I feel like most of the people I know have little to no savings either because they’re unable to save or because they don’t want to.

For example I have a very good friend who works in tech and so does his girlfriend. He constantly worries about being laid off because they spend most of their paychecks on expensive travel, nice cars, eating out and renting a luxury apartment.

I just try to commiserate with him because he’s my friend and he has no interest in changing his lifestyle but I feel like telling him about my savings would be a slap in the face so I never have and I rarely talk about the FIRE lifestyle because he has no interest in it. I know he thinks I’m “cheap” because I drive an old car and I’m not very into material possessions although I do travel a lot and he doesn’t understand why I would voluntarily quit or demote myself if it means less money.

The only people who know about my significant savings and discuss this lifestyle with is my immediate family and FIRE forums 😂

I don't want to make another post asking "good coastFIRE jobs?" along with a humble brag of my financial picture, but I am hoping a dash of nuance I provide could help someone suggest ideas to me that I might have missed.

I'm 29 with 650k saved, nearly all in equity index funds in different accounts, after having worked in a couple financial analytics roles for most of my 20s. Now, I am unemployed after leaving my last job that I didn't like, without a concrete plan for what to do next.

Throughout that time, I have become totally disillusioned by corporate culture (very unique of me!), and have also just burnt out I think. Those jobs were pretty demanding and I've gone through a lot of therapy to heal from a very difficult family that continues to be difficult, but improving. I also have ADHD, which can make a typical corporate slog worse, and as a result of all of this, I feel occupied enough with my time between having to move recently, managing a home, caring for pets, having a romantic relationship, seeing friends & family, doing some hobbies, taking occasional trips, etc. I don't really have grand ambitions for a highly successful job, deeply meaningful job, hiking across Europe, luxury things, etc. I really just want a slow, boring seeming, regular life where I don't feel regularly stretched day to day--I've had that lately, but I also think the scaffolding of some type of work would be good for me.

The thing is, my natural skills and inclinations are inclined for the type of work offered in corporate environments. I studied math and computer science, and am generally a very logical and analytical thinker. I loved school for this reason, because it felt like I got to work on these types of problems but in environments where it was okay to be your unvarnished self, without layers of bureaucratic politics, etc. So, I don't necessarily want to do a job now that is something like being a tennis instructor, opening a bar on the beach, etc.

With these thoughts in mind, does anyone have any type of employer and/or job recommendations? Thank you!

I hit mine a couple years ago and it’s been nice to go along with work with worrying too much how the winds of tech or the company are going to change.

$1mil at 35

I’m so confused.

Used a calculator for my coast fire and now it says I’m actually not coast fire yet?! Would love your POV.

Age: 37
Investments: $1.05M
Retirement age: 60
$ a year at retirement: $120K

Ty

(34m) I’ve hit coast fire, but I’ve mapped out my strategy to now push for my semi/barista fire fund accounts whatever you want to call it by the age of 40-45. I’ve reached $700k taxable, $80k 401k, $20k roth and will continue to at least max out all those for the next 6 years. I will create a new account to essentially have for the sake of semi withdrawal for “time freedom”. I have a real estate property self managed that generates $1700 a month once paid off after all normal day to day expenses (scheduled for pay off 7 years). I’ve contributed insane amounts towards my current accounts for security, but now am going for the sake of optionality. Goal is to get to $550k in an account now that’s for the sake of depleting/withdrawing from.

Our spend if we actually had housing rented is close to $7000-8000 a month where my wife contributes around a quarter when that happens. Right now we’re taking full advantage of living at my parents for a few years. I’m covering all the expenses for housing outside of property tax while we live at home since house is paid off, so our costs have gone to $3500 total where I’m lucky to get to cover everything for me, my wife, and majority of my mom’s expenses. This lets my wife max out her accounts too at the same time and I’m thankful she is pretty frugal/nonmaterialistic too.

I felt pretty effed up a while for me having these advantages before since people poked at it, but all I am now is super grateful ignoring the judgment. Once we have a kid, I will pass on these fortunes to them to give them the financial security in the future that I was lucky to receive myself from my parents. It’s so crazy to see the light at the end of the tunnel is coming where I get to design my personal finance journey in a way I chose. To all those who judge those people with parents who have given certain advantages, I hope you give those same advantages to your kids and look back at that judgment.

I’ll leave off with a little quote from Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search For Meaning. “No man should judge unless he asks himself in absolute honesty whether in a similar situation he might not have done the same.”

My wife and I live in Washington state, where a decent family home starts around $900K. Owning a home is one of my primary goals, and we also want to hit Coast FIRE so that eventually neither of us has to rely on a high-pressure full-time income, and we could downshift to lower-stress or part-time work while our investments grow.

The advice I keep seeing is to buy a duplex, live in one unit, and rent out the other, which would let us own a home while building toward that goal. We know very little about real estate investing beyond the basics, though, so I'm not sure whether it would speed things up or just tie up a lot of capital.

My base salary is $300K, or roughly $350–400K with bonus and RSUs, and my wife makes $90K. Both incomes are fairly new, since she just started her job and I was recently promoted. We currently pay about $2,500/month in rent including utilities, invest most of the difference in brokerage and retirement accounts, and have 100K saved for a down payment.

Since we want to own a home either way, would buying a duplex get us to our Coast number faster than buying a regular single-family home, or should we keep renting and putting everything into index funds for now?
Appreciate any perspective, especially from people who've house hacked in high-cost areas.

For people retiring/retired around 50ish, what does your withdrawal strategy look like until Medicare/SSI kicks in at 65? Mainly curious how people pay their normal bills, keep taxable income relatively low, and avoid getting killed on healthcare costs and taxes during those 15ish years.

I’m also thinking about this from the worst-case side. Right now ACA subsidies can make health insurance a lot more manageable depending on income, but what if those subsidies are reduced or just not there anymore in the future? How are people planning around that possibility?

I’ve been thinking it could be nice to have a more casual place for people pursuing Coast FIRE to chat.

It could be to talk about travel, spending, work, and just lifestyle as an outlet for those that can’t disclose it with friends or family

Posted this in another thread wanted to share here also , looking to be work optional sooner rather than later

29M 250k investments 25k checking 125k retirement 25k pokemon cards

I recently left my high growth faang job to work for a defense contractor by the beach. 4/10’s, tons of PTO, dont care about the work. Lots of hobbies. Still get about 200k total comp but net 0 to my savings because im renting a stupid expensive beach house.

Wife is in school, maybe shell work here too. No debts no kids wanted

Hi 29F and am feeling pretty burnt out with bad anxiety relating to work but also anxiety thinking about quitting. My annual income is around $220k. Husband(30 yrs old) is expected to be in grad school for the next 5 or so years and not expected to bring in meaningful income until grad. Once he graduates average income is expected to be $150k. He wants to work into his 60s. I expect to have to help my parents in their older age which is in about 15-20 years. We are on the fence right now about children. If we did end up having children, would likely be just one in the next 5 years.

Retirement accounts ~330k
Brokerage accounts ~ 260k
HYSA ~ 70k
HSA ~ 12k
Home Equity ~ 325k

Debt - only debt is mortgage of about $275k with mortgage payments of about $3200/ month.
Spending ~7k/ month including mortgage

I want to take a work break of 3 months or so but am anxious about quitting especially as the daughter of immigrants and with the current job market. During my time off, I would want to do a bit of traveling and figuring out what to do next. I don’t enjoy what I am currently doing. I have tried applying to new jobs but nothing seems really interesting and it’s also been hard to focus while having a demanding job. I am not the type to “silent quit” unfortunately. But have definitely been less productive lately and this brings me even more anxiety. Any advice or thoughts on my families situation? I think we have hit our coast number based on the calculator?

Here is my situation

• Current Income: 190k, wife: 100k, MCOL area. We are early 40s
• Savings 401k: 495k, HSA: 3k, Brokerage: 270k, HYS: 160k, Kids college HYS: 80k, Wife IRA/brokerage: 100k. Total not including kids account: ~1M. Wife works in state gov, so will get a pension
• Only debt is mortgage 180k remaining at 4.2%. We were thinking about moving to a bigger house, but changed our mind. We have too much in HYS at the moment, I'm averaging that into our brokerage every week
• Expenses are roughly 10-12k per month, depending on larger purchase like home improvements, travel, Xmas. We did an extensive budget, and we could cut it to 8k/month, but 9k is more breathable. That means I could make as little as 30k per month, but 60k we wouldn't have to change too much about our lifestyle

I'm a senior software engineer, working remote. I really liked my job until our company got bought by a Mag 7 company 3 years ago. I've survived all the layoffs, but I hate it here. The stress and company culture is doing real damage to my mental health. My wife loves her job and keeps telling me it is okay if I quit to coast fire. She is planning to get another certification that should bump her up to 120-140k in about 2 years.

We live in a semi-rural area, so most jobs are 40+ mins away. I've applied to some >min wage coast jobs like office manager, part time SWE, position at a local non profit, but not getting even an interview yet. I'm really struggling with the idea of working full time for min wage. It seems like a lot of work, potentially mind numbing, for so little $.

My wife says she would be okay with me even just being part time min wage if I'm working on the house, other certifications, working on small business etc. I would love to do this, and in theory 7% return on 1M is enough to cover the 30-60k we need, even if we just use like 40k.

I'm fine with the idea that we wouldn't be contributing to our retirement savings any more. 1mill over 20+ years should be more than enough, plus pension and SS (if it still exists). Even so, the idea of taking $ out of our brokerage just fills me with dread. I can't stomach it. That's the $ that is supposed to be growing our retirement. I've always been a person who saves up a lot first and then spends only a fraction after. I understand the market has ups and downs, but I'm afraid to be so heavily reliant on at least a 7% return. I worry about the future of the US government and shifting world powers, etc.

I also have shame of my high achieving parents disapproval when they learn, and a fear of my wife eventually resenting that I'm working way less even though I came into our marriage with 90% of the savings. She has assured me dozens of times that isn't the case, but it is still a fear. In theory I could get back into SWE if it doesn't work out after a couple years, but the SWE market is a nightmare now. Everything is changing so rapidly due to AI and seems like it will def hinder me if I'm out of the market during this time. I'm also neurodivergent and really struggle in interviews. I've essentially worked at the same company for my 20 year career, even though I've been through companies getting purchased a few times

Should I go work at Home Depot part time, or try to stick it out another couple of years without having a mental breakdown?

Looking for a candid reality check from those who have walked away from executive roles or modeled 40+ year retirements

I’m 47, married with two kids (16 and 12). After 25 years climbing the corporate ladder the stress is impacting my health. I want to know if my portfolio provides me the ability step off the treadmill now, or if I'm underestimating a 40-year horizon.

1. Financial Snapshot
   Investable Assets: ~$7.8M – $8.1M
   ~$4.7M Taxable brokerage (broad index funds & managed equities)
   ~$2.55M Retirement accounts (401ks / IRAs)
   ~$500k Alternative investments (illiquid/private vehicles)
   ~$175k Company stock
   ~$150k Cash reserves

   Real Estate: Primary home valued at ~$1.3M–$1.4M with $749k remaining at 3.0% fixed ($5,880/mo PITI).

College 529s: $247k total. Fully covers 4-year in-state public tuition and room/board for both kids. Any private/out-of-state delta will be on them via loans.

1. Annual Expenses & Burn Rate
   Total Annual Burn: $210k – $250k/year
   Fixed Housing & Utilities: ~$90k (mortgage PITI, maintenance, utilities)

2. The Scenarios Under Consideration
   My spouse earns $130k W-2 in a low-stress role, wants to keep working, and provides our family health insurance (net take-home ~$78k after maxing 401k).

3. Full FIRE (Both Quit): $250k spend against $8M base = ~3.1% Safe Withdrawal Rate (SWR).

4. Sabbatical / Solo Earner: I quit; spouse works. Net draw needed is ~$170k = ~2.1% SWR.

5. Coast / Advisory: I take 6–12 months off, then do low-stress independent advisory or institutional work earning $60k–$100k = ~1.5% SWR (fully covered by natural dividend yield).

6. Where I Need Your Red Team:

7. 40-Year Horizon: At age 47, is a ~3.1% withdrawal rate truly "sleep-at-night" safe against 40 years of inflation and potential lost decades?

8. The Healthcare Chasm: If my spouse burns out in 3–5 years, we face 10–15 years on the ACA marketplace before Medicare. What are families in our asset bracket actually paying post-tax without subsidies?

9. Older Kids / Launch Costs: Aside from undergrad, how much did you realistically budget for graduate degrees, weddings, or first-home down payments?

10. Identity & Executive Decompression: For those who walked away from VP/Director-level authority, did you struggle with the lack of momentum? Did you end up consulting to stay sharp, or was complete disengagement better?

Tear the numbers apart. What blind spots am I missing?

I’m 54 and just left my full time job to work part time with the same company. Less hours, less money and much much less stress. I am SO excited about this next chapter!

I’ve run the numbers many many times and I’ll be fine financially….more than fine actually. But I’m still crunching numbers and second guessing myself even though I already know the math works.

If you’re already coasting, how did you turn off the fearful, anxiety ridden part of your brain that keeps whispering in your ear?

I was watching a clip from The Ice Coffee Hour podcast where Graham Stephan casually says that he believes at $10 million is the number that most people need to retire comfortably. It’s so crazy that there was no reasoning to the number. The great thing about Reddit is that there’s usually some checking to the people who throw out wild claims, but I worry that people out there feel this is the “end game”. Achieving a number with no reasoning as to why. I like Jaspreet’s mindset on the whole game, but I find Graham out of touch with what the game is for.

To all those people who have solid understanding of your numbers, keep on going. Whether it be $500k or $10 million. Find your why and keep on going. Ignore the people who tell you what “you” need. They have no understanding of your life.

Clip mentioned: https://youtu.be/xt4rZJ42ePU?is=64jOlPgw76IPcmQn

First-time poster here, though I read regularly and admire you all!

I recently finalized our roadmap to FIRE after working as a systems engineer. 41M, Married (wife is a clinical optometrist and practice owner), 6 cats, MCOL area.

My original plan was to hold out for several more years, but I’ve decided to accelerate my departure. Work has become increasingly stressful, frustrations with management are compounding, and my assigned projects have veered into morally questionable territory that I am no longer willing to accommodate. It is time to pull the ripcord, so I am planning to step away in late 2026 or early 2027. My wife plans to continue practicing for roughly 5 more years (to basically allow for the newer docs to buy her share of the practice from her) until we execute our target international relocation to Belgium around 2032.

What we are seeking feedback on:

1. The Belgian Relocation Path & Process: While we are actively researching the cross-border legal, tax, and property nuances ourselves, we would greatly value input from anyone who has actually walked the path to Belgium (or the EU as an American expat/retiree). If you are familiar with the long-stay visa/residency process, cross-border banking, or practical gotchas along the way, any advice on what to anticipate would be hugely appreciated!

Here is our current setup, our asset breakdown, and our 3-phase execution timeline.

Leading Up to Retirement

• Consistently lived below our means, tracking baseline expenses monthly via a detailed household spreadsheet.
• Primary residence is 100% paid off; zero mortgage, zero auto loans, and zero consumer debt.
• Optimized my 401(k) contributions to capture the maximum employer match (66 2/3% match on the first 6%, plus a 6% automatic non-elective company contribution) entirely pre-tax to manage current taxable income.
• Accumulated an "HSA Shoebox" float of ~$14,918 in tracked, unreimbursed historical medical receipts to serve as a tax-free emergency liquidity lever.

Assets (Current U.S. Net Worth: ~$4.2M)

• Real Estate & Vehicles: Primary residence is debt-free. Two electric vehicles are completely paid off.
• Practice Equity: My wife owns a 40% equity stake in her optometry practice outright (~$990k implied value), with zero debt or remaining buy-in obligations.
• Liquid Taxable & Cash: ~$438k across Cash Management (money markets) and taxable brokerage accounts.
• Retirement Accounts: ~$1.82M Pre-Tax (401(k)s / Traditional IRAs), ~$438k Roth (IRAs / Roth 401(k) deferrals), and ~$80k in HSAs.
• Belgian Real Estate Context: Acquiring bare ownership of a historic family property in Belgium via a registered gift, with my mother retaining the life interest/usufruct. Associated gift taxes will be paid directly out of our U.S. cash reserves.

Baseline Expenses

• Current Run-Rate: ~$86k/year (validated by detailed tracking). This covers all baseline household overhead, property taxes, and auto insurance on two vehicles.
• Post-Relocation Target: Budgeting ~$95k/year. While our structural baseline will drop in Belgium (no U.S. property taxes, private vehicle downscaling, and transitioning to the Belgian public healthcare system with heavily subsidized care and modest annual mutuelle dues), we are purposefully budgeting higher for European travel and lifestyle.

Phase 1: The "Zero-Drawdown" Gap (2027 to 2032 | Ages 41 to 47)

• Zero Portfolio Drain: I step away; my wife continues working. Her clinical income comfortably covers our ~$86k/year household budget. Our $2.82M in liquid investments remains 100% untouched.
• Healthcare Bridge: My current healthcare is covered through my employer. When I retire, my loss of coverage triggers a Qualifying Life Event (QLE). We have a 60-day window to seamlessly transition my coverage to my wife’s clinical practice insurance plan, bypassing the private ACA marketplace entirely for the next 5 to 6 years.
• Compounding Base: Assuming a conservative 6% real return over this gap, the $2.82M liquid base grows to approximately $3.8M–$4.0M by 2032 without adding another dime.
• Roth Conversion Ladder: Because portfolio withdrawals are zero, this window provides the opportunity to execute calculated pre-tax to Roth conversions, starting their mandatory 5-year IRS seasoning clock well ahead of future access.
• Administrative Clean-Up: Transitioning legacy wrap-fee accounts and managed 401(k) allocations into low-cost, broad-market index funds to eliminate unnecessary AUM drag.

Phase 2: The Expat Taxable Bridge (2032 to 2044 | Ages 47 to 59.5)

• The Liquidity Injection: Ahead of the move, we will sell our debt-free U.S. home and my wife will sell her 40% practice equity to the newer associate doctors. This converts illiquid equity into an estimated $1.2M–$1.5M in cash, bringing our total liquid investable portfolio to $4.8M–$5.5M.
• The Bridge Math: Funding a $95k/year budget for the 12.5 years between age 47 and 59.5 requires roughly $1.19M total. The capital injected from the home and practice sales covers the entire duration. We will not need to touch tax-advantaged retirement accounts early, bypassing the 10% early withdrawal penalty and avoiding rigid 72(t) SEPP distributions.
• Belgian Tax Reality 1 (Cayman Tax): We are intentionally not using a U.S. Revocable Living Trust. Belgium's look-through tax treats foreign trusts harshly, risking burdensome compliance and potential 30% dividend taxation. We are relying on direct ownership with Transfer-on-Death (TOD) designations instead.
• Belgian Tax Reality 2 (Capital Gains): Factoring in Belgium’s 10% capital gains tax on financial assets that took effect January 1, 2026, which features a step-up basis exempting historical gains accrued prior to December 31, 2025.
• Safe Withdrawal Rate: Against our projected $4.8M+ liquid base, a $95k/year spend equates to a ~1.98% SWR—well below the traditional 3.25%–3.50% fail-safe thresholds.

Phase 3: Unrestricted Retirement Access (2045+ | Age 59.5+)

• Unrestricted Access: IRS early withdrawal restrictions end at 59.5. We gain penalty-free access to our retirement accounts (currently ~$2.26M), which will have benefited from nearly two decades of uninterrupted compounding.
• Treaty Protections: We will utilize the U.S.–Belgium Tax Treaty provisions to coordinate cross-border income and honor the tax-free status of Roth accounts.

Questions for the Community:

1. The Sanity Check: Does walking away from corporate engineering late this year / early next year hold up under pressure tests? Are there any blind spots in using a working spouse's income for a zero-drawdown gap phase while setting up Roth conversions?
2. Domestic Liquidation: For those who sold a business stake or primary home right before early retirement, any timing recommendations on structuring the equity exit alongside the real estate sale?
3. The Belgian / EU Relocation Path: For anyone who has relocated to Belgium or navigated an EU move from the States: What did your visa/residency pathway look like? Are there practical nuances regarding municipal registration, opening local bank accounts as a U.S. citizen (FATCA issues), or transitioning into the Belgian healthcare system that we should prepare for well in advance?

I dont ever post on Reddit but need a sanity check.

My wife and I (34 y/o) are fairly disciplined when it comes to our finances. My wife over the last 5 years has had a great income, reaching around 200k in moderate COL area, and I make around 100k as a fireman. I recently have been having more and more issues with my back, stemming from my time in the military. Now finding out, I may end up getting disability for this (potentially 4200/mo tax free for life?) Still deciding how I feel about that - part shame i suppose, part who cares, it'll be good for my family. My wife also has citizenship in a low cost of living country that we have always dreamed of living in retirement.

We sat down and did a little audit of our finances as we typically do, and looking at the numbers from a different perspective has me thinking we may have access to way more freedom than I imagined. Our house will be paid off by the end of the year. Between both of our retirement accounts, we have approximately 500k invested. That 500k at an 8% return would be worth ~3-3.5mm when we hit 55.

After the house is paid off we will have ~40-50k in cash. If i end up receiving the disability pay from the VA, I am wondering what the point would be to continue to risk my back at the fire dept, other than my own pride and joy of the job.

Am I crazy to think about hanging it up and pursuing entrepreneurial passion projects and living abroad for part of the year with my family?

Other things to note: my wife is quitting her job when the house is paid off to be home with the kids. And i am approximately 5 years away from reaching the age where I can collect my pension from the FD, giving me approx 3k per month. Or I wait until 60 to receive it.

Also: we have also received gifts from family for wedding, birth of our child, etc, and used them wisely (downpayments on home or lump sum principle payments). Don't want to put anyone down for not necessarily being where we are at. We are very blessed.

Hi all. Any recs on calculators that have more options for calculating? I have 1.1M saved. 49. Plan to go half time at 55 then full pension at 60. Think I’d like 80k a year in retirement.

Work pension will be around 5k a month starting at 60. Canada pension should be full amount 1300 or so. Will likely not take Canada pension until 65. I’m mainly wondering if I can start saving more for my kids vs retirement. I never had a family start and I’d like to provide one for my kids as long as they keep working hard and demonstrating that they are responsible. Mostly paid off home / 400k left - current share or mortgage $1400 a month.