Nine months ago, I signed paperwork that ended a 26-year career. That Friday’s paycheck was my last W-2 paycheck of my life. I had reached Coast FIRE, and I used it to step away from a corporate executive role and build a different kind of life. If you’re searching for what Coast FIRE actually looks like after the decision is made, not just the theory of it, here are the real numbers, nine months in.
WHAT is Coast FIRE?
Coast FIRE means you frontload investing hard early, hit a number the math says can grow on its own (with no further contributions) into a full retirement nest egg by a target age, and then you get to stop investing so aggressively and let compounding do the rest. You still work, but you no longer have to save at the same intensity. That’s the whole idea behind the Coast FIRE financial independence strategy: you’ve already “coasted” into your number, so your income can go toward life instead of your portfolio.
At age 35, I calculated I needed at least $42,133 already invested to hit my desired retirement goal of age 65, living on $100,000 a year in today’s money, inflation-adjusted. I ignored that sheet for years. Simply because I had a feeling that just didn’t seem like a lot of money, I was worried about a market crash, AND I was busy climbing the corporate ladder (feel me on that??)
I didn’t go back to that spreadsheet until I was in my 40s, when I started realizing I was missing more and more time with my kids. When I finally recalculated with my invested assets, which were just over $1,000,000 at that point thanks to a consistent 60% savings rate, two things surprised me.
- I had already hit Coast FIRE for the standard retirement age of 65.
- My actual fire goal (full financial independence, not just coasting) was closer to age 53, not 65. I was much closer to full FIRE than I thought, even accounting for Coast FIRE math.
The Decision Fork at Coast FIRE
Once you hit your Coast FIRE number, you have a decision to make. There are three real paths, and this is the part most Coast FIRE explainer content skips.
I now do a mix of consulting for the industry I left (no more than 20 hours a month), building websites, and these YouTube videos.
Speaking of, here is my latest YouTube video on this topic (you can keep reading below it!)
Click the button above to check out my dynamic COAST FIRE calculator (near bottom of the page)
The Real Coast FIRE Numbers, Nine Months In
Here’s what nobody tells you about the money side of Coast FIRE: you take a real pay cut. Mine was massive compared to my corporate salary. But I now have something I never had before, time. Time to think, to be creative, and honestly, time that is already turning into new income streams I didn’t have a year ago.
Being debt-free (no mortgage, no car payments) is a big reason this budget is flexible enough to support a Coast FIRE lifestyle in the first place.
Net Worth and Side Income
I expected to contribute $0 more once this Coast FIRE journey started in January. Instead, side income has been inconsistent but real, on top of the steady $5-a-day investing I never stopped doing.
Two Real Challenges of Coast FIRE
Health insurance held me back from making this move for years out of fear alone. In practice, unless you’re dealing with a chronic condition, it has not been nearly as scary as I expected.
The Disappointments Nobody Puts in a Coast FIRE Video
I Waited Too Long
If I had acted on that $42,133 number at 35 instead of ignoring it, I could have made this move years earlier, while my kids were younger. I wasn’t burned out. It was my dream job. I just wanted more time, and I kept choosing to climb the ladder instead.
The Donuts With Dad Story
Years ago, my daughter’s school held a “Donuts With Dad” event. I had a work trip I couldn’t get out of, so I missed it. I found out afterward that she was the only child there that day without her father present. She’s a teenager now, and that memory still bothers me.
| You can always get more money. You can never get more time. |
That’s the real cost calculation behind Coast FIRE that a spreadsheet can’t capture. The original Coast FIRE post on this channel covers the full story of why I made this decision, including a family history that made the time question even more urgent for me. If you haven’t watched that one, it’s worth the context.
The Bottom Line
Nine months into Coast FIRE, the math worked. The harder part was everything the spreadsheet never showed me: the pay cut, the inconsistent income, and the years I spent ignoring a number that could have gotten me here sooner. If you’re sitting on a Coast FIRE number you haven’t acted on yet, don’t make my mistake. You can always rebuild the money. You can’t get the time back.
Want to see the full story of how I calculated my Coast FIRE number and the decision to leave my corporate job? That’s covered in the original Coast FIRE post on this site. And if you want the free calculator to run your own numbers, grab it below.