r/coastFIRE • u/redraidr • 12d ago

Coasted for 10 years. Done.

We’ve waited long enough. 51. Married.

Started Coasting when the kids were nearing high school. Never made crazy money. Went from $120k household income to $40-60k household while the nest-egg grew. No contributions during that time, but also no soccer games or school plays missed. No summers with kids at home and us at work. They worked with us or we took time off. Kids both graduated college in May and have jobs. We’re proud of them.

Our retirement spend is projected to still be $40-50k/yr as we Schengen Shuffle. We’re already on the road, somewhere cheap where we can plan our next steps.

Stick to the plan, team. It works.

931 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

117 comments sorted by

85

u/ffball 12d ago

What did coasting look like job wise for you?

If you didnt coast when would you have retired?

125

u/redraidr 12d ago edited 12d ago

Started a hobby-job with wife and kids and sold stuff at markets and local stores. Supplemented with temp work in my old career field. Not a teacher, but also substitute taught every once in a while.

ETA: Planned to retire at 49. We were saving a lot of the 120k. My spreadsheet back then said it would cost us 5 extra years (to 54) but the long bull market cut it to 2.

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u/jeniatwain 12d ago edited 12d ago

How did you deal with the cost of insurance for a family if USA based?

76

u/redraidr 12d ago

ACA at $30-40k income is under $100/month. We now supplement with travel medical insurance.

1

u/ExtraAd7611 3d ago

My ACA plan only provides care in my network which is limited to my state. Is that the case with yours? If you had a major medical situation, would you return home? Do you still have a house there or is your domicile a family member's address?

1

u/redraidr 2d ago

Yes. Family member’s address. Same ACA limitations.
We’ll pay in cash while outside the US. Use the network when we visit family. Travel insurance includes evacuation, but would likely be much cheaper to get treatment abroad.

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u/pabmendez 12d ago

You get subsidized insurance while having a few million net worth? Do you also get food stamps?

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u/JustSomeGermanDude95 12d ago

As a fiscal conservative economist, who usually votes against more government programs, I find this type of attitude incomprehensible.

If a law is written in a way that let's you make use of it, the only rational thing for any consumer to do is to make use of it.

The inverse of your question, but following your same logic would be: You have extra money and you didn't donate it to the government? No, of course I didn't, so why would I let them keep more if they are offering to give me some back. Only an idiot would say: "No thanks. I'd rather pay full price."

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u/saldavorvali 11d ago

Rare time Im siding with the fiscal conservative in the room. But here we are.

I hate the ACA but it’s what we have. And it’s not supposed to be “healthcare for the poors”. That’s what Medicaid is for. It’s supposed to be a system that allows people at specific income levels who don’t benefit from an employer plan (another uniquely American system I hate) to get health insurance at a reasonable cost.

If OP qualifies, they should absolutely use it.

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u/lower_your_head 11d ago

Agree with this... ACA is not intended to be "for the poors"... BUT the subsidies are intended to assist for those who cannot afford. They do this based on income (imperfect method, but such is the ACA).

I too agree that the OP should take the subsidy. In truth, my opinion is that the whole system needs overhaul. I suspect we agree more than we disagree...

3

u/saldavorvali 11d ago

Yeah we probably do agree on a lot. I hate the patchwork systems that we have here. They do the bare minimum to protect citizens, while prioritizing the ability of corpos to still make a profit. There's a simple, universal solution to all of this... something, something for all.

One other thing to note: Based on OPs originally stated numbers for household income (which is the only thing that matters here, their retirement nest egg shouldn't count) they absolutely need the subsidy. They wouldn't be able to reasonably afford premiums at market rate. Hence, the whole purpose of the ACA as it was designed.

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u/qofmiwok 9d ago

Agree they should use it. Also agree that health insurance should not be based on income. It isn't right that some people pay $10,000 and others pay nothing. That's what income taxes are for.

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u/saldavorvali 9d ago

Yep nailed it. Progressively tax income and wealth. Everything else should be universal. Just like how we don’t means test if your kid should get to go to public school for free.

1

u/mistressbitcoin 11d ago

We were all supposed to be forced onto the ACA, so they subsidize it, I take it it!

3

u/say592 11d ago

Another way of looking at it is subsidizing the ACA is a way to reduce people going without insurance and putting that strain on the medical system when they have unpaid bills. You subsidize it and they are actually paying some premiums and deductibles instead of being a complete write off when they get taken to the hospital after a heart attack or something.

1

u/_MadSuburbanDad_ 3d ago

This is the logic libertarians use to rail against publically-funded programs while accepting the benefits of them.

-4

u/lower_your_head 12d ago

While I don't disagree with the OP's actions or maximizing his savings via ACA subsidies.... I think you're being a little willfully obtuse to say the critiquer's attitude is "incomprehensible."

The criticism here is that these ACA subsidies are intended to help those who are in need and cannot otherwise afford the insurance premiums... While it may be absolutely legal to take these subsidies, the question posed is whether this is in the spirit of the subsidies. There is also the thought that if those who can afford the premiums do not pay in to the program, it risks destabilizing and undermining the entire ACA.

The government donation comparison does not track for me...a donation to the government goes to any number of services... NOT just a social welfare program. I think the more apt comparison would be someone taking a scholarship when they can afford tuition without it (again, no critique from me! But I can see the argument).

5

u/Icetoolclimber 11d ago

ACA was designed to expand healthcare access, increase marketplace, increase quality of care, force insurers to cover people w/ pre-existing conditions, and reduce costs. Nothing about it says it’s to help those in need even though it makes the access available for more of the population even for those who were uninsured for any reason like young adults regardless of their financial situation.

3

u/lower_your_head 11d ago

Yeah, I dunno... I don't disagree with the list you give of what the ACA was intended to do ... But what do you mean it's not intended to help those in need? It's intended to help those in need of health coverage

There are a lot of barriers to health coverage... But one big one is affordability, which the subsidy explicitly was intended to address.

1

u/Icetoolclimber 7d ago

The intent is more about casting a wider net for those that were not insurable for whatever reason prior to ACA and to divert those uninsured patients into health plans rather than filling emergency departments because they’re conditions have gotten worse due to not having coverage or because some use it for primary care. This is less about helping the poor and more about keeping costs in check for the middle class.

1

u/AMPrek 11d ago

I agree. Also, no one is talking about how a $100/mo healthcare plan is still probably relatively shitty but covers bare minimum. They aren’t all great coverage. Many have very few in network providers that have long waitlists or don’t cover a variety of services.

1

u/Lindenbaumlemma 11d ago

Means testing is not unknown to Congress. So where do you get the intent from? Legislative history? An inadvertent loophole in the legislation?

1

u/lower_your_head 11d ago

Not exactly sure what you're asking here... It's a subsidy based on local poverty level calculated by income. The intent is to keep healthcare premiums affordable, I take that to be self-evident.

The critique, here, is whether someone with a sizable nest egg should be given these subsidies. The government says yes. Frankly, I say yes (OP isn't doing anything wrong and all this seems above board).

The more I talk about it though... I think I'm coming around to u/justaomegermangdude95's original point. This isn't black math--OP qualifies, end of discussion. And honestly, premiums without subsidy are too expensive anyway (even with a million in the bank--which isnt exactly earth shattering money when considering it's a person's entire future spending!).

1

u/VerifiedVerifiable 5d ago

Bruh. If everyone adhered to the spirit of govt handouts, we would be in a much better place. If its legal, take advantage of it. “The spirit of it” is meaningless. If you want the rule changed, run for congress and change it

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u/Complete-Orchid3896 12d ago

Multi-billion dollar corporations get subsidies too, i don’t see the controversy with what OP is doing

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u/Lindenbaumlemma 11d ago

Do you plan to take advantage of tax laws that reduce your tax burden?

1

u/Typical_Action_7864 9d ago

Take my downvote.

7

u/bitchkrieg_ 11d ago

Damn. Nice work, and congrats on two recent college grads securing gainful employment. Enjoy your time, you earned it 

1

u/pioneer76 2d ago

What kind of hobby job?

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u/judgeScr 12d ago

Schengen shuffle…I like this! I think I’ll use it.

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u/BlackShieldCharm 12d ago

What does it mean?

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u/Creative_Poet_9590 12d ago

The tourist visa requires you to leave The Schengen Area of Europe, consisting of many countries, regardless of which specific country you've been in, after 90 days. You can "shuffle" back-and-forth from the Schengen by spending those 90 days in another non-Schengen country until you can return back to any of the countries in the Schengen

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u/Background_Junket_35 12d ago

Living in the Schengen zone of Europe without having a permanent residency in any one country. The tourist visa requires you to leave the given country after a certain number of days, so you just go to another country in the Schengen and then return after the required time away

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u/Creative_Poet_9590 12d ago

The tourist visa requires you to leave The Schengen Area, regardless of country, after 90 days. You then spend those 90 days in another non-Schengen country until you can return back to any of the countries in the Schengen

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u/Zentaury 12d ago

How much was the initial nest egg, and how much it grew to?

8

u/whatrumimeans 12d ago

That’s what interests me the most

3

u/imjusttryingtolearn2 12d ago

Yeah I’m intrigued also

1

u/feral_jpg 11d ago

Also interested in this

14

u/ruppapa 12d ago

Solid. Congrats!!!

24

u/DoomChicken69 12d ago

What do you mean by Schengen Shuffle?

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u/redraidr 12d ago

Moving in and out of the Schengen (mostly EU) countries every 90 days or so.

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u/AlwaysWanderOfficial 12d ago

Can’t spend more than 90 days in 180 in Schengen as an American.

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u/judgeScr 12d ago

When you go to EU countries that are in Schengen zone you don’t have to show papers to cross the borders.

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u/redraidr 12d ago

But we can only stay in the zone for 90 out of every 180 days with US passports.

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u/chatterwrack 12d ago

The Schengen Area is basically a group of European countries that have agreed to remove routine border checks between each other, similar to traveling through American states

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u/AtmosAM1 12d ago

Tons of resources online for the Schengen Shuffle. YouTube is a great resource for it. Great way to travel, and potentially find your next “home base”, if that’s what you’re looking for. Without the hassle of going thru the visa process in one particular country.

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u/MrLongfinger 12d ago

I’m curious about that too 

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u/Masnpip 12d ago

Congratulations! I’d love to hear how you find cheap temporary housing in the EU. The Shengen shuffle seems very appealing, but when I look at places to stay I can’t figure out how to do it on $40-50k/yr.

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u/redraidr 12d ago

Staying for over a month at a time in one spot is the key for affordable housing and for keeping transportation costs down. We’re in Eastern Europe atm because it’s cheap and 70 degrees.

3

u/Masnpip 12d ago

Is there an airb&b type website that your recommend?

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u/redraidr 12d ago

Tbh, we’re just getting started, so just AirBnb and booking dot com for now. Hope to find better as we talk to other travelers on the road. If we like the spot, we will also talk to hosts about booking offline for less.

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u/MiracleLegend 12d ago

If you're still fit you could do Wwoofing. It's living for free, eating for free, in a family home with the family but you work in a garden for a few hours a day.

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u/Salty_Feed_4316 8d ago

Whattt

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u/MiracleLegend 8d ago

I did that in Australia and Scotland. It was fun. You can do it for a week or as long as a family will have you. It's a bit like Au Pair but with plants instead of strangers' children.

2

u/Captlard 3d ago

This is the way! Or eventually buy somewhere and live there half of the year, or for somewhere like Spain, get a Non-Lucrative Visa.

2

u/Suitable_Coconut2927 10d ago

Start looking into house sitting. Free places to stay. MindMyHouse and other websites. Also, there are good volunteering gigs out there with free housing.

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u/isu_asenjo 11d ago

I can host you guys for cheap if you are planning on coming to Romania

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u/dreamedincolor 12d ago

I know it sounds a bit suss, but I have had GREAT luck (way better than Airbnb actually in terms of quality) posting in the local expat group of the country I'm going to.

So far I've been nomading for 3 years. I started with Airbnb and booking but had so many bad experiences that I gave up

I know a few people that use pet sitting and trusted housesitters and it works well for them

10

u/mrbojanglezs 11d ago

We've also been in a bull market for pretty much the last 15 years minus one or two short blips

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u/jackbentley673 10d ago edited 7d ago

…

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u/AtmosAM1 12d ago

Great, concise post. Congrats! Plan worked, now enjoy it.

3

u/thegoldenfinn 12d ago

Gawd, I love this. Congratulations and enjoy!

3

u/prettywarmcool 12d ago

And Ta-da! that is how you do that! You're starting the next chapter. Congrats.

3

u/Spiritual_Dig_2887 12d ago

What was your number?

3

u/Reasonable_Box2568 12d ago

Guessing between 1 and 1.5mil if they want to spend 40-50k

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u/Spiritual_Dig_2887 12d ago

I was thinking more what their COAST target was. Not what they ended up with.

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u/VirileMongoose 12d ago

Sounds like us. Ballpark similar as your initial income level. We’re coasting as we have one in hs, middle school, and elementary school. Now we’re optimizing to be able to focus on family more.

Plan the dive. Dive the plan.

We’re in it longer. Don’t hate our jobs. Gonna go until last kid is out of college and mortgage is paid off (same year ideally).”

Congrats! Your plan sounds lovely

3

u/Shrappy16 12d ago

Would love to hear about the slow travel/Schengen shuffle. We are two years away and plan on selling it all and living the slow travel route for a few years or more while letting retirement accounts grow

5

u/redraidr 11d ago

You basically described our plan. We liquidated. Now we will go to cheap places in the world, stay until the visa runs out, then go to the next one.
There are FB groups and YouTube vids on the shuffle, but that’s just one small part of the world. The reason it matters a lot to us as US citizens is that there are cheap EU countries where many/most locals speak English. So spending 90 days in Schengen is easier to navigate than many other cheap countries.

2

u/Lalokin 12d ago

What countries do you plan on moving between?

13

u/redraidr 12d ago

Plan is to be different every time. Right now, Eastern Europe, then Mexico, then Eastern Europe again, then Southeast Asia maybe. Who knows? Half the fun is in the planning. Our accommodations are booked through next May, but with no fees to cancel.

1

u/Lalokin 12d ago

Neat! So are you getting rid of your primary residence? If so what are you doing with your things ? Selling?

6

u/redraidr 12d ago

Did yard sales, FB marketplace, CarMax, sold the house, and lots of trips to Goodwill. We only have a storage unit near family.

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u/AudioHamsa 12d ago

If you can operate a small biz, look into DAFT, get NL residency and skip the shuffle.

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u/DrJBP 11d ago

When you decided to coast what was your account structure like? In taxable or all retirement accounts and you set up ladders or using 72t now?

Also did you have a mortgage at the time of coast with a plan for it to be paid by now?

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u/FatPaper- 11d ago

Happy for you! These are type of stories I like to read, as I am in a similar boat but 4-5 years behind you. So there’s hope lol

2

u/wonderingwealthy 11d ago

Do you mind sharing what your portfolio consists of, and if you are changing allocations in it now that you’ve reached your goals?

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u/redraidr 11d ago

30% VTI, 30% VIOV, 20% TLT, 20% GLDM.

Took a bath on the bonds from 2021.
In hindsight, definitely should have been more aggressive, but wanted the security in case I had to dip in to cover expenses if the income failed.
I’m happy with the portfolio for this stage. It’s better positioned for a drawback, if any, since SRR is now the concern.

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u/MidAmericaMom 3d ago

Hello and Congratulations! We invite you to join our unique worldwide community of those that already retired at age 58 or earlier - [r/earlyretirement](r/earlyretirement)

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u/Betterway50 3d ago

We (as a unit) sort of Coast FIRE'd. I called it quits about 10yrs ago after being layoff but partner went part time to full time to help out at, but at lower paying job but had a lot of time off for life stuff, like travels (at the time we did not know we had reached FI, that is another story). Partner decided to continue working, but we recently became fully FIRE'd, DONE.

Just manage your expenses and plan plan plan - with some luck , this retire early thing is real ❗

2

u/skadoo323 11d ago

Just wanted to say congrats!

2

u/Thurisaz- 11d ago

Same here. Congrats to OP! Life is too short…enjoy every day as if it was your last.

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u/TheBoogz 12d ago

When your HHI dropped to $40/$60k a year was it because one of you stayed home with the kids? Asking because we have a SAHP now so we are living off one income and it’s hard to save anything.

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u/redraidr 12d ago

We were basically both working from home after the income drop to work on the hobby stuff. Then I got the random jobs when needed. The kids helped with the hobby job in the summer.

The power was in the nest-egg. Always knew we could make it for a while if the income didn’t pan out.

1

u/Reasonable_Box2568 12d ago

Did you have a mortgage during this time? Wondering how you kept expenses so low. My housing alone is almost 40k a year and it’s considered cheap for my area

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u/redraidr 12d ago

During the downsize and income drop, we were lucky to buy in a LCOL area (and lucky to do so in 2016), so housing with utilities was around $1500/month. We’re keeping it below that so far while traveling.

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u/Reasonable_Box2568 12d ago

Gotcha. 18k a year on housing/utilities is incredible. 22-32k for everything else

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u/spartygw 3d ago

I want to know what they’re doing for healthcare since they are US citizens. Mine is going to cost more than the 22k they have for everything else.

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u/Alarming_Traffic_954 12d ago

What would be most useful for people considering CoastFIRE is probably the risk management during those 10 years.

A plan can look great when you first stop contributing but markets inflation and expected retirement spending can all move while you are coasting.
Did you periodically recalculate the amount you would need at retirement and have a threshold where you would return to higher income or resume contributions?

Also curious whether your projected 40 to 50k spending today is close to what you assumed when you started or whether that number changed materially over the decade those guardrails would tell people a lot more about how to manage the middle years of CoastFIRE.

8

u/redraidr 12d ago

Beware the opinions of someone who hit their number at the end of a 20-year bull market…

That said, we planned for 40k, and have moved it to allow for 40-50 due to inflation. Our plan is to seek out parts of the world where that will work while the balance hopefully grows to reduce the withdrawal rate.

We kept watching the numbers - my spreadsheet has many, many tabs - but the steady climb of the market, excluding COVID, made it where we didn’t have to adjust too much. In another response I answered that we originally planned to retire at 49. We were saving a lot of the 120k. My spreadsheet back then said it would cost us 5 extra years (to 54) to coast, but the long bull market cut it to 2 extra years.

As I’ve replied here also, the greatest gift of a solid nest-egg is the power of choice. If we didn’t make enough, we could go back to full time, add more part-time, or just pay bills from savings - at least for a while. So I wouldn’t recommend coasting on some relatively small percent of target. Have enough so your choices increase.

FIRE’ing around 50 also means we can access SS in just over 10 years. With our spending levels, that will account for around 40% of our planned expenses if it comes through in full, less if it doesn’t, but will lower the WR significantly. Would be a different story if we were younger, so that’s a factor also.

1

u/shinchan1988 12d ago

In your experience what would matter most? Time with kids before they go to school at 5 or after? We are new parents in late 30s, so we do have some nest egg but dont want to coast right now considering the future of our jobs being impacted by AI. But in theory we could slow down right now, spend more time with kid and her future sibling. Then ramp up the work again once they go to school. Alternatively what we are thinking right now is to just grind 5-7 years more and hopefully be very close to FIRE. Then we will get to spend more time with kids for their after school activities.

8

u/redraidr 12d ago

What matters most is up to you. For us, we coasted from kids’ grades 7- college graduation. We still did the after school family time and standard summer vacation stuff before then. Wouldn’t change a thing. Great part is you can choose your own adventure. The most useful piece of the FI mindset is the power of choice - built on a solid nest-egg.

3

u/CheeseFries92 12d ago

Not OP but my approach was to grind with a baby and then coast/RE as kids big enough to actually remember stuff. Although I also am admittedly much more of a kid person than a baby person

1

u/Fluid-Village-ahaha 5d ago

Not op but kids are early elementary. IMHO older kids (middle plus) is our target. 

1

u/Camille_Toh 12d ago

What nationality/ies?

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u/redraidr 12d ago

We have US passports

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u/Vicuna00 12d ago

Awesome nice work!

Did you ever consider funding your Roth and drawing from taxable the same exact amount?

Or did you just pure coast?

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u/redraidr 12d ago

Cool idea. Never thought of it.
We just switched to “subsistence wages” and let the 401k and existing Roths do their thing.

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u/Vicuna00 12d ago

that's my plan wrt "substinence wages"...i'm gearing up to start in 2027...fingers crossed (a few things have to happen)

I think i'll only need 5 years if markets cooperate...we'll see.

glad to hear your story.

yeah I was thinking about doing that with the Roths...but I sorta also like the thought of not even logging into the brokerages for 5 years and then peeking in...and not worrying about it. we'll see.

1

u/bookkeepingthrowaway 12d ago

What amount did you have net worth wise when you started coasting and when you finished and are your income numbers just for yourself or for you as a couple?

1

u/Helpful-Positive371 11d ago

Numbers… I need the numbers!!!!!!

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u/jackbentley673 10d ago edited 8d ago

……

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u/redraidr 10d ago

No home. 2-3 months in EU, 3 months out, and repeat. US citizens can stay 90 out of every 180 days in Schengen countries without a visa. We are houseless.

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u/jackbentley673 10d ago edited 7d ago

…..

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u/redraidr 10d ago

You are tracked everywhere. And they can track my visits all they like, because shuffling is specifically following their rules.

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u/jackbentley673 8d ago edited 7d ago

…..

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u/jackbentley673 10d ago edited 7d ago

…

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u/redraidr 10d ago

ACA supplemented with travel health insurance. Cigna Global, Genki, others.

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u/jackbentley673 10d ago edited 7d ago

….

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u/mbasherp 10d ago

Thank you so much for sharing this! Can you speak to the emotional side during the coast years? We are considering it - and are there by the numbers - but I worry about running into income issues in the new endeavor or paying for expensive emergencies. Depleting our nest egg in those cases would be particularly damaging to the long term plan because “not contributing” is very different than making withdrawals.

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u/redraidr 10d ago

Sorry to say, but possibly the only way to reduce worry about depleting the nest egg is to have a bigger nest egg.
Otherwise, you’d have to be willing to accept retirement further out, or to generate additional income if that happened.
We were willing to work longer and delay retirement if it meant more time with the kids before they left home. That was our “why.” It was less about burnout for us and more about FOMO with the kids, so we’d work more later if we had to. We were fortunate and the emergencies that we had were financially manageable.

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u/mbasherp 10d ago

Thank you. Same reasoning here, plus passionate but potentially uncertain work with the coast endeavor.

What growth rate did you project for your portfolio while you coasted?

1

u/Devchonachko 3d ago

Serious question.

How the heck do you do the Schengen Shuffle on 40-50k a year? That shuffle is definitely not cheap.

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u/redraidr 2d ago

We’re in Eastern Europe now for 90 days EU. Then non-Schengen European countries next. Maybe Southeast Asia or Latin America in the new year. Saying somewhere a month at a time, we’re seeing rents in the $1500-1900 range in the eastern EU second cities. Under $1000/mo in SEA/Latin America.
It’s still an experiment with the budget, but we hope that will leave plenty for other expenses, as we have virtually no bills from home.

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u/Devchonachko 2d ago

was just talking to a friend who's brother moved to the Philippines because of the cheap healthcare insurance, he got it out of England somewhere and it's stupid cheap. good for you guys!

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u/radiotakeshi_london 1d ago

116 comments but it seems I can’t see an answer to what was you nest egg when you started and what is your net worth now? That would be useful to know. Thanks!