Truck Pulling a Boat Drawing Gig

rssll5 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 15, 2021 7:14 pm I think everyone can conceptually understand the thought behind CoastFIRE - you accumulate enough assets early on that you can let the 8th wonder of the world do it's thing while you prioritize things other than investing, namely:

1. Spending money that would have previously been invested on other things: giving, spending, investing in hobbies, etc..

OR

2. Moving to a more rewarding job that pays less but still covers your living expenses

But… has anyone here actually pulled the trigger and just stopped investing 10 or 20 years before retirement?

I'm 30, make 185k base (close to 300k with options and bonus) but I'm completely burnt out and want to be more "present" at home while my kids are still young (ages 2, 3, 4).

We have ~$300k invested today, and my wife currently stays home but will eventually return to work as ICU nurse.

If I assume we never invest another dollar (which won't happen..) and assume an inflation adjusted 7% return, we'd be looking at $3.2M at 65. If we were to continue to max my 401k and the Roth's, we'd be looking at $9.4M at 65.

I've gotta think that taking my foot off the gas and investing in being a great dad will be worth >$6M when I'm on my deathbed.. but I'm also (naturally) hesitant to actually take a big paycut and stopping our investments so soon.

Anyone pulled the trigger on "CoastFIRE" or planning to?

Hello. I read your post and many of the replies. There are lots of great replies, but you specifically asked if anyone had done what you describe and it looks like very few people had answered "yes". Since I actually did this about 5 years ago I think I can actually add something constructive here.

I'll also note that you didn't ask me any specific question. So I'll just go free form in my answer.

It's always hard to talk about things like this online. But I want to start by reiterating something you said that seems important:

I'm completely burnt out and want to be more "present" at home while my kids are still young (ages 2, 3, 4).

I think that this is a very human desire. I think (hope?) most people could relate to it, say that it is a good thing to want, and so on.

I feel like in movies and whatnot we often tell the story of people who regret how much time they spent at work. The "I regret not spending more time with the kids" story seems very common. But we often don't tell the story of people do what you seem to want to do, so you might feel all alone somehow. You are not.

Without knowing you personally, it's hard to give specific advice. But I'll tell you things I wish I knew / did when I was at your stage of "coast FIRE":
1. Find a fee-only financial advisor, tell them what you're thinking, and go through their process. I saw two advisors, they both had a different process, and it was very helpful. You might struggle to find someone you like. But it's probably worth it.
2. Consider if you are interested / able to work part time at your current employer, get demoted, etc. If this conversation seems too scary, consider hiring a professional to help you. There might be options available to you that you have not considered / will not be able to achieve on your own, and they might be very lucrative and / or your best option

The theme of these two points is: I still have a financial life to manage. And I still have a career to manage. If you pull the trigger on this, then you will too.

I am also recommending that you SPEND money to hire professionals to talk through your options with. This will likely be one of the biggest inflection points of you financial life, and you have dependents. I think it's worth talking to professionals about it.

I do not have the headaches or riches of fulltime employment. And I don't need them in the way some people do. But money and work are still a part of my life.

Overall, the time and energy that I have been able to put to non-work activities has been valuable. I would say it was worth it.

As for where I am now, 5 years later. I have more money than I did at the start. But this is largely due to a windfall that came through (and which I expected at the start). The COVID stock market crash scared me more than if I had a job, I think.

At this point I have accomplished most of the personal projects that I wanted to at the start. I am actually looking to reenter the workforce as a fulltime employee. I think I would get access to more interesting projects if I did this. However, I am finding it to be more difficult than I would like to admit to get a job. I assume that I will eventually be able to get a job that I like, but I do think that this is worth mentioning to give you a complete picture of what my life is like and the tradeoffs that are involved.

Cutting-edge, high-paying jobs like the kind I used to have (and which it seems you currently have) are hard to get. At some levels this seems like an obvious thing to say. But until I stepped out of that world, I don't think I fully appreciated how much work it took to get there (e.g. competing to get into a good school, get a good internship, etc). Coast FIRE really does take you out of that competition. And so while I do expect to be able to get a job I like sooner rather than later, I'd feel a bit remiss if I didn't mention latest chapter / issue in my reply. Since I'm not yet on the other side of it, I can't tell you how big an issue it will wind up being.

Truck Pulling a Boat Drawing Gig

Source: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=360203&start=50

Share this post