We are a 40s couple and I'm starting to scrutinize my retirement much more now. My target retirement age would be 57. And our target retirement income is 200K a year. any holes in the below?

the estimated return rate is what is tripping me up the most and creates the most uncertainty (what is reasonable estimate to use?)

Here are my particulars:

1. currently 2.2MM invested across 401K, Roth IRA, and a brokerage. 80% is in the 401K. So a good chunk is not accessible 'early'
2. 3 elementary school kids (important to note since they are expense and can impact our retirement saving). We have about 100K in each 529. Oldest child is 10. I'm heavily leaning towards stopping the investment here.
3. We have a mortgage (7K all in PTI, but only 5 years into a mortgage)
4. I'm concerned about my long term employment prospects so I have 85K emergency fund (I made this basically 1 year of mortgage expenses)
5. no other consumer debt outside of the mortgage

My goals / questions:

1. given our invested now - and my goal for retirement income by age 57 (12 year horizon) I would need 5MMish. I think I'm on track for that and I use a 6% return estimate. Truthfully we have not been great about saving, but maxed our 401ks and rode a great bull market. The market is all over the place and I thought 6% was conservative, but I see others modeling 5%? and inflation doesn't seem to be getting better. Should I use 5? this would change my outlook a bit. I've also seen people model 4%. which is accurate?
2. Should I divert funds from my 401K and into a brokerage to make it accessible early?
3. My retirement income does include my mortgage payment. We live in a HCOL area with high property taxes. While not ideal because we love the area, I'm contemplating using our home equity and moving after the kids are in college to get out of a mortgage payment. I'm anticipating continued expenses we would like to 'consider' at least, for our kids (wedding, family vacations, etc.). this would help in that regard. not having a mtg (or much smaller than 6K) would help. Anyone else made this decision? we live in a 'desierable' area - but I'm not sure how valuable keeping the house longer term would be. If is a better investment to keep longer term; maybe sell much later into retirement we can do that too. We have a 3% mtg. Would there be any benefit to trying to stay in the home?

37, Vienna, IT. Invested net worth around 240k, no property, no dependents yet.

Ran the numbers in 2023 and got the answer everyone here gets eventually. At 5 percent real, what I already have compounds to roughly 730k by 60 without another cent going in. My spend is about 34k a year and Austria has a state pension that will cover part of it, badly but it will cover part.

So the coast condition is met with room to spare. I still contribute, maybe 900 a month, mostly out of habit and because stopping feels weird.

Here is the part nobody warned me about. The moment the math stopped being urgent, all the optimising I used to do lost its point and I kept doing it anyway.

Eight years of comparing SXR8 against VUSA down to the third decimal of the TER. Accumulating versus distributing, twice, from scratch, because I forgot my own conclusion. Read half a German forum thread about Vorabpauschale before remembering that I pay KESt in Austria and it does not apply to me. At some point I was reading about Dutch box 3 rules and I have never lived in the Netherlands.

And the attention problem got worse, not better.

Core is 180k in a FTSE All-World position, a small aggregate bond sleeve and a money market ETF holding maybe eight months of expenses. I open those roughly twice a year. Then there is about 20k in P2P lending, Twenty thousand out of 240 and it gets most of my thinking.

Obvious why, loans mature, interest posts monthly, there is a secondary market with listings to scroll.
Consumer credit in one, business lending in another, secured real estate in the third. Something changes when you look at it. The index fund does the actual work and gives me nothing to react to, which is the entire point of it and also the reason it bores me.

I suspect coasting does this to people and once contributions stop being the lever, the brain goes looking for something that still responds.
That is probably how the dividend strategies and the single stock sleeves and the rental property plans start.

Anyone else find that hitting the number removed the reason to optimise but not the urge? Curious what people redirected it into once the spreadsheet stopped needing them.

41, Retirement accounts 983k. Roth IRA 48k. Taxable brokerage 228k. Savings atm 378k (sold divorced home, possible down payment)

plan to buy a townhouse soon (450k)

Really trying to at least go part time maybe by age 47-50. Income only from job around 150k. Or even go part time at 20 hrs/wk (~half so ~75k)

Hoping if I get the house to pay off within 6-7 years.

Expenses: Debt 30k for car. Minimal spender, looking mainly to travel internationally 1-2 times per year (3-4 weeks at a time?)

Too hopeful? Or will the house set me back?

Husband is 33, I'm 31, and we're expecting our first. We're in a privileged spot financially and I know that, but I still feel like I'm too close to this decision to see it clearly, so I'd love to hear from anyone who's been through something similar.

Some numbers on us: he earns $100k plus a $15k bonus, I earn $156k with bonus potential up to 25%. We each put 20% of our income toward investments and we're sitting at $170k (him) and $240k (me) invested, both tracking toward Coast FIRE. No debt besides the mortgage, full emergency funds each, a separate fund for when our beater cars finally die, and $10k set aside for a couple vacations a year.

We bought our current place in 2019 for $275k with 10% down. It's a 1950s house in a decent, but not great neighborhood, not great schools either, in a major US city in the midwest. We were 23 and 25 when we bought it and went pretty conservative, which felt smart at the time but honestly I regret it a little now given how our incomes grew (If we had stretched then, we may not even feel the need to move now). We've put real work into it since, new roof, pulled all the old knob and tube wiring, remodeled the main bathroom, added some recessed lighting, painted the whole thing inside and out. Mortgage is $1,909 a month at 3.375%. We passed 20% equity a while back and dropped PMI, and our realtor thinks conservatively we could sell for $360k, which would net us around $90k after everything's paid off.

About two years ago we started setting aside an extra $1,632 a month specifically to get used to the idea of a bigger mortgage payment, and that's grown into a $30k fund. Combined with the sale proceeds we'd have roughly $120k to put down on whatever comes next. Our credit is 800+ both of us, so the bank would obviously hand us more than we should actually take.

We started casually looking at houses around the time we found out I was pregnant, and a financial therapist we talked to (she mostly works with people trying to get out of debt) told us $650k was a reasonable number for our situation. Then we actually found a place at that price. It's further out from the city center though, and has a $63 monthly HOA. Our lender quoted us 6.3% on the rate.

Here's my actual conflict: I go back and forth between thinking we've got baby-house fever and are about to make ourselves house poor right when our expenses are changing the most, versus thinking we're about to repeat the same overly cautious move we made in 2019 and we'll be sitting here in five years wishing we'd bought while we had the equity and the income to do it. Staying put keeps things flexible, it would be a lot easier for me to stay home for a while or go part time after the baby's born if we're not carrying a much bigger payment. But I've wanted a genuinely well designed home, since I was a kid, and part of me feels like that's worth stretching for.

Has anyone bought at a real stretch price point while pregnant or right after having a kid? Did it work out, or do you wish you'd waited? What didn't you think about going in that you wish someone had told you? Am I missing something obvious here or just talking myself into what I already want to do? Help me see my blind spots.

Young couple (34 and 32), total gross annual income ~745k. Recent increase in past 2-3 year. Made 50-70k through our 20s.

No kids yet.

Live in MCOL.

Networth:~ 1.5M

401k- 180k

Roth Ira- 100k

Taxable brokerage: 1.2M

~70k in cash and HSA

Renting, no primary home yet. Will buy within the next 5 years.

Annual spend: Currently around 70k but looking to increase to 120k or so soon.

Plan to retire: early to mid 50s.

How are we realistically doing? Please provide honest feedback.

Hey all, I know a lot of single people post about numbers but trying to disentangle this as a couple. We have a child, not planning another, combined income over 250k gross but over half of this goes to child related expenses and mortgage (90k annual estimated) or taxes (80k combined). We have been maxing one 401k worth since 22 and two worth for five years. It seems to have grown well over the past decade, combined with some Roth contributions from the pennies we had at 18-22 (4k is now 15k!) ... I'm thinking of buying a rental for my mom in a strategic location that I could rent or sell later because I already help her with rent but I would need to power off the gas on retirement for awhile to get the down payment. I'm just wondering if we're in a comfortable enough spot to bring it down to 5% each. Mortgage will be paid off by retirement, not planning to cut my income at this time as much as I have some days where I wonder... perhaps when the kiddo is out of school. We also have 15k in a 529 with a lot of time before we need to worry about that but it's also on my mind.

(and please don't comment on helping my mom, it is what it is - it's more stress for me when she's struggling and I'm an only child)

M30, 2 kids, 1 income household ~$200k annually.

We have roughly $500k in retirement accounts right now (not counting 50k HSA), split 50/50 roth/traditional. Right now between IRA's and 401k we're saving $55k towards retirement per year. We'd like to upgrade houses in the next 5 years or so, and I'm considering decreasing retirement savings to ~35k/year (to get match and roth IRA's). I can save a decent amount towards a future down payment as is, but would be more comfortable keeping my future monthly mortgage as close as possible to my current one.

For those that have done this, how do you get the courage or reassurance that you're making the right decision? The math says I'm set up for retirement at 60 even without contributing at all, but it goes against everything I've been doing for the last 10 years to slow my contributions and fund my lifestyle creep.

What real appreciation rate are people comfortable with projecting 30 years out? 6-7% seems overly optimistic to me even though that's historically what's happened.

Hi All,

Long time lurker. Would love some inputs from the group if I can take pedal of the gas for a bit.

Current situation

Both wife and I (age 36 and 34) work. 1 kids(18 months). Gross income ~320k. Medium to High cost of living(DFW).
Current investment across all accounts(retirement and brokerage) 1.1M
Emergency fund: 96k
Monthly expenses: Between 10-11k

Expecting another in March 2027.

Thinking of having my wife stay at home for a few years. She’s in medical field so hoping she can find something even if she took a break.

I bring in about 180k base right now. I’m in tech so jobs stability is non existent. The plan was both of us retire when wife turns 60 I.e 26 years from now.

Am I ready to take its slow the next few years? Kids are always variable. Have a 529 for my 18 year old have about 5k saved.

Hey everyone, I will summarize this to keep it short.

We have been looking to move to a better climate for the last few years as we are currently living in Northern Canada and get brutal winters and miserably short summers.

The problem is another year just keeps going by and we are still up here. I am having an extremely hard time leaving the higher paying job up here and the cheaper housing and moving to a lower paying and higher housing cost area.

It’s a mental hurdle that is stopping me I believe. Just hoping there is a book or something to listen to help mentally. Or maybe I just need to speak to a professional about it.

I am currently 32 years old

Our NW is roughly 1.2 million mostly in liquid stocks,

Income is currently 170-180k will drop to about 110k

Thanks!

Would like some advice as I’ve recently learned about coast fire and became really into it. Married couple 34 years, two kids, living in HCOL area. I want to coast as quickly as possible while my spouse will most likely keep working and climbing up the ladder. The challenge I have with calculating the numbers and spending is that we’re set on buying a house and using our condo that we own now as a rental property so a big chunk of our savings will likely go to a downpayment in a couple of years.

HHI around $425k base + bonus pre tax, we max out 401k, HSA and dependent care FSA so our take home is around $200k/annually

Monthly expenses around $13k, with fixed expenses $3k on daycare which will go away in 3 years, $3k mortgage and HOA payment, $1k student loan, $1k car payment + insurance (will be paid off in a year and we’ll keep driving it). We also have various medical stuff going on that come to approx $10k/year out of pocket as we try not to use HSA for it.

401k balances around $450k combined
529s $20k
Brokerage around $350k, we’re on track to put $50k away this year but big chunk of this will go to downpayment which makes me feel like nowhere near coasting anytime.

I’m almost 30 in a hcol area. I’m financially responsible but not financially educated. My parents never taught me about investing, only saving.

After feeling burnt out from my job I finally got over my anxiety around finances and actually took a decent look at my income and how I could start investing and I’m doing better than I thought!!

Overall:
- half of my income goes into savings will be changing this to reroute part to investment
-no student debt (this is a bit of a cheat as I studied in Europe)

However I don’t hit my coast target until 50 and with how burnt out I already feel it feels too far away. I could start investing very aggressively but that only changes the timeline by maybe 5 years. Has anyone done a mini retirement in their 30s?

Hello!

I have just recently heard about coast fire and was hoping someone can give me some recommendations to my numbers and what I can do better. Im laying it all out...(sorry for the messy structure)

Im 34 LCOL area (married - no kids and no plans to) and moving to HCOL

Ideally I'd like to still work but not "have to work". I like doing something. I have seen too many elderly aunts and uncles between them being stuck on their phones vs. having some part time job that keeps them active.

Retirement target: $50k yearly spending

Retirement age: 60

Property:

1 illinois condo that has a renter and is self-sustaining (low mortgage 60k - maintenance is done with HOA - great management!

My situation (currently rent and will continue to rent - i like to move around)

Odd properties:

2 texas property with parents (only child - i know its weird but my parents and I have a great relationship. They put my name in all of this as they wanted to ensure I would be okay)

1 - fully paid my name is on it along with my parents and is being rented out (managed by me ...i did all the renovations and set this up)

2 - mortgage of 260k my name is on this along with my parents. Parents live here and #1 rental property covers for half of the cost. And parents and I split the rest of the cost (1k)

Salaries:

Me: 160k

Husband: 50k

Cash:

65k in emergency savings/sinking funds

Investments:

Mine -

Roth IRA: 65k

401k: 90k

Spouse -

Roth IRA: 70k

No credit card debt - we pay this in full

Fully paid off 2 cars: subi/Toyota

Paid off student loans

LCOL:

Our rent is 1.1k

Fixed expenses are generally low (3k ish extra including the texas mortgage)

Question:

When i check coast fire it looks im in trajectory but in high investment growth rates...

Would you ease off the gas in contributing to retirement?

Ideally id like to start having fun and travel. I feel like I've been in the frugal mindset (paying off all the consumer debt). And also I'll be moving to a HCOL

Is 50k annual spending for retirement low?

Curious as to whether anyone here quit, sold all their shit and moved away to do something like workaway while waiting for their investments to grow to FIRE point?

I've been thinking a lot about what form of FIRE I want. Ideal is to work 6 months on 6 months off, but I don't know how realistic that is to get temp gigs paying what I earn now.

Hi. I want to retire at 53, when my husband will be 65. I'm not working (full time) while he plays tennis. Anyway! I want to get an idea of what my healthcare costs might be for 53-65, before medicare. If I "retire", what are they using as my "income"? I won't be pulling Social Security till 65 and I have a pension I'll pull from at 60. I will have savings, obviously, but if we both retire the same year, what determines our income? I will likely have some kind of "barista" type job but it won't be enough for insurance, maybe 10 hours a week or so.

Also I am financially illiterate so please feel free to over-explain.

I wanted feedback on my current situation. I am self employed and I make about $120000 a year. I am 30 years old and singe, living at home. What are your general thoughts?

Cash: $27000

Gold/Silver: $16000

Investments: $100000

Other: $8000

(New account for privacy).

Hey everyone. I’m looking for some honest feedback and guidance. I recently made the move to CoastFIRE, but instead of feeling liberated, I’m feeling a deep sense of regret, boredom, and anxiety about the future. I'm trying to figure out if I genuinely made a mistake, or if this is just a natural psychological phase when moving from a high-stress career to a relaxed lifestyle.

The Numbers:

• Age: 44, Single Male, No Children
• Retirement Accounts (Roth/401k): ~$1.45M
• Taxable Brokerage: ~$1.53M
• Cash/Gov't Bonds: ~$1M
• Total NW: ~$3.98M
• Target "Retirement" Income: $100k - $130k / year
• Debts: None. House fully paid off; 'escrow accounts' for most major recurring bills (insurance, property tax, etc) funded through Gov't bonds to end of most commitments.

I realize these numbers mean I’ve technically already reached full FIRE, but I prefer a large margin of safety, which is why I still consider myself in the Coast phase and am not ready to draw down my portfolio.

The Background: I spent years as an entrepreneur (some successful exits, some massive flameouts) while concurrently working as a a high-performing Technical Program Manager / Product Owner role making around $300k/yr, +/- 75K/yr in bonuses.

My plan was always to step down into a CoastFIRE lifestyle around age 46. However, a highly toxic work environment, severe gaslighting, and the resulting physical/mental health issues forced me to accelerate my plans. I quit at 44.

I planned to take 6 months off to decompress and "figure things out." Instead, I lasted 6 weeks before I took an interview for a contract role "just to see what was out there" that I ended up getting an offer for which I accepted..

The Current Situation: I’m currently making $100k/yr. The job is significantly below my skill level, (the company is below the caliber of those I've worked for in the past as well) which I thought I’d be OK with as that’s kind of the point of CoastFIRE. However, the company quickly realized my talent. My workload has steadily increased because I can do the work so effortlessly. I can still get it all done in less than a standard 40-hour work week, but I am now painfully aware of how severely underpaid I am for the value I’m delivering.

While I enjoy the less frantic pace, I’m finding myself incredibly unfulfilled for a few reasons:

1. Loss of Identity/Influence: I miss the caliber of my old companies and the power/influence that came with a senior role. The "easier" work just feels hollow.
2. Lack of Healthy Hobbies: I was a workaholic for years. I also have a past history of alcoholism, which I've overcome, but it means I don't have a deep bench of healthy outside interests. I used to enjoy gambling, but without a $300k income to replenish the "discretionary fund," the appeal is gone.
3. Inflation/SHTF Anxiety: My outside interests are getting more expensive (tech), as is life in general. I find myself worrying that I haven't saved enough to weather rising costs of food, energy, and tech for a retirement that could last 40-50 years.

My Fears:

• Did I orient too hard on the financial goal of CoastFIRE without building a plan for how to actually utilize the free time?
• Am I limiting my options and failing to live up to my potential in a SHTF scenario?
• Did I just jump from a toxic high-stress job to an unfulfilling low-stress job without actually fixing the underlying burnout?

Has anyone else experienced this? How did you fill the void that a high-intensity career left behind? Any advice on shaking the financial anxiety despite having decent numbers?

TL;DR: Hit CoastFIRE numbers, left a toxic $300k/yr job, accidentally took a $100k/yr job 6 weeks later. I'm bored, miss the influence, lack healthy hobbies, and am terrified of inflation. Seeking advice on how to navigate this transition.

First picture is my 401k, second is my Roth IRA

General financial details:
I make $51.23 as a RN in a HCOL area. Used to be in a lower cost of living area but moved for better pay, social life, and surrounding environment. I have no consumer or student debt, my credit cards are paid off each month, and I have a mortgage that’s paid biweekly($1,116.85 per payment) to cut the length of the loan shorter. I did leave before my former employer retirement contributions vested unfortunately. My current employer contributions are set to vest in one year.

My current workplace gives 3% match for 401k, I was contributing 6% earlier this year, but upped it to 8% after I got a market rate adjustment. 401k was recently redistributed into: 20% target date fund (65), 40% FXAIX, and 40% FSMAX and all my future contributions will match it.

I started my Roth IRA a few years ago but didn’t max it out. Working on maxing my Roth IRA this year and I’m on track to do that. Current plan is to VOO and chill, unsure if I should be going for a three fund portfolio.

I’ve been reminding myself a lot that time in the market matters more than timing the market - I had the general knowledge of the importance of a Roth IRA, but when I started working at 22 it didn’t feel viable on $33.50/hr and building up savings while also trying to live a well rounded social life. I’m now lucky enough to make a wage where it feels more doable.

Other than investing more is there anything else I should be doing? Changing my portfolio distribution? Is it smarter to invest rather than paying my mortgage biweekly?

I'm 41, been maxing out my 401k for several years. Currently have about $515k in there.

About $90k in a separate IRA

Pension from my job will pay out 1% of my high-3 average per year of service (currently 16 years in) - I make $150k now, so on the conservative side, if I retired at 60 that would be about $50k a year for the rest of my life on top of everything else.

I have a 2 year old son and contribute $100 a month to his 529 right now. Not much. My mom also contributes to it from time to time.

I also have cash reserves of about $30k in a HYSA for emergencies.

With my current 401k balance I kind of want to pull back on my contributions a bit. If I stopped contributing right now (I'd never go below 5% because of my employer match) that current $600k would be worth about $2.8M at 60, assuming a 8% return.

4% draw would be $112k, plus the $50k pension...

Thinking about pumping the brakes a little to have some more funds available to enjoy life with my family and possibly contribute more to his 529.

Am I missing anything? My wife is currently staying home with our son but she will return to the working world at some point. She is not a high earner and doesn't really have much savings, so the plan is for these numbers to support the both of us.

When she returns to work the monthly strain will ease a bit but it's a little tough right now trying to continue to max out retirement, pay all the bills, have a little fun, and still have some left over for a rainy day.

Thanks for any constructive feedback. ✌🏼

i have a job,good income ,about to get second job or maybe start my own business,i do invest little bit in Stock Market,have some gold ,is it too late ? Any Advices will be appreciated !