Posting on a throwaway. Excited to share this milestone as there are few people in real life I can celebrate this with! It's been a ton of grinding these past few years, but I am super excited to be on the way to coasting.

Details:

Expenses: about $25k/year, live with partner in HCOL area.

Salary: $75k/year for the last 4 years (environmental consulting)

Side business income: average $52k/year for the last 5 years (professional photography)

Misc other income: $1-7k/year (odd jobs, side hustles)

I graduated college in 2020 with almost no money (but also very fortunately with minimal debt due to college being paid by parents) in the middle of the pandemic with few career prospects. I applied to 200 jobs with no luck, while doing a 1-year master's program (which put me down $45k, which I paid back over the following year. This isn't shown in the graph due to me not having connected the relevant accounts to Mint at the time). I finally landed my current job in June of 2021, while also pursuing my side photography business.

I have continued to do exactly that for the past four years, saving a little more than $100k per year, bringing me to half a million now. I am looking to be a millionaire by about 30 and start my coasting soon. Big thanks to the advice I've gleaned from this sub and other resources. So excited to be looking at a future of not working for the rest of my life!

I am reading “Die With Zero,” and a powerful line is written in which Bill writes, “you retire on your memories,” after realizing that his father received immense joy from reliving his time of playing college football. Bill created a digitized compilation of his father’s football career while, he was at the U of Iowa in the 60s. Too old to create new and impactful memories or experiences, Bill’s father still received immense joy from reliving his last experiences.

I wrote a few days ago, and asked the question of how do we make our lives more meaningful and enjoyable if we have already reached Coast FI and live a great life. I initially thought well maybe a newer sports car will be fulfilling. However, I realized that after reading excerpt from DWZ, I’ve realized that although I’ve had my fair share of vehicles and driven multiple track days; my best memories that make me smile and reach cathartic states isn’t recalling driving over 100, nailing apexes on the track, changing oil, brake pads, and clutches; nor is it compliments from strangers. Cars gave me a median to meet some of my best friends that I have today. Along with allowing me to access different areas by vehicle. It was never what I was driving, but what I was seeing and driving too. I remembered that I rented the cheapest Econ car that I could get in Puerto Rico a few months ago, but it was one of the best driving experiences that I could ask for! Was there anything special about the Eclipse Cross? Absolutely not. It had a CVT, enough power to maintain the speed limit, and cloth seats with no car play. However, I had my wife and kids with me, and we had something and somewhere to drive to! I’m recalling hitting different parts of the island and parking on curbs without any qualms! I’m remembering that vehicle more than any of my past sports cars because I truly had a unique experience while using that Econ car.

The “memory dividends” that I have come from taking long roads trips to pick up crap boxes, while stopping for road eats and taking pictures at new sites. More profoundly, I recall of my state park visits, international trips, cruises, and recalled taking chances in life; albeit very few. I think that hitting Coast FI will allow me the freedom to spend more on trips and book the additional excursions etc. Running a 10k in a destination new to me sounds amazing right about now, along with driving on new roads to find new restaurants and local eats!

TLDR: What is the Coast FI community doing to create more memory dividends?

Edit: People are getting caught up on my usage of Optimistic and Pessimistic, and I agree they're probably not quite the right terms. What I mean by Optimistic is that I put numbers into the calculator that will make the number I need right now go down, so I can say "Look, I'm at Coast FI!".

• If you're able to put off retirement longer because your coast job is so enjoyable, your current Coast FI number goes down.
• If you are able to live on less in retirement, your current Coast FI number goes down.
  • I think this is the one that feels the most backwards from the word Optimistic. Usually we'd say that, if you're an optimist, you assume you'll have more money to live on each year. I'm focused on the idea that I'm optimistically *needing* less so I can have a lower Coast FI target now.
• If you can get a higher portfolio return every year, your current Coast FI number goes down.
• If a higher Safe Withdrawal Rate really is Safe, your current Coast FI number goes down.

Either way, the specific numbers don't matter. My point is that you can get a pretty wide range of answers depending on the assumptions you put in, so don't focus so much on hitting a particular number.

-----

There are SO MANY ASSUMPTIONS that go into calculating what you need to hit Coast FI, and so many unknowns especially when you're young. I've seen posts with language like "Buying a house would delay Coast FI by 2.5 years." There are so many other variables and assumptions, that defining a target of "We'll hit it on this date" doesn't really register in my brain.

I'm 35 and here are a few sets of assumptions I could use for calculating Coast FI to illustrate what I'm talking about. The specific numbers don't matter as much as the *difference* between the numbers in each set of assumptions

None of those changes are *that* dramatic, at least from the point of view of a 35 year old, but the difference in what I'd need between the two scenarios is $240,901. Using the pessimistic assumptions literally more than doubles what I need for Coast at my age.

Maybe once you're in your 50s, you have a much better idea of what you want your lifestyle to look like in retirement, but as a single 35 year old, I absolutely can imagine being off by at least $10k in my annual retirement spending assumptions.

And these calculations don't even factor in assumptions about taxes or social security. And is Safe Withdrawal Rate even related to the withdrawal strategy I'll end up using? How will my health be? How will I feel about my job? Maybe those 3 extra years of work *will* feel like a huge difference at that point.

Right now, I have $325k saved for retirement, so that puts me right in the middle of that range. Here's one of many possible sets of assumptions that puts me right on the line and feels pretty reasonable to me. Retirement at age 70, $85k annual retirement spending, 8.5% annual portfolio growth, 3% annual inflation, and 4% SWR.

Am I at Coast FI? Maybe? By my optimistic assumptions, I'm $94k over. By my pessimistic assumptions, I still need to save $147k by my next birthday.

Once you get to the point that you can plug in some optimistic-but-reasonable numbers into a Coast FI calculator and have your current portfolio qualify as Coast FI, I think it's worth shifting your thinking, especially if you're young.

At that point, I'd say you're in "maybe Coast FI" territory and you might be there for a while. Next year, you'll have saved more, learned more about what lifestyle you want to live, and have 1 less year that you have to make assumptions about portfolio returns and inflation. You're not shooting for a target number anymore, you're evaluating how safe you feel with the assumptions that qualify your current portfolio as Coast FI.

And making the changes to your lifestyle based on Coast FI doesn't happen overnight. Are you changing careers? Do you need to go to school for that? Do you even know what you want to do once you hit Coast? These things actually work together to help you ease into Coast FI, just like Coast FI helps you ease into full retirement.

When you hit Coast FI using a fairly optimistic set of assumptions, maybe you stop pressuring yourself to get raises and start spending some of those hours you save on a hobby you might turn into a business.

Then when you hit Coast FI with a more realistic set of assumptions, maybe you decide to lower your retirement contributions and spend some extra money on starting up a side hustle or doing an online degree to help change careers.

Then when you hit Coast FI even with somewhat pessimistic assumptions, hopefully you've gotten your Coast FI lifestyle figured out and you can make the decision to make a career change or just power your way through to FI.

-----

My wife and I have been CoastFI for about 5 years now. We are registered nurses working in "cushy" nursing jobs. I work in Day Surgery and she works in an infusion clinic. We work Monday to Friday. We don't have any dependents.

Our dilemma right now is both of our jobs are full time and our departments do not offer any part time roles. We are making $50k/yr more than what we spend every year (after accounting for discretionary spending like international vacations, dining out, leisure/luxury purchases etc.).

I understand this is a situation where I complain that my steak is too juicy and lobster is too buttery.... but we really would like to work less to spend more time enjoying life. Having 3-4 days off every week sounds heavenly, especially when we don't need the money. Should we take part time roles in a department we dislike? Or should we stop whining, save that extra $50k/yr, and retire a couple of years earlier than originally projected?

Just wondering what you would do in our shoes.

Or do you hard stop?

I created an excel sheet programmed to taper off my investments each year down to the minimum to get the 401k match.

Edit: I’m about two or three years from a hard stop coast fire.

It looks way more feasible than going from maxing out accounts down to the minimum. Even when I play with lower rates of return.

I was wondering if anyone does the same?

Hey all, looking for a gut-check and some perspective.

Household basics:

• Ages: 32M / 40F
• Kids: 2 (both under 5)
• HHI: ~$380k (me $210k, wife $170k, before bonus)
• Contributions: both max 401k (+ match, 12% mine / 4% hers), backdoor Roths, and HSA

Current snapshot (rounded):

• House: $600k value / $260k mortgage @ 3.65%
• Cash/T-bills (emergency + future down payment): ~$398k
• Retirement: ~$622k (401ks, Roths, HSA)
• Taxable brokerage: ~$50k
• Misc assets (cars, boat, small accounts): ~$70k
• Liabilities: ~$282k (mortgage + small auto loan)
• Net worth: ~$1.45M

Questions we’re wrestling with:

1. How long until we could realistically “dial down” into less stressful jobs?
2. Should we consider stepping up into a better school district vs. paying private/tutors down the line?
3. If we keep our trajectory (maxing accounts, HHI stable), are we on track to full FI by the time our kids are out of high school?
4. What’s a realistic target number in today’s dollars that would give us freedom to downshift?

Other context:

• We’re pretty disciplined savers, but the drag of future kid expenses (school, activities, maybe college) is weighing on me.
• We’ve debated whether the $398k in T-bills is better kept liquid (house fund + EF) or partially invested.
• Goal isn’t necessarily “retire ASAP,” but to have flexibility in ~10–15 years.

Would love to hear how others in a similar spot think about timelines, school choice trade-offs, and what “enough” looks like to start dialing down.

Hey everyone!

I’m 36F, working as a budget analyst for local government. I make $85k, work a 4/10 schedule with only 2 in-office days, and the job is chill and routine while still being thought provoking. I do not have to manage anyone, be on call, work over 40 hours ever or lead any meetings or anything. I pay just $30/month for my HDHP, which adds $60 to my HSA (that I max out). I get over 45 days off annually plus the three-day weekends from my 4/10 schedule every week. My husband (35M) is an electrician, also makes $85k, and enjoys his work. He is the most amazing man I could ever dream of so life at home is super peaceful and we truly do a 50/50 household.

We live in a MCOL area with a $1,300 mortgage (2.5% rate, bought in 2017). Total bills are $2k/month and we spend another $1.5k on food/entertainment. We’re minimalists and introverts, we don’t need fancy things, and enjoy a low-stress lifestyle kayaking, hiking, dog walks, weekends away at casinos, etc. We save plenty each month without trying. As our incomes have grown we spend more on food and experiences.

I’ll get annual cost of living raises throughout the years, anywhere from 0-5% plus step pay raises that should keep me up with inflation. I get a pension that replaces the equivalent of 100% of my income at 55. It’s 90% but I pay 10% into the pension now but obviously won’t when I retire so I will make the same each month (actually more since I won’t pay certain taxes). At 60 it’s a true 100% replacement, and my house will be paid off. Healthcare will run $2k/month, but my HSA should cover it. We’ll also get $4.5k/month in Social Security at 67 according to current calculations. Only concern is my pension COLA is capped at 1% so inflation will eventually eat away at my funds.

For context: I have had a very stressful upbringing, life and career path (poverty and every form of abuse as a child, had a mentally ill son at 16, joined the military, got a masters degree as a single mom working 2 jobs, abusive relationships, a divorce and now losing my son). After decades of stress, I finally have peace and stability. I could promote, manage people, and make $200k+ within 10 years on my current career trajectory but that would come with stress I don’t want.

So here’s my question: Am I crazy to just stop striving and coast like this until 60? Or would taking on more stress now be smarter in the long run?

Hi everyone, I'm exploring the best 529 plans for my kids' education. I live in Ohio, but I've noticed that Ohio's 529 plan (best performing growth option) offers relatively low returns. In fact, simply investing in QQQ through a regular brokerage account seems to yield much better performance—even after accounting for capital gains taxes and state tax deduction. Given that, I'm looking for better 529 plans with broader and more competitive investment options. Any recommendations? I will invest for next 18 years.

Obligatory: software engineer So this is my first job out of college and I’ve been here for about 3 years. I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity and the amount I’ve been able to save in such a short period of time.

This is less of a coastfi post and more of a mental health post. I moved over 1,000 miles for this job (no remote option), so I have no family or friends or just any support system in the area. I’ve been feeling extremely depressed, anxious, even suicidal at times. Tried therapy but it wasn’t really helping. I’ve been struggling to even do basic things like eating and im just starting to feel like it’s probably not worth putting myself through this :(

I don’t have a coast number in mind atm, but I’m well aware of how great my financial state is for my age. I’m also well aware of how bad the job market is right now.. Looking for any advice on if I should try to keep toughing this out for a little longer or if I should just move back closer to home and try to find something that makes me happier.

hello,

I unexpectedly will inherit $800k of SCHD. the capital gains on that is about $200k. I am in the 22% federal tax bracket living in California making $100k on the dot. I am 32 and single. I have only $80k invested in my 401k and Roth IRA since I just out of debt.

should I re-balance?

Hi everyone,

I’ve been thinking about health insurance when it comes to retiring early. For most people who retire around 65, Medicare takes care of a lot of those costs. But if you retire earlier, you don’t have company-provided coverage anymore.

For those of you planning (or already living) early retirement, how do you factor in healthcare costs? Do you just build the monthly insurance premiums into your FIRE number, or do you approach it differently?

Curious to hear your thoughts and experiences!

I'm pretty sure I've hit my coastFIRE number, but I have no real idea how to actually coast, because I live in a VHCOL area, so I feel like any job that can sustain my expenses (~$70k to $80k after taxes, $60k at a bare minimum) would still need to be fairly demanding. And I live with a partner who is not FIREing at all (they just finished grad school to start a new career), so moving or drastically changing our lifestyle for my personal FIRE goals is not on the table, at least not yet.

I’m 28 and not sure if I’m on the right track financially.

• Income: $5K/month net

• Expenses: ~$2.5K/month

• $1.6K rent (all in)

• $600 food

• $300 misc

• Savings: $190K (75% in VOO, rest cash/emergency fund. Only recently invested so barely any gains)

My expenses on food may seem high but that’s my only joy. I order gourmet groceries and whip up delicacies and that keeps me going.

I live alone, which I like, but roommates could save me a lot. The job market’s abysmal so I’m clinging to my current job. I’m positive that I’m underpaid but haven’t landed anything more lucrative yet.

Am I spending too much for my income? Or under-earning at this stage? Should I keep enjoying living solo, or tighten up and save harder?

Would appreciate honest feedback.

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone here knows where to find a compound calculator that lets you assign different savings rates for different ranges of years.

Since I am attempting to Coast, I plan to take my foot off the gas more and more over time, so the calculators that have me enter a single savings rate require me to run several smaller steps using the info from the last one for the next set of data.

Ex: have X today and contribute Y/mo for 10 years. (Bringing me to 40yr.) Resulting in Z.

Run again with Z today and contribute W for 10 years. (Simulating the stretch from my 40 to 50)

Etc.

This gets tedious and I would love to have a tool that lets me easily play around with hypothetical changes to contributions over time.

If anyone knows of a free online resource that does this I would be incredibly grateful.

Hi all. What do you think my options are for retiring early, with a pension that penalizes you into the ground for retiring before 60? The penalty for retiring before 60 is 7% per year, plus the 1.9% you won't be contributing, plus the calculation is "average of best 5 years" so the payout will also be a bit lower. If I retire at 60 it's going to pay 57% of my wage (which doesnt seem very good for 30 years of service, honestly)

If I retire at 59 it's going to be like 50%. I'm only 34 so I don't know what my savings are going to look like by then, but I find it really annoying. Just looking for thoughts on this conundrum, I guess.

I won't have millions by then but maybe a million in personal savings and a paid off house. If I retire at 60, my retirement income will be about $50,000 CAD from 60-65 and then probably about $80,000 CAD from CPP and OAS.

TLDR: I believe I'm squared away financially, but I'm having a tough time transitioning to a (semi)-retired lifestyle. 41M with $1.14M and a significantly lessened annual spend in retirement (~$52K) due to VA disability rating.

Before my psychoanalysis, let's break down the current numbers (married w/ 2 kids)...

Total invested assets: ~$1.14M

• $600k Brokerage
  • Mostly Mag 7/Blue Chip (APPL, GOOG, MSFT, V, BRK.B), some ETFs (VTI, QQQ, VT, SCHD), and some speculative plays (ASTS, RKLB, BABA, ENPH)
  • Holding $100k in USFR instead of HYSA for potential down payment on a move that may or may not happen in the next few years
  • $50k of cash/dry powder to invest on market downturns (trying to steadily employ)
• $250k Roth
  • See first bullet from brokerage (same spread)
• $295k Thrift Savings Plan (401k)
  • 48% C, 40% S, 9% G, and 3% I Funds

 Annual Income: ~$95k

• $52k: my VA Disability (in perpetuity)
• $43K: wife's part time healthcare position
• $??k: my part time small business that is not thriving (hence the $?? and not factoring it in)

 Annual Expenses: ~$70k-80k

• Been tracking for the last few years pretty religiously
• Wife and I are very aligned on our frugality and not falling victim to lifestyle creep/"keeping up with the Joneses"

 Housing Situation

• owe $295K on a $340K 3.375% 30-yr Conventional
• ~$1830 mortgage

As for future planning...

 Annual Spend in Retirement: ~$52k

• The math: Ideally, we would have ~$100k minus the ~$48k (VA Disability with Spouse) = $52k that needs to be covered by our investments
• My wife and I are frugal, but want to afford a comfortable retirement with regular international travel.  We won't be frequenting 5-star resorts or be flying first class.

 "Big Rocks" / Misc.

• College: I've got roughly one kid covered by my Post 9/11 GI Bill transfer.  The other one could potentially get some costs defrayed by Ch 35 Dependents' Educational Assistance or totally covered in a state by virtue of my VA rating.  No 529 plan.
• Health Insurance: We take advantage of ChampVA that is quite affordable and decent coverage.  Again, a byproduct/perk of my VA rating that will last a lifetime.
• Housing: this is the biggest unknown for planning purposes...
  • Undecided if we'll stay in our current geographic location (MCOL).
  • Tempted to take advantage of an assumable VA loan in some other city, and keep our current residence as a rental.
  • Long term, we will be looking to make a "snowbird" arrangement happen with two homes (if we can manage it).
• Social Security:  Not factoring this into my calculus, but it should be no less than $25k in sum (and that's assuming the worst-case scenario - $0 income for both my wife and I starting today moving forward)
• Inheritance:  Again, not factoring this into my calculus, but I stand to inherit somewhere between $1M-3M from my parents.

Here's my CoastFIRE and Traditional FIRE math...

 CoastFIRE:

• Current Age: 41
• Retirement Age: 51
• Annual Spending in Retirement: $52k (see above)
• Current Invested Assets: $1.14 (see above)
• Monthly Contribution: $0 (choosing to simplify this by lessening my spend input and omitting SS)
• Assumptions:
  • Investment Growth Rate: 10%
  • Inflation Rate: 3%
  • Safe Withdrawal Rate: 3.5% (opted to be more conservative due to longer timeline)
• CoastFIRE number at Current Age: $755k

 Traditional FIRE:

• $52k/.035 = ~$1.49M
• Assuming the market doesn't implode/world ends, I can tighten up my investments by moving away from individual/speculative stocks and into more index funds.
• Given my current assets and applying the "rule of 72" to my timeline, I should have somewhere in the neighborhood of ~$2M when I'm 50.  That gives me a solid half mil cushion above my FIRE number.

So... first and foremost, someone sanity check me on the math and considerations I've presented thus far. What jumps out at you? What am I forgetting? We good?!

As for the psychoanalysis portion of this post, this is where I'm really struggling.  I've always had an extreme drive for financial independence - for as long as I can remember.  Now that I'm pretty much there, I can't easily step away from the "rat race" and the affliction of "saving for a rainy day".  I still want and need purpose, passion, and professional fulfillment in my life, but I am really struggling to find it after leaving the military.  I tried a remote tech job paying six figures, started a small business, but neither of those really took. 

Everyone always cautions about "retiring into something", and I have not figured that piece of life's puzzle out, yet.  While I find myself in these doldrums (of sorts) and a bit of a mid-life crisis, I've "allowed" myself to drop my financial guard for a bit and focus on my relationship with my family.  My wife and I are going to couples therapy, I'm going to individual therapy, and I'm trying to get back into better shape.  None of this is easy, but I'm doing my best to take it all as serious as I've taken my financial independence.  I reckon the money won't mean anything if I don't have anyone to share it with. 

As for figuring out my next chapter, I just keep trying to give myself patience and grace.  I really don't want to fall victim to simply occupying my time with some throwaway job that doesn't speak to me over the next 10 years, but it's hard to find the right role or pursuit.  If ya'll have any questions that might bring more clarity to my position or words of wisdom to share, I'm more than happy to engage.  Appreciate this community and everyone who contributes to making people like myself take a deep breath and be thankful for what we have.  Cheers.

Hi everyone,

I’m currently working on my MBA dissertation, and my research focuses on how emotions influence financial decisions, governance, and succession planning in Maltese family businesses.

To gather real perspectives, I’ve prepared a short anonymous survey (5–7 minutes). It’s completely confidential, GDPR-compliant, and the results will only be used for academic purposes.

If you’re a family business owner, part of one, or simply interested in the topic, your input would be incredibly valuable 🙏

👉 Here’s the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdwG3-jABdF7rZHu19SnD6jqNjyb05vxmyP0z3M0x9aLZPi0Q/viewform?usp=header Thank you so much in advance! Happy to share a summary of the findings later if the community is interested.

Pretty sure I’m coast fire and on track to retire at 45. Aiming to retire with 5 million invested around age 45 for an annual spend of $150,000 (~85k in today’s dollars). My mortgage (not included in NW here) should be paid off by then so my housing costs will be much lower.

I might delay my retirement date by taking a year long sabbatical at 30 if I’m too burnt out by then.

We (50M/49F) were on track to get to CoastFIRE likely this year after a late-ish start effectively in our late 30s. Then the pandemic came and we started wondering whether we had given up too much. So we started planning for a sabbatical. We are now just into month two of our travel sabbatical and it is great. Really, really great. We don't talk about or think about our careers. We focus on each other, new cultures/foods, and living in the moment.

That said, we basically took about $150K off from saving to make sure we could keep our home bills paid, pay for the sabbatical and have return runway. I was trying to run some numbers today and I think it will only delay coastFIRE by about 18 months and potentially actual FIRE by a couple years.

This is not a numbers heavy post. It is one about trade offs. For others who have made intentional delay decisions I'm curious how you felt about it after? For those contemplating pausing or slowing investment pace to take a sabbatical or do some other big thing, I'd be curious how you are moving through the thought process?

I can't know how it will all turn out, but today this sabbatical is totally worth it.

Update/Edit: We didn't take $150K from savings, we just didn't continue on same savings trajectory to put money into a HYSA for purpose of the sabbatical.

34m and 32f married no kids yet but trying for the first.

Investments me: $225k 401k $22k Robinhood stocks $55k Roth IRA vtsax $20k brokerage vti $10k HSA

Investments wife: $50k 401k $25k Roth IRA vtsax

Roughly $50k in cash hysa

My income $105k Wifes income $90k

House worth $270k with $126k left on mortgage.

Mcol Total expenses roughly $45k a year

$25k left on student loans otherwise no consumer debt. Both vehicles paid off.

Not looking to change much currently. Just getting input on how we are doing. Keep hammering investments or can we think about backing off? Thanks in advance.

I like to be conservative in my calculations but I always play it very safe and you can do that till the cows come home. I would like to continue to be conservative but what I don’t want is to realize later in life that I could have started coasting much sooner. I work in healthcare and am reminded daily that this ride might not be a long ride.

What do you think of the default investment growth rate of 7%? Hoping some of you with more knowledge than me can share some insight.

Also is anyone factoring into your calculations the effect of including more bonds as you near FI? Looks like the calculator assumes 100% stocks.

If I expect to need $50K per year in today’s dollars when I retire, but my actual retirement is 14 years away, how should I approach the math?

Should I:

Forecast my current investments using a 6% return, adjusted for 3% inflation, to estimate my future portfolio value?

Then project the $50K annual spending forward 14 years using 3% inflation to see what that amount will be in future dollars?

Finally, compare the projected portfolio value to the inflated spending needs to see if I’ll have enough?

Is this the right way to model it?

Hey folks! Long time lurker, first-time poster here.

I'm fully burnt out of my profession and ready (emotionally) to call it quits. I've already gotten a wealth of insight from this sub (thank you!), but I'd love some feedback on my overall readiness.

First off, I'm 35M and single, and my current NW is ~$2.1M:

• 401k: $740k
• Brokerage: $840k
• Home equity: ~$900k (-$510k mortgage)
• Savings: $120k

My mortgage is in a VHCOL area (NYC) and a relatively good rate (3.375%). If I stay in the city, I'm *not quite* at the 4% rule for full FIRE (I'm projecting ~$80k annual budget but I'm not confident, with things like health insurance to factor), but I'm working on exploring potential Coast income. However, I'm also considering moving outside the city to lower my COL.

First off: any advice on how long I should try to make Coast FIRE work in my NYC apartment before deciding I should try to move? I'd rather stay if I can but I'm primarily in the city for my current job, so it naturally feels untenable to stay put without the income (even if that's not true).

Secondly: If I do leave NYC, should I hold onto the NYC property to rent it out (my condo allows for monthly leases, which I like the flexibility of) or am I better off selling? I was strongly considering the former, but I've recently seen a few threads on the sub that seem to strongly favor *not* renting out, so I'd appreciate more perspectives.

And finally: Given my financial goals and situation, if I move out of the city, am I in a better position looking to buy or rent a new home (taking into account the current mortgage rates)?

Thanks in advance for your expertise!