I am expecting to have somewhere between $80-100k in expenses in retirement. I’m 33 and have $450k in retirement/savings.
My math is telling me I’d have about $4.2 million by 65 even if I stop contributing. Is this what is considered coastfire? Or do I need to hit my goal of $2.5 million?
You need the $2.5M inflation-adjusted at 65 to have $100k/yr assuming a 4% withdrawal rate.
$450k will get you exactly to $2.5M at 6% real returns in 30 years. Congrats.
If returns were guaranteed, then yes you are. However at your age you should continue pedal to the metal until at least 40.
At just 33 you have a long time ahead of you and the next 10-12 years will likely be your prime earning years
Yeah, I still think I’m going to keep saving, especially since my company matches 50% of my 401k contributions up the limit. That has really helped me accelerate my retirement savings.
CoastFI would be the scenario where you do not invest another dollar from today until traditional retirement. In this scenario, your "today" account balance would compound over the time interval of now until traditional retirement. This end balance would be greater than or equal to the amount required to sustain an average annual spend in retirement.
Based on your numbers above, you are already CoastFI.
That’s what I thought but thank you for confirming it!
Are you just here for the coast fire merit badge or are you actually looking to stop saving?
I’m just unfamiliar with coastfire and was wondering if I had technically hit it. I do want to stop saving as much or start putting more into a brokerage so I can access the money earlier.
You need to spend more time researching the subject of your question.
Just thought I’d check here since this is a sub for people trying to CoastFIRE. I’ve got some great input from commenters. Got any good recommendations for sources to help get educated?
Checking in and don't research is always good.
Just be aware that Reddit subs too often get filled with those whose beliefs are the opposite of the intention of the sub.
CoastFIRE is pursuing FIRE until you are close enough to Coast to FIRE.
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Nope. Probably should have started there lol
Definitely start there. Also remember that in 30 years, $80-100k will feel MASSIVELY different than it does now so include annual inflation (usually 3-8%) in your final numbers.
8% for inflation?! I’ve always heard 2-3%
It averages 2-3% but some years (like around Covid and its aftermath) it was MUCH higher. Being worst-case-scenario in your calculations will only help in the long term, but you should be fine just doing 3-4% inflation into the CoastFIRE calculator.
An average would already include that 8%...
I assumed 7% growth, which takes inflation into account if I’m expecting 10% real growth.
Just to clear up some terminology, in your example you’d be expecting 10% NOMINAL growth and subsequently 7% REAL growth. Real growth means inflation adjusted.
Yes, you are correct. Got those two mixed up.
Depends on whether this is still a FIRE sun or if the "anti-FIRE" crowd will downvote this comment.
A 32 year time horizon is not FIRE.
At age 65 you have very little options and very little slack for failure; that's foolish.
You need a real FIRE target, then work backwards from that. Think RE at age 50, then go from there.
No, that would be full FIRE.
You need enough to Coast to your FIRE number of $2.5MM in a reasonable time frame with slack for variability.
Imagine if at age 40 you have $1.3MM retirement portfolio; then without needing to save any more you would likely got your $2.5MM goal by age 50; that's CoastFIRE. For your 40s, you only need to make enough to cover your $80k annual expenses.
Now on that scenario, imagine there's a "2008-2009" level crash when your age 48; what happens to you? Well instead of RE at age 50, you RE at age 52 or 53.
Because you have a shorter time horizon and a lower RE age, missing the target isn't a big deal.
I went CoastFIRE at age 40 with a 5 year time horizon; that's likely to drift into 7 years (I got married, changed the numbers) but I'll still RE before age 50.
I don't have to spend my 40s grinding like I was in my 30s, because the hard work is already done; that's CoastFIRE.
Will $4.2 million even be enough? Assuming housing will increase as well as all costs really.
A 400k house at 5% appreciation: $400,000 * (1.05)30 = ~$1,730,000.
Do you think $4.2 million will be enough for you in 30 years? If so, FIRE away: