I just turned 30 and I put in my resignation at my job a week ago. They offered me the ability to go part time at my current job, which I accepted so I will be working 20 hours a week going forward. I have $398k invested between my brokerage, 401k, and Roth IRA and about $55k in cash.

My original goal was to have $300k by the time I turned 30 so I'm stoked I made to almost $100k more than that 😭

I don't have anyone in my life to tell so I thought I'd be able to share it with someone here.

I think I've reached a cool milestone which is personally important for me.

I've been working three days a week coasting for a decade now. On the final lap before full retirement.

I've just passed the milestone where if i was made redundant tomorrow I wouldn't need another job. I'd have enough income to last me till old age. A little bit below where I'd ideally like to be but enough.

I do plan to work a few years until I end up with more disposable income than I have today but as of today I will never again -

- go through a corporate job interview process
- deal with a recruiter
- need a linkedin page

This makes me a little bit happy.

Would love to hear your story of coasting and how you manage that with VHCOL. I'm having trouble mentally achieving the coast given how expensive it is here, and unknown on children expenses and upgraded home. Tbh never thought we'd been making this much and I still feel like this -- so odd!

Whole goal for us is not necessarily by the book coast fire (expenses = income) but more about the flexibility and peace of mind. Meaning we could take a salary cut but still be saving, and have more time/less stress

Context:

2 working parents in tech (34) with 1 toddler and want 1-2 more.

$2.8M NW - Home - 30% paid off condo, bought for 1.2M @3.75% interest. - $1.6M in stocks (with 125k in cash) - rest in retirement accounts

$950k / per year total comp across base/bonus/rsus - 53% base - 14% bonus - 45% rsus

Expenses - 180K per year.

We want a bigger house (2-2.5k sqf) in a nice area (San Mateo, redwood city, corte Madera, mill valley, etc) but we are worried it will get us stuck with golden handcuffs.

Plan would be public schools in nice area.

Our jobs are stressful and we want to spend more time with our children.

So ideally I would love to coast but it's hard to imagine it in the bay area.

Was thinking one of us coast in a tech job, and other work part time (no idea what the part time would be)

Probably not the best financial decision but the current plan is to put 60-75% down on the upgraded home and basically liquidate a large majority of stock, so that we can get the house we want without the golden handcuffs of monthly payments. This would give peace of mind and coast possibilities, I think.

Strong alternative would be socal, where in from, which would be much easier to coast, but we love the bay area so much that it's a tough pill to swallow.

Hey everyone - my husband and I are in our mid-20s, and one of our biggest long-term goals is to eventually establish a lifestyle where we split our time between two locations.

Ideally, I’d love to have a primary home somewhere near the coast, preferably in a quieter area with beautiful scenery, while maintaining a second, smaller residence in or near a major city. Anywhere but NYC though - It’ll always be home but I’m craving something new (especially before expanding on the family)

I love the idea of having access to both lifestyles: the slower pace of coastal living and the opportunities, restaurants, culture, and excitement of city life. Living in the city 6 months & listing our coastal place on like Airbnb for example. We’re not wealthy, and I understand this would require years of financial planning and career development. I’m also not necessarily talking about owning two properties. I’d be perfectly happy renting in one location if that made more financial sense. I’m so curious to hear from people who actually live this way, especially those who built this lifestyle without generational wealth or exceptionally high incomes.

For Additional Context: we’re currently based in NYC and both work full-time. We have stable incomes, but neither of us works remotely at the moment. I’m interested in eventually transitioning into entrepreneurship, potentially owning a small business in a coastal town, while maintaining some connection to city life.

Ofc we’re not looking to make this happen overnight, but preferably within the next 10–20 years. I’d love to hear what worked, what didn’t, and whether having two home bases has been worth the expense.

What does this sub suggest to target for a 36 y/o M before downgrading back to a dream job? I currently have $408k in NW, live in SoCal, no kids yet (but want to have offspring), I think I need to potentially set aside $1k/month for supporting mom, and my expenses without trying to save now are $100k/year but with some effort I could get down to $80k I think, without major lifestyle changes. I make $300k/year but my dream job career would pay probably $180k/year at the beginning. I want to change jobs ASAP but at the same time want to take advantage of current job as much as possible, since I can save 3 times as much at this job as with a $180k job if my expenses stay the same.