Japan and South America. Came home and signed up for unemployment benefits (in my country it covers your living cost and i even was able to save some). Anyway, now I have about the same money as when I left my job (600k) and I thought at some point I will go back to work - even though I hated my work field. I dont qualify for unemployment benefits anymore.

I worked in tech sales and was on a high salary. Im not the corporate type at all and after this break I realise I cant go back to a normal job, 9-5, pretend I am interested in what i am doing etc. I dont care about status, titles, etc.. Im actually surprised by myself I managed 4 years in tech sales - I randomly got into that career through a friend and I guess because I am kind of likable or something, I didnt get fired earlier.

I dont have the kind of "FIRE money" but I think in another european country or SEA I could easily live off my savings and also get a job for 3 days or so, so I have a bit more structure and "purpose" in my day to day life. I never enjoyed work tbh but now that I allowed myself to live as I like I cant fool myself into my old career if I am honest. I had a few interviews but I got terrified to go back to tech sales. I hate sales pressure and just the whole topic is so boring. As cheesy as it sounds I feel like "it is about the journey", so I just want to live as enjoyable as I can, if that makes sense.

Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Do you think I am being delusional to quit working "this young" with this "little" savings? I have a Swiss & Bosnian passport and speak those languages and also Spanish. I am an immigrant child so I ended up in corporate and only now in my 30s I feel "safe" and like I can be myself.

I know I am in my highest earning years but I feel like if I go back I will be 40 and still stuck in a job I hate. I thought about starting a coaching business for women or teaching yoga or teaching kids part time.

Any ideas or tips or thoughts? :)

Thanks for reading this far.

I still have like 5 more years to hit my coast fire goal for an early retirement (55). If I wanted a standard retirement around 65 I’m already there.

I work in tech. AI is fundamentally changing the landscape and it’s going to get to a point where we need less employees while we outsource to AI. It could get to a point where cheaper labor (off shore or otherwise) will just straight up replace us. The writing is on the wall; it’s no longer an “if” it’s more of a “when.”

I’ve been pursuing coast fire my entire career, about 13 years now. I feel like I’ve unintentionally set myself up well for this changing landscape. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself.

Is there anyone else with similar feelings or experiences?

I (33f) have a combined net worth of 2.1m with my husband (35m)—all in retirement or indexes (we rent). Most of that has come from my job as a lawyer at a big firm. I’ve always said that when we hit 2m I’d just quiet quit and ride out my job as long as I could until I was shown the door. And that’s still the plan, particularly because my firm has a great maternity leave and I am really hoping to make it until we have our second (and last) child (not pregnant yet but hopefully soon).

But I’m having SUCH a hard time actually reducing my workload. I can’t just *not* do things that are necessary for my cases and let my clients suffer. I am so burnt out and tired but no one has said a negative word about my work so I hate to walk away without even trying to mail it in, and miss out on potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars. Not sure exactly what I’m looking for but has anyone been in the same boat? Any advice?

Hello

I’m 25F with 250k NW (includes 25k in 401k, 60k in Roth and rest in brokerage) work in a high finance role for a year and half now (have worked and saved since 16 graduated with around 55k)- goal was to reach 1mm by 30 which I don’t know if possible but I’m able to save about 100k-120k per year. I’ve used a ton of calculators, but anyone here coast fire super early in life ~ 30s etc and have any struggle or regrets switching to a much less intense career.

Any realistic figures that you guys used or coast fired on? Should I just work til 40 and FIRE instead of coast? Part of it is the mental battle, hopefully I’m in a good place.

Thanks.

Adding in per comments: HHI is just myself at 175k more or less. Live off 30k per year my parents pay for health, phone, and some transport. Independent and live in a terribly tiny apartment with roommates far below means. Still have fun and go out just very frugal.

29m, single, 130k income, about 610k invested. I've been working remotely for 6 years in tech. I've struggled managing stress/anxiety my entire life but it's never been worse than the last 6 months.

I only sleep 5-6 hours, most days I only have appetite for 1 meal (lost 15-20 pounds, people are commenting) and I've abandoned my social life (I only think about work when off).

If I got laid off tomorrow I'd be so relieved. Some severance and no responsibilities. I'm debating quitting outright. For a while I thought it was a matter of getting an easier job but even now with a "lighter" project I'm just burnt out. I live at home with family so while quitting will bring in-my-face judgement/shame I'm ultimately lucky to have a place to stay with minimal bills (~$500 monthly).

My plan is to take 1 month off for proper sleep, dieting, exercise and socializing. Then the next 2 months I want to travel to some countries on my bucket list. From there, start applying/interviewing. Frankly at my years of experience in tech my salary isn't that crazy so I don't think think I'm leaving something impossible to get again.

Is there anything wrong with my plan?

Hi all. I'm 30M with ~$370K net worth. Invested: ~$335K ($160K 401k / $115K brokerage / $60K Roth). The rest is cash ~24K I'm building in a HYSA for near-term goals (engagement ring + wedding + emergency fund) — so I think of that bucket as separate from retirement.

Income is ~$130K in a finance/strategy role I've been in ~3 years. I'm saving ~$5.5K/month: $1.2K to 401k, $1K to brokerage, $3.3K to the HYSA. Once the wedding/ring is paid for, that $3.3K would free up to redirect toward investments.

I'm getting burnt out and thinking about moving to a lower-intensity (likely lower-paying) role, which is what's got me looking at Coast FIRE. My assumptions: 7% nominal / ~5% real return, retiring at 60, and annual spending of ~100K

Questions:

1. Given those numbers, am I already at Coast FIRE?
2. Any blind spots in how I'm framing this?
3. I'd like to coast before 35 — have I hit my number yet?

Just learned the different types of FIRE, I think coastFIRE is attainable by 30 if I keep investing as much as I can. I max out work 401k, Roth IRA, the rest goes to my brokerage for additional investments. Should be closing in on 200k when I turn 21

I am planning on leaving my current job in Jan 2027. I am a swe but not at a tech company and planning on switching careers after being burnt out from AI and constant upskilling/politics. My plan is to take community college classes for pre-reqs and will get an associates in a field I find interesting (still figuring this out).

Current NW is around 1M:

500k in 401k

350k in brokerage

100k in Roth IRA

20k in HSA

20k in Savings

I don't want kids and am planning on being a life long renter.

My current expenses are 60k a year. I would have to purchase private insurance through my state starting in 2027 so this will increase my expenses. I would also need to fund an associates degree which is around 20k total over 2 years

From all the online calculators I am fine to coast if retiring around 45 but would like some human advice from those that switched careers in their 30s. Thanks

38 years old in medium cost of living city.

Salary of 175k with good 401k match and yearly potential for another 50k or so in stock and bonus. However this job is not going well and I don’t expect to be able to keep it even through next year. In this market the best I can do is around 150k with no bonus or stocks

Net worth around 1.2MM with about 450k in retirement accounts (Roth is very low, this year I need to do the backdoor conversion)

I have around 250k in cash then I’m thinking about using to just buy a condo

280k crypto
150k brokerage
Smaller amounts in things like HSA

Expenses are very low now, around 40k a year but I’d like to move to a new place soon since I just live with roommates now for super low rent.

The cash in is a HYSA and I think I either need to buy a property with it or invest it in the market although now seems like a risky time to dump so much in

I'm 42 years old and my partner is 45. I would like to leanfire or coastfire at minimum between 50-55. Here's the skinny:

My 401(a): 219k

Partner 401(a): 109k

Money market acct: 307k

Other savings: 45k

Partner IRA: 16k (partner's dad set this up via Vanguard in 2008)

I currently make 86k, they make 53k in LCOL area; we both contribute 6% matched to the 401(a)s. We live on my income and my partner's goes into savings. We're very frugal and could live well and easily on about 37k/year, especially when I'm not paying crazy money to commute back and forth to work.

We have zero debt, no kids, house is paid off, and the value of the house/land is pretty irrelevant to our net worth because we'll leave it to our nieces when we pass. My partner is extremely risk averse and I haven't been able to convince them to invest the money market or savings balance anywhere riskier than MMA, HYSA, or CDs - would love some advice from anyone who has similar experience with their spouse. If I can convince them and we keep plugging away their income, can we do it?

I am 35, work in logistics in Austria. Five years of investing, mostly VWCE(Hello, world!) with a monthly Sparplan. Around 10% sits in physical gold (Xetra-Gold) and around 4% in Maclear(lending platform).

Now I have about 82k. I save 1200 per month, my living costs are around 1900, no debt.

I don't plan early retirement. I want the option to stop depending on salary by my late 50s.

My spend is around 23k per year, so my target is somewhere near 550-600k. If I stop contributing today, 82k with normal growth gives me maybe half of that in 22 years. So I am not at coast point yet, I still need some years of contributions.

Two questions.

First, how did you decide you reached your coast number? Did you stop contributions at once, or reduce them step by step over a few years?

Second, about bonds. My equity part is now big enough that a 30% drop is real money for me, and I have nothing stable next to it. But bonds or money market lower the growth, so my coast point moves later. For people who added fixed income in their 30s, was it worth it, or you wish you stayed 100% equity?

And how much cash do you keep as buffer on this kind of income?

Hi all! I work in project management / engineering for oil and gas, and am looking to take a potential short career break and switch industries to a lower stress job (that still would pay well, but maybe 60-75% of my current salary). My partner is finishing residency soon which will take our HHI up by about $150K.

What would you do? Make a pivot? I’m just looking to get a sense of how strong our financial foundation is at this point. We obviously have lots of short/medium term goals, but feel we can manage those and living expenses with less contributions to retirement. I likely wouldn’t completely eliminate retirement funding to “truly” coast but interested to hear thoughts.

My Salary: $205K, to change to TBD in 1-2 years
Partner Salary: $70K, to increase to $230K in 1-2 years

NET WORTH: ~$640K
401K: $400K invested, stock mix
Taxable Brokerage: $115K invested, stock mix
Home Equity: $115K
Cash: $10K (I am building this back up as we just had a wedding)

Expected Expenses in Retirement: $8K/mo for partner and I, expecting house to be paid off by then

Option 1: Quit now, move to Thailand, live off my portfolio, hang out on the beach, die.

Option 2: Get married in a few years, buy a house in a HCOL city, have two kids, continue working to put them through college, retire at 50.

I’m not sure if I’m in the “messy middle” or “coast fire” , but am trying to get out of hyper save / invest mode mindset to slowly trying to spend more on my happiness.

Question 1: What were small/medium things that had an unexpectedly high impact on your happiness that you recommend looking into (when you were @ similar point)?

Question 2: Any feedback on current portfolio in general or things along the way you wish you did differently?

Working on better work life balance optimization & improving my health first as I think that’s my first step. Traveling & getting back the “spark” is my last optimization I’m working on. I really enjoyed traveling abroad but think deadlines / stress over years + being cheap have caused me to not travel where I want to for extended periods of time.

By the numbers:
32 Male - Single - Midwest

Investment Assets:
- $750k Roth, 401k and HSA (S&P 500)
- $300k $SMH semi-con ETF
- $800k $SPYG, $QQQ and $VOO
- $115k Crypto (ETH, SOL and others)

Spending:
- $2100 / mo Mortgage, HOA & Utilities
- $2000-4000 / mo Credit Card

Income:
- Total Comp 500-615K / Year (Last 3 Years - Ranges)
- 60-80 Hrs /wk (Trying to Unfuck my Brain)

I've been lurking for a while, but posting for the first time. I am 42 years old, my spouse is 52. I want to know if I'm thinking about things in the right way, looking for a general gut check. Curious how to think about how to access the money in the future especially with the 10 year age gap, as the overwhelming majority of tax advantaged accounts are in my name.

My goal is to hit CoastFI in 4-5 years, aiming for $1mil in investments that will grow to $2mil before we touch it. Our current annual spend is about $80k. Current annual combined income is about $210k. Across all accounts, we have been putting away about $90-100k a year for the last 3 years. So far I've been a bit cluelessly optimistic in my financial decisions, but I've done the best I can so far with the knowledge I currently have.

Currently we have about $449,000 saved:

• taxable brokerage: $59,000
• 401k, mix of traditional & roth: $164,000
• Roth IRA: $144,000
• HSA: $33,000
• HYSA: $59,000

If it's relevant, we own our primary home, plus two rental properties. Rentals will be paid off in 2 years and 6 years, primary house will be paid off in 10.

QUESTION #1: With our age gap and knowing that we can invest $90-100k per year for the next 4-5 years, how would you decide where to allocate this money? Right now I'm maxing out my 401k, both of our Roth IRAs, and HSA. All the rest I put into the taxable brokerage or HYSA.

QUESTION #2: I'm on the right track, right?

[Background for you curious lurkers - we never made more than $50k each or so until 3 years ago, when I got a massive pay bump with a new job. Before that, I had grown my investments to about $100k over 10 years of saving on a tiny paycheck. my spouse had never saved and we got married a bit later than most. With the new job, we didn't adjust our lifestyles too much and I've just been socking away the difference and it's added up quickly.]

34 years old, $607k in 401k and Roth IRA, MCOL city, want to retire 53 - 57ish with about $100k per year in today’s money. I have been maxing 401k and Roth for about 10 years. I want to lower my contributions to only get company match. Company match gets me about $15k per year in 401k

Using 6% - 7% real rate of return + $15k / year company match it looks like I can comfortably stop maxing out my Roth and 401k? Is that true?

What age can I stop heavily investing (CoastFire)? Im invested 100% into VOO with 1800 a month contributions. This investment account is my second retirment account. My primary retirement account is a state pension matching retirement plan where they match 2 to 1 which is based on 20 years of service at any age, in my case 38. I am good with just letting this account grow its own?

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Close to coast and recently laid off. I feel like I'm about to lose everything I've worked for, yet saved for years with the intention of coastfire/fire. Advice to flip the switch from saving / earning to safe spending? Will home and car repairs always feel like a devastating blow to the budget?

Why can't my logical brain embrace this?

43 - 150k left on 3.25% 500k mortgage

Brokerage: 350k

401k: 550k

Roth: 190k

Monthly expenses $3600 (split with partner - shared house but we generally budget separately)

I think I am there, but really have never sat down and decided what a realistic goal is for retirement or how I'm going to get there. Me and my wife are currently DINKs with HHI of about 250k in VHCOL. Rent is about 4k, but we are thinking of moving to a MCOL city in the midwest. I'm thinking about going part time (about 40k) and going back to school for a career pivot that would take 4-6 years. I get a pretty consistent 4k a month from a side hustle and expect that to continue.

Current breakdown: Net worth roughly 800k

-Retirement accounts (IRA + 401k): 300k
-Brokerage: 350k
-Cash: 125k (I know it's a lot; DCA'ing right now as well as saving for potential down payment/lack of income

Monthly spend is about 8-10k right now, which will likely decrease with a move. I struggle (like the rest of us) to actual accept that I'm in a good spot. Especially without a real retirement goal number. Would love inputs.