Five things I did when I reached CoastFIRE

So you hit CoastFIRE. Your job sucks and you are trying to find a new path forward. Maybe you have 20 year or if you were really lucky 30 years until your Coast retirement date. What next? What are the steps you can take after reaching CoastFIRE? There really is no path set out for what to do, but that is what makes it so great. CoastFIRE gives you options to create your dream life. You can go freelance, create a small business, work a job you've always wanted to try, go back to school. The only limit is your imagination. The only thing that is important is to do something that is for you, that will make your life better.

Here are five things I did after I reached CoastFIRE, somewhere between practical and unpractical. The main thing for me was focusing on what I needed to do to start to craft my ideal image of a life. I am willing to put in the work in order to reach what I consider freedom. Since freedom to me is the most important thing in the world.

1. Kept my job to create a bit of buffer.

I knew I would be making a lot less income once I started pursuing CoastFIRE jobs, and I knew it would take sometime to retrain and maybe find something that I have no experience in. So I created a buffer using my pre CoastFIRE job. This will be different for everyone but its up to you to determine what you need. I wanted to have a few percentage points above my CoastFIRE number just incase stock market returns are not great for a while. I also wanted to be able to fund unemployment for a bit or a job that doesn't earn enough to cover my living expenses right away.

So I created a buffer, the buffer was about 6 months of work extra but it gives me the wiggle room to not have to stress everyday and worrying about the stock markets returns too much.

2. Wrote down all the possible CoastFIRE jobs that interest me.

While creating the buffer I wrote down all the CoastFIRE jobs that held any interest to me, so I looked at gardener, bike mechanic, baker, freelance, teacher and more. I followed people on instagram who worked these jobs, I researched the path to the role I want and considered the total income I would be able to generate and what the future looks like. I do not know if I will like any of these but these are the jobs I have considered that are interesting to me and things I care about.

If I can swing it I might even do a combination of a couple. This would mean working in a bike shop parttime and then freelancing on the side, or creating a blog and being a baker 40 hours a week. Just the things I'm considering, I think you just need to jump in and try them out though, you can always go back if needed.

3. Started creating a life list. Writing down all the things I want to do and experiences I want to have.

This is basically a bucket list. The thing about life is that nothing is guarenteed. I started writing down things I want to do and even the decade I want to do them in. This is due to life and your body being different when you are 30 versus when you are 50. Biking across Japan and taking trains through Europe are going to be more fun when I am 30 rather than 50, for example. On the other hand, I am still going to love owning a boat at 50 and going beautiful beaches. You cannot do everything but at some point you have to dial back the saving and start creating and enjoying these experiences.

This is what I am doing, I am creating a life list, and I am checking it to make sure that I am doing these things. I am holding myself accountable and tracking what I do. I do not want to be someone who simply lets life slip by and doesn't grab the bull by the horns. Somethings are more important that extra money at 60 or a house in the suburbs. For example, I want to live in a bustling city right now and meet people and eat good food, so I spending a lot of my income to live in London.

4. Tracked spending and removed things that did not fit my goal life.

I wrote a whole article about this and making sure your money has a purpose towards the life you want to live.. The premise though is that you should stop paying for anything that isn't directly focused at how you want to live your life. For me, that means selling my car, not paying insurance, removing subscriptions and friviolous clothing and hobby purchases. I want to focus on the things that I know bring me joy, that I know will give me the most bang for my buck.

So my suggestion is to track spending and bucket everything. Put things that you spend on into buckets of did it make me happy, or not. If it didn't make you happy or you regret it the next day, such as an expensive night out at a club or paying for a below average dinner, write that down. Track it, see where the waste is and promise yourself to cut it out.

5. Started following through with goals and adjusting my money mindset.

This is maybe the most important one. CoastFIRE and pursuing CoastFIRE usually requires you to look inward, to change how you tackle life and to adjust your perspective. This is hard. You have all sorts of money expectations and ideals that you have followed for 20+ years and those do not just change because you say you are ready to change. It is something you have to deal with everyday. So find small wins, such as: spend a little extra money on a hobby you love, have a month were you do not save or invest a dollar, or buy that thing that is expensive but you really want.

Spending money is not the only way to experience CoastFIRE but it's all about changing your mindset from one of always collecting to getting used to spending and not saving all your money. It's possible, I have got much better at but I am far from perfect when it comes to my money mindset. Small wins is what it is all about, following through on your dreams and just trying, build that life you want.

5. Conclusion

CoastFIRE to me is all about building the life you do not want to retire from. I do not want to be miserable for another 15 or 20 years in order to retire at 45 or 50 and not have done the things I wished I had done. So I am building the life I want, I am building the freedom I want and I am working to one day have it all. Nothing comes easy but you need to choose your hard and I am choosing to take my foot off the gas and pursue the things I am interested in now.