Coast FI is More Than Just a Milestone

Here Are My 3 Favorite Things About Coasting to Financial Independence

Two years ago my wife and I made the decision to pursue a new form of financial independence—Coast FI.

Coast FI is all about leaning into freedom and flexibility now by reaching a point where savings becomes optional. But for many, Coast FI is just a milestone—a box they check on their way to full financial independence. And while I understand the desire to achieve full financial independence and never have to work again, I really think that misses what’s important: designing a life you love today.

The thing is, I’m not convinced that you need full financial independence (25x your annual expenses) to design a life you love. All you need is the peace of mind that your investments, left untouched, will grow to the amount you need in the future to live the retirement lifestyle you want. Then, you can do work you love to cover the lifestyle you want today while being intentional about how you spend your time.

Unfortunately, there’s a strong belief in the FIRE community that to build a life you love you have to reach a point where you “retire early” and never need to work again. Then, people believe that because they don’t have to work, they are finally free to do the things they want.

The problem is that in order to reach a point where you never have to work again at a relatively young age, you need to save a tremendous amount of money in a condensed period of time. This usually means people end up reducing their lifestyle while maximizing their income in a sprint to the finish line. But that is literally the opposite of what most people want to do with their life.

And unfortunately, because people are trying to reach FIRE as soon as possible, they limit the effect of compound interest on their portfolio because they have condensed their timeline. Alternatively, Coast FI lets compound interest do the heavy lifting, growing your investments for decades or more while you work flexibly and live a life you love much sooner.

That’s why I think Coast FI is the best-kept secret in the FIRE community.

Here Are 3 of My Favorite Things About Coast FI:

1. I get control of my time today.

If I hadn’t decided to coast then I would still be sprinting to the FIRE finish line.

That would likely mean working 50 to 60 hours per week for my old employer, constantly worrying about my next project or slack message while waking up in the middle of the night with my mind racing about work.

Instead, I’m a self-employed freelancer, and I only take on the amount of work that I need to cover my family’s lifestyle. Typically, that means I work anywhere from 5 to 25 hours a week, I never wake up in the night thinking about work, and I have tremendous control over my time.

Before Coast FI, I had around 10 years left on my timeline to FIRE. 10 more years busting my ass trying to reach financial independence and never have to work again. But, because I’m young and have decades for my investments to compound, I can coast to financial independence today while living a flexible and free life.

2. I get to spend time with the people I love.

I believe that my time is one of the greatest gifts I can give.

And because I’m coasting to FI, I can give a significant amount of time to the people I love. This lets me be the husband and father my family deserves every single day. For me, this looks like the opportunity to get my daughter out of bed every morning, fix breakfast together, and slowly sit and eat. It means that my wife and I can drive up to see my family often or travel further to see extended family. Because we have freedom around our time, we get to intentionally allocate it to the people we love.

And most importantly, this means I can live without regret as life changes.

I know that my daughter won’t be young forever, and although they are still young and very healthy, I know that my parents won’t be around forever (love you mom and dad!) Rather than sprinting to FIRE with the goal of having more free time in the future, I am taking advantage of the unique and precious time I have right now with the people I love, while they’re here.

And that's one of the most powerful reasons I’ve decided to coast.

3. I feel my options are limitless.

Lastly, I feel my options are limitless while coasting to FI.

It’s interesting; one of the most common objections I hear about coast FI is that it’s not enough freedom because you still have to work. You still have to cover your living expenses while you let your assets grow. It’s true, but it’s also so wrong.

Work is not the enemy of freedom.

Work you hate is the enemy of freedom. Work that doesn’t light you up is the enemy of freedom. Work that consumes too much of your energy is the enemy of freedom. But work doesn’t have to be that way.

I promise you can find work you love and do it in the amount you love while coasting to FI. I know it because I’m doing it.

It’s funny; back when I was sprinting to FIRE, I used to HATE staying late at work. I did it often because I had to, but man, I really despised it. But now, while it’s very rare that I end up working more than I want to, even when I do, I don’t mind it at all.

Of course, part of that is because I’m self-employed, so I know it’s not someone else forcing me to do additional work; I chose it. But I think the other part is that I really enjoy the work I do. And sadly, I think that’s pretty rare for people, which ultimately contributes to this idea that work is the enemy of freedom.

So while it’s true I still need to work while coasting, I don’t feel limited by that in the slightest. I still feel I can wake up every day and do the things I want, with the people I want, for as long as I want—and that is true freedom.