The Number That Stopped Me in My Tracks
I was sitting in a hotel room on a work trip in 2025. I had spent 26 years building a corporate career, and by most measures, things were going well. I was at or near the top of the ladder I had been climbing. I was making real money for the first time in my life.
And I was more tired than I had ever been.
I had heard of Coast FIRE back in 2019 and dismissed it. That night in the hotel room, I pulled up a calculator and ran my own numbers for the first time. I expected to see I was years away.
I had already hit it five years earlier and kept grinding past it without ever knowing.
📺 Watch the full video above — I share the real numbers, the exact calculation, and why Coast FIRE changed how I think about time, money, and what I was actually working toward.
What Coast FIRE Actually Is
Coast FIRE is not full retirement. It is not the FIRE number you see in most articles — the large portfolio target you need to stop working entirely.
Coast FIRE is the point where your current investments, left completely alone, will compound to your full retirement goal by a normal retirement age.
You do not need to contribute another dollar. You do not need to keep grinding at the same intensity. Compound growth does the rest.
The name comes from the idea that once you hit this number, you can coast. You still work. You still earn. But the pressure is off. You are no longer racing against time to build a portfolio — the portfolio is already doing that work for you.
Coast FIRE is not a number. It is permission. Permission to stop optimizing every hour of your life for investing -- and start spending some of those hours on the things that compounding can never get back for you.
How to Calculate Your Coast FIRE Number
Here is the framework. It sounds more complicated than it is, and the free calculator linked in the description below handles the math automatically.
| Step | What You Do |
| 1. Set your retirement spending goal | Decide how much you want to spend per year in retirement. Bob’s target: $100,000/year ($8,333/month). |
| 2. Multiply by 25 (the 25x rule) | $100,000 x 25 = $2,500,000. That is your full retirement portfolio target. |
| 3. Adjust for inflation | Account for inflation between now and your target retirement age. The free calculator in the description does this automatically. |
| 4. Apply the compound growth formula | Work backward from the target using expected annual return (typically 7% real) to find how much you need invested TODAY to reach that target without another contribution. |
| 5. That result is your Coast FIRE number | If your current portfolio equals or exceeds that number, you have hit Coast FIRE. You can stop contributing and let compounding do the rest. |
A quick example: if you are 40 years old and want to spend $120,000 a year in retirement, your full retirement target is $3,000,000. Your Coast FIRE number — the amount you need invested right now to hit that target by 65 with no additional contributions — will be significantly lower, depending on your assumed return rate and the inflation adjustment.
One Number I Want You to Factor In
Most people calculate their Coast FIRE number and ignore Social Security. I made a deliberate choice to do the same — but for a specific reason.
I treat Social Security as a bonus, not a baseline. If it is there when I reach retirement age, great. That money goes toward extra travel, cruises with my wife, the things I did not want to build a financial plan around. But I am not counting on it to make the math work.
You can choose differently. If you want to factor in Social Security, a pension, or other income sources, you can subtract that from your annual spending target before running the calculation. It will lower your Coast FIRE number meaningfully.
Just be honest with yourself about which sources you actually trust.
My Story: How I Got There
I want to be clear about something. I am not someone who had this figured out at 25. I was not a frugal genius who retired at 32. I am an average guy who woke up late, dug out of a hole, and eventually built something real.
My career-long average income was $63,000 a year. That number includes the years I was underwater on a mortgage, the years I had two student loans and two car loans, and the years I was not investing meaningfully at all.
| Year | Status | What Was Happening |
| 2007-2012 | Underwater | Career building. Mortgage worth more than the house. No meaningful investing. |
| 2013 | Wake-up call | -$100,156 net worth on ~$79K household income. Debt snowball begins. |
| 2014-2017 | Digging out | Attacking debt. Side hustles started. Every extra dollar to payoff or investing. |
| 2018 | Shift | Debt mostly handled. Got aggressive. Maxed contributions. Every raise went to investing, not lifestyle. |
| 2022 | Inflection point | Mortgage paid off in full. Every former house payment redirected into investments. All in. |
| 2025 | Coast FIRE hit | Calculated the number in a hotel room on a work trip. Already past it by 5 years. |
| Jan 2026 | Left the job | 26-year corporate career. Chose time with family over the next promotion. |
The 2013 Moment
In 2013, I sat down and actually calculated my net worth for the first time. The number was negative $100,156 on a household income of about $79,000. I had a mortgage worth more than the house, two student loans, two car loans, and about $3,000 in cash.
I was paying my bills on time and thought I was doing fine. That spreadsheet told me I was not.
That is when I started the debt snowball. Smallest balance first, minimum payments on everything else, every extra dollar to the target account. When it was paid, that payment rolled to the next one. I did this for years.
The 2018 Shift
By 2018, the debt was mostly gone. And something shifted. I had seen enough to understand that the lifestyle upgrades my peers were chasing — the bigger house, the nicer car, the private school tuition — were choices that traded future freedom for present appearance.
I chose differently. Every raise went into investments instead of lifestyle. I picked up side hustles. I was an adjunct professor, did network marketing, internet marketing, YouTube. I failed at a lot of them. Every extra dollar that worked went to the market.
The 2022 Inflection Point
In early 2022, I paid off the mortgage in full. That was the real turning point.
When there is no mortgage, there is no split priority between debt and investing. Every dollar that used to go to the bank went straight into index funds. The compounding that had been building quietly in the background started to accelerate in a way I could actually see.
The Hotel Room in 2025
My father died when he was 53. My grandfather at 52. I have done the math I did not ask to do. If genetics have any say in this, I may not have the unlimited runway most people assume they have.
None of us do, actually. We just do not usually let ourselves think about it.
On that work trip in 2025, two things had been circling in my head for months: the mortality clock I had inherited, and the window with my kids. There is a window where your children actually want you around, where the small moments matter to them. That window does not stay open forever.
I ran the numbers. I was past my Coast FIRE number by five years. I had been past it for five years and never checked.
In January 2026, I left the job.
Most people calculate their full retirement number, see how large it is, feel defeated, and never check the smaller, closer number that might already be within reach. Coast FIRE is that closer number. Check it.
What Life Looks Like After Coast FIRE
I want to be honest here because the word “retirement” creates the wrong picture.
I did not stop working. I consult in the industry I left. I do YouTube. I am exploring other ventures I never had time for. The difference is that none of this income is owed to the future. My investments are already compounding toward retirement. What I earn now is mine to use, save, or reinvest as I choose.
I still invest. Not at 60% of income like before, but whatever makes sense. Because I genuinely enjoy it and the habit is part of who I am.
What actually changed:
I go on vacation without asking anyone for permission.
Last Tuesday I took my daughter to the movies in the middle of the day. I could not have done that before.
I work when I want and where I want. The income I build now comes from something I chose, not something I was told to do.
Is it scary? Yes. I took a significant pay cut. I think about money more than I expected to. But I have not missed a family dinner because of work. I have not missed a small moment with my kids.
That was the trade I made. I would make it again.
📊 Calculate Your Coast FIRE Number
The free Coast FI Calculator I reference in the video — enter your numbers and find out exactly where you stand. Pair it with the Transaction Register to track net worth as you close in on the number.
â–º Free Coast FI Calculator — https://sharpemoney.gumroad.com/l/tkddmi
â–º Transaction Register — $15.99 (the spreadsheet that tracked every dollar from -$100K to $1M)
Three Things to Do Right Now
1. Calculate your actual Coast FIRE number
Not the full retirement target. The smaller, closer number. Use the calculator above, or multiply your desired annual retirement spending by 25, then work backward using compound growth to find today’s required balance. Five minutes. Do it today.
2. Find out how close you actually are
You might be further along than you think. I was five years past mine and had no idea. If you have been investing consistently for any length of time, there is a real chance the number is closer than the full retirement figure makes it feel.
3. Ask yourself what you are actually grinding for
If you are already at or near Coast FIRE, is the current pace of work and investing something the math demands — or is it a habit you never stopped to question?
That is not a judgment. It is the question I should have asked in 2020.
And if you want to understand where your net worth stands as you track toward this number, start here: Average Net Worth by Age: The Real Numbers.