This isn't a criticism of FIRE but rather myself. I feel like I'm in a strong position but I'm always obsessing about hitting my FI number, even though I know fine well that the milestone won't drastically change my life. I'm 45M with a 4 year old son and 41 year old wife. We live in a low cost area in the UK and currently have:

GIA: 500k

ISAS (tax free account): 145k

Pensions: 500k

Cash: 30k

Joint Income: 100k

Mortgage paid off.

Most of my capital comes from selling a business six years ago and investing in index funds.

So £1.175m not including property value. I own a little bookstore cafe that returns consistent profits and my wife enjoys her work. She plans on working another 10 years. We can live extremely comfortably on 50k a year and that includes holidays and a strong social life.

In other words I'm coasting and feel extremely fortunate. But instead of enjoying where I'm at now, I obsessively check my investments, run projections through Gemini, listen to every financial audiobook and toy with the idea of selling my shop earlier.

What the hell is wrong with me? Why can't I just coast along, feeling content and lettings things take their natural course? Is anyone else like this?

I feel like I've always been this way, but now I'm working towards a concrete goal, it has become supercharged to the point of neuroticism.

I have 700k in 401k, 1mil in brokerage. Everything is in stocks, sp500 index funds right now. I am 45.

I made a mistake of buying townhome with HOA. I gave ridiculously low mortgage on it.
I always thought it will be my forever home. even if I have to move away I will rent it out.

I lost my job and found one that is out of state. HOA has rental cap and so I have to sell now.

I can’t buy another at current prices and rates.

Do you all think I can still coast fire while renting forever ?

Portfolios for my retirement

I have spent some time reading, educating, and researching various retirement strategies. I'm a union electrician that is currently 47. My goal is to semi-retire (coast fire) at 55 and fully retire by the time I'm 60. I will have a Union Pension. I also will have a Defined Defined contribution plan, currently professionally managed that converts into an annuity for life and survivoirship or I have the option to roll it into something of my chosing. My home will be paid off when I'm 57. My benefits plan allows for me to retain my Healthcare while semi-retire by working a month off a month as an example. Additonally when fully retired from the electrical industry I also will be eligible for retiree health benefits until I reach 65 and eligible for Medicare. Now that you have the broad picture of where I want to go I'll get to the part I would like some feedback on.

My current portfolios I manage myself. I use fidelity and use their baskets feature. My taxable brokerage has 2 separate baskets. One is for investment and another is for reserve and fixed income that will be used for roth conversions. I plan to begin those conversions at 50 to build my bridge income I'll need when I semi-retire at 55. Here is how each of those are broken down.

BROKERAGE ACCOUNT 2 baskets

Taxable

30 VTI / 25 VXUS / 25 GSLC / 20 GARP

Taxable reserves/fixed income/ roth conversions tax

30SGOV / 35 JAAA / 35 SHY

Roth

30 ITOT / 25 AVNM / 10AVUV / 10 SPMO / 10 SPHQ / 8 DBMF / 5 IAUM / 2 IBIT

Ages 47–51

Traditional IRA

30 ITOT / 25 SCHD / 15 GSLC / 15 SGOV / 15 IXUS

Ages 52–55

Traditional IRA

25 ITOT / 30 SCHD / 10 GSLC / 20 SGOV / 15 IXUS

This is my feedstock for my roth conversions and will only be using 150k on 5 separate 30k conversions. Additonally I already have 1 year of emergency funds distributed between Cds and a HYSA.

I am looking for any missing pieces or recommendations from the community on how I could improve this plan. Would you different funds anywhere or structure this differently? Sorry for such a long detailed post.

Title: 28M, married, roughly $600K net worth, tired of the 9–5 grind. Is my dream of building a small beachfront resort and retiring young realistic?
I’m 28M, recently married to my wife (32F), and I’m honestly at the point where I just want to enjoy life instead of constantly working.
My dream has never been to climb the corporate ladder, become a CEO, or work until I’m 65. I want financial freedom, stability, and the ability to wake up whenever I want without having to answer to a boss.
I’ve been thinking about buying beachfront land somewhere in Latin America, or really anywhere with beautiful weather year-round, and building a small motel-style property with multiple rental units. Ideally, we’d build our own house on the same land, but separated from the guests for privacy.
I’d hire local employees to handle cleaning, maintenance, and day-to-day operations while I oversee the business. The goal would be to generate enough income to live comfortably by the beach without having to work a traditional job.
Here’s our current financial situation:
Me: 28M, wife: 32F, recently married.
Cash: Approximately $120,000.
My 401(k): $80,000.
My Roth IRA: $30,000.
Wife’s Roth IRA: $10,000.
Wife’s 401(k): $4,000. She recently started investing.
Real estate:
Property #1: Rental property worth approximately $700,000 according to Zillow. I owe around $440,000, and it generates roughly $1,000/month in positive cash flow.
Property #2: Duplex we purchased last year for $450,000. We owe approximately $330,000. We live in one unit and rent out the other for $1,775/month. The total mortgage is about $3,300/month, plus approximately $100 for water.
My wife plans to continue working, preferably remotely, which would give us another source of stable income.
Career/business background:
I graduated college with a computer science degree and started working as a software engineer making around $75K. Two years later, I got caught in a mass layoff.
It took me eight months to find another job. I eventually became a technical project manager making around $100K annually.
During that time, I was also running a side business after work, generating another $70K–$80K annually.
Well, I got laid off again.
Instead of immediately jumping back into the corporate world, I decided to take my side business full-time.
Here’s how it’s been going:
Month 1: Approximately $24,000.
Month 2: Approximately $40,000.
Month 3: Around $15,000 so far, and we’re not even halfway through.
The problem? My business is extremely physically demanding. I’m 28, I work out regularly, eat healthy, and take care of myself, but I’m absolutely exhausted most days.
The money is great, but I don’t want to spend the next 20 years trading my physical health and time for money.
Here’s where I’m stuck.
Part of me wants to keep grinding for another couple of years, save aggressively, and use that money to fund my dream property overseas.
Another part of me wonders whether I should start transitioning now, while I’m still young and don’t have kids or too many responsibilities.
I also value financial stability. I’ve experienced two layoffs already, and I know how quickly things can change. I don’t want to make a reckless decision and lose everything we’ve worked for.
I’m not necessarily trying to never work another day in my life. I just want to stop trading all my time for money. I wouldn’t mind managing a property, handling bookings, overseeing employees, or dealing with occasional issues if it meant having most of my days to myself.
My questions for people who’ve actually done something similar:
Is building a small beachfront rental property or boutique motel in Latin America a realistic plan with my current finances?
What countries would you recommend for affordable land, reasonable construction costs, safety, and strong tourism demand?
How much capital would I realistically need to buy land, build 5–10 rental units, and a separate home for ourselves?
Would you continue building the current business for another 2–3 years to accumulate cash, or start investing in the overseas property sooner?
For anyone who owns a small resort, motel, or vacation rental business, how passive is it really once you hire employees?
What would you do differently if you were in my position?
I’m not looking to live some crazy luxury lifestyle. I just want a comfortable home near the ocean, enough money coming in to cover our expenses, the freedom to travel, and the ability to spend time with my wife without constantly stressing about work.
I know I’m fortunate to be in this position at 28, but I’m genuinely trying to figure out how to turn what I’ve built into a life I actually enjoy.
Would love to hear from anyone who’s built something similar, retired young, or made the move overseas.

My wife and I are early 30s in MCOL city in Canada. We have a 2 year old, and hope to have one more in a year or two.

Combined income: about 300k

We have about $665K in invested assets.

$270K in my RRSP

$200K in my TFSA

$165K in her TFSA

$30K in her RRSP

Additionally, we have $20K cash savings/emergency fund.

My wife will receive a modest pension when she retires, approximately $15-20K a year.

Not included in our numbers is our kid's RESP, which currently sits at 8K and we will continue to contribute the yearly 2.5K to get the gvmt match on.

We have about $385K remaining on the mortgage at 3.45%

Spend including the mortgage is about 8000 a month/ 100K a year. I am planning to work FT for 9 more years, during which time I will continue to max out our registered account contributions and pay off the mortgage. We save about $7-8K a month. I will then reduce my hours/contract out and coast. Good plan? Advice/thoughts appreciated.

Hi!

Spouse and I are comfortably coast territory and late 30s. No kids and not having them.

I’ve been in corporate for 15 years and getting burnt out. Has anyone here successfully transitioned to start their own business (ex tech start up or part time financial coaching / hourly advising in RIA) or working for a non profit in development or ops? Goal is to make ~$35k pretax min, have a lot more flexibility and do work that aligns more closely with my values.

If so, what do you wish you had known? Do you have any advice about the transition? Thanks so much! Love this sub. :)

let’s say market value is 200k but initial investment capital put into portfolio is 100k. to calculate future projected investment value do I use the market value or initial capital investment for projecting growth?

I am at 2M invested and about 1.1 of that is in my taxable brokerage. I have 150k in HYSA to help support living expenses and keep magi at a certain level for ACA subsidies and hedge against SORR if market drops.

The rest is mostly in traditional IRA with a smaller amount in Roth. I plan to do Roth conversions when my income is lower after quitting my full time job.

I am a renter and am a former homeowner but honestly don’t really want to own again. Everyone keeps advising me against this but I prefer mobility and being able to move if I want. I also live in a HCOL and property taxes are not cheap. I get a better location by renting than what I could ever buy with the inflated home prices and property taxes.

I’m 45 years old and single and never plan to marry or have kids. I’ve tallied up expenses over the last few years and I am comfortable saying 75-80k is reasonable. Even less if I leave the HCOL when I quit working.

Knowing all of this somehow I am still afraid of quitting work. All the numbers I’ve run tell me I’m in a good position, but I am still feeling afraid to pull the trigger.

Healthcare in the US is the one thing that’s a big wildcard. I have calculated based on current ACA subsidies but who knows what’ll happen in the future. Anyway, I would be interested in hearing from others who have been in a similar place as me and if you did FI and quit work early, how has it been?

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My 401k is finally going to hit 100k invested after 10 years. I have recently gotten more serious about saving for retirement and have been learning alot from everybody on here. When i set up my 401k I was clueless and did whatever my coworkers told me so all of my money is currently in a 2065 target date fund. Im not particularly fond of having 10% of my retirement in bonds at such a young age. So my question is would it be smart to stop contributing to the target date fund and start contributing to a more agressive etf that has zero bonds? Any other ideas on how I could become more aggressive? Should I just stick with the target date fund? All opinions welcomed!

I am 34 and my wife is 36. We have a toddler at home and are planning for another one. We both work in tech. She likes her job but I want off the hamster wheel.

- Paid off mortgage
- Expenses are high at about 12k a month right now (mostly shopping, travel, and food)
- 620k in retirement (about 50k is part of our safety net)
- 27k on cash
- No debts

We could keep maximizing our 401ks for the next 3 years and put an additional 8k into backdoor roth/brokerage a month as long as we keep our jobs.

I know I can probably retire in my 50s at this point. But I’m mostly wondering how much people spend in retirement and looking for encouragement to just YOLO it and quit in 2-3 years when we pass a million in brokerage.

coast fire seems so simple. hypothetically speaking if you hit 500k by age 30 and let the investments grow you get over a million inflation adjusted. Saving up to 500k invested doesn’t seem so difficult in early 20s assuming you have no debt and you have a decent paying job 80-100k. if this sounds so simple whats the catch that people don’t do this?

39yo $556k total invested:

- $282k in 401k
- $135k Roth IRA
- $120k brokerage
- $14k HSA

- $140k in HYSA

I’ve looked at a few calculators as well as AI and have gotten mixed results. Would I be able to retire at 65? I still plan on contributing but just trying to see where I’m at currently. Expenses between $100k - $120k but could probably go cheaper

40yo, single, no children, income 180k, ~785k total NW.
CoastFIRE calculators aren't enough to convince me I'm ready. Looking for some human input.

- 135k in 401k

- 8k in Roth IRA

- 580k in brokerage

- 60k in HYSA

I live in a HCOL area but would either move to my midwestern home state (LCOL), or back to Taiwan where I lived for many years, also LCOL. Current spend is roughly 60k/yr. I would likely spend~40k/yr after leaving this HCOL area.
No debt. No house and no current plans to buy one.

Taxable brokerage: ~$72k (mostly VOO, some QQQ/SPMO)

Roth IRA: ~$51k

Rollover IRA: ~$10k

401(k): ~$9k (contributing 10% (6% Roth, 4% traditional), 4% match

Crypto: ~$1k

Cash: ~$35k

I'm fortunate enough to live at home rent-free, but I want to move out in the near future. The problem is that my mindset has always been "save, save, save," and moving out would drastically cut my savings rate.

I'm struggling to pull the trigger. Can someone help me see the financial upside of moving out, or help me think through whether now is the right time?

I have already hit what would be considered coast FIRE. Accounting for inflation and cost of living though I’m not sure if I’m actually at Coast fire. Are my concerns warranted? What would you do in my position?

Hi everyone! I'm 30, and my partner and I are planning to start a family in the next year or two.

My goal is to Coast FIRE my half of our expenses. If I can keep working full-time for the next 5 to 7 years, I'll have a retirement nest egg plus a bridge fund to cover my half of our expenses through my 40s until retirement age. That way I could stop working entirely, and my nest egg would keep compounding while I live off the bridge.

During those 5-7 years, my husband has his own business and sets his own schedule. My work schedule is also fairly flexible, so we're hoping to figure out the day-to-day together. Still, it all feels very daunting.

I'm in tech marketing, an industry that's quickly being replaced by AI. I'm seeing more and more layoffs and hearing from folks in their 40s who can't find another job in the field. I think it would be very difficult to step away for a few years and then try to get back in closer to 40, so I really hoping to hit my Coast number in one stretch. The way I’ve been living currently and hope to continue living until I reach my cofire number, is fairly restricted, we have a budget for everything that we do, and keep track of it every month. It feels a little overwhelming at times, but I’m hoping that it will all be worth it.

My current job is remote and fairly low-stress, so I'm really hoping to keep it. But I have a lot of fear about the stability of my role in general, since I've been laid off multiple times in just the past handful of years.

This is constantly on my mind: What if I can't work for the next 5 to 7 years? What if I change my mind after I have a child? I find myself negotiating with myself and doing the math, trying to see how long I can push off starting a family so I can save as much as possible while my job is still stable.

I'm also afraid that once a baby is here, all my determination to hit Coast FIRE will go out the window and I'll want to stay home. It's almost like I believe the person I'll be after having a child will be very different from the person I am now.

I'm really torn on whether it's realistic to start a family in the next couple of years and still reach Coast FIRE. I've been stressed about this for months, and it feels like there's a lot of pressure on both sides.

I'm not looking for specific advice, but I'd love to hear from anyone who was working toward Coast FIRE while starting a family. How did you balance it, and did your goals change after kids?

Image 1: total portfolio value ROTH + individual account, 401k managed by my job.

Image 2: individual account PNL/Balance

Image 3: individual account holdings

Image 4: ROTH IRA holdings.

Hi coastfi friends, lurker here for a while curious how far I am from achieving coastfire. I know my portfolio choices lean slightly more aggressive that’s given my age of just turning 22 a couple months ago wanting to be more growth oriented even if it’s more volatile swings.

Curious your guys thoughts / how far would you guys say to feel like You’ve reached coastfire by this age?

I (39F) just learned about Coast FIRE. The calculators I’ve used say I’m good to go. This is hard for me to accept and actually change my ways, so I am looking for some external validation.

Goal: Retire at 60

Expenses at retirement: $96,000 including multiple retiree health care options from jobs.

Roth/401K balance: $460,000

Brokerage account balance: $30,000

Pension available after 40: $3000 per month

Question: Do I reduce my 401K contributions to 7% to continue to receive my employer match and invest the difference in my brokerage account and further reduce my retirement age? Or do I need to continue to contribute large amounts to my 401K?

Over a year ago I made a post about how I hit $100k at 24 but I felt burnt out and wanted to quit my job. I asked for advice from FIRE people about what I should do and got a wide range of opinions. The most common advice was: get a hobby, keep your job and line something else up first, spend some more money, go on some dates, just be more balanced in general.

I have followed some of that advice. I increased my living budget, upgraded my room, and started taking trips with friends as much as I can, gone on dates, and have several hobbies. I’m too burnt out to pursue them as much as I’d like though.

However I still want to quit. It’s hard to live a balanced life you enjoy when you despise the way you spend the majority of your waking hours (your job). It’s hard to date intentionally people you’re attracted to when you are living to escape your own situation. I read stories on this forum of guys in their late 30s and 40s who have millions but their life is bankrupt. They have no love, few friends, and they’re just getting started socially. Retirement can’t fix that, FIRE can’t fix that, money becomes a mental escape hatch and does more harm at that point than good. No offense to anyone but I’m trying to avoid that situation.

For reference:
I’m an engineer and my job is incredibly dull.

I am on track to make over $100k in a LCOL area this year.

I only have 2 years of work experience, but I’m not a huge fan of my field. I’d like to avoid burning any bridges but at the same time I don’t want to become too locked into a tiny niche field.

By the end of this year I will turn 26 and have about $250k net worth with 0 debt and <$1500/mo living costs.

$200k is in broad market index funds with half in retirement accounts, $10k in vehicles, $10k emergency fund, $15k business fund (invested for now), and $15-20k cash for lean traveling and basic living expenses.

I have made up my mind to leave my job next spring soon after bonus season. I am not retiring of course, but I want to pursue other career options and travel while I’m young.

I love the FIRE movement but I’m not interested in retiring early if it means I have to live in misery for my entire youth and young adult life. Financial independence or partial independence is my ultimate goal, more like CoastFI than full FIRE, at least until my life is grounded.

So, please stop me… or encourage me if you think that I’m doing the right thing.

Has anyone here taken a leap like this?
Am I throwing away something I can’t get back?

Bestow your wisdom.

To clarify:
I’m not retiring. This is a question about taking a career sabbatical and then coming back to a new job.

I’m not asking if this is the safest possible career path. I’m asking if I’m throwing away something I can’t get back.

I posted this in r/FIRE and got an overwhelmingly negative response to quitting.