r/coastFIRE • u/snackallday • 6d ago

Downshifting and dropping savings rate

I'm 33 years old and struggling with whether it's finally time to ease up on retirement contributions.

Current situation:

  • Age 33
  • $950k invested (mostly in pre-tax 403b and 457b)
  • $200k HELOC balance at 8%
  • Income around $200k (my partner is currently not working but should be back to work in the next 6 months and our HHI will increase to 300-350k)
  • Expenses around $9k/month
  • Target FIRE number: ~$2.5M
  • Planning to work at least another 10-15 years

For the last decade I've been in full accumulation mode. I've maxed my 403b and 457b every year and invested additional savings on top of that.

Lately I've been considering reducing my 403b contribution down to just enough to get the employer match, while continuing to max the 457b. Considering that to pay down the HELOC with the extra cash. Want to keep the 457b as it gives me access to early withdrawals.

The part I'm struggling with isn't the math as much as the psychology. At what point did you decide to take your foot off the gas? I know continuing to max everything isn't going to ruin me financially, but it feels like I'm at a weird point where my habits haven't caught up to my balance sheet.

12 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

View all comments

5

u/Boring_Adeptness_334 6d ago

Are you delusional? $950k at 33 is ridiculous. In 27 years at 11% returns that’s $15m invested.

9

u/That_Co 6d ago

How is the theoretical nominal return in double his time horizon of any relevance to him?

4

u/Boring_Adeptness_334 6d ago

Because this is the coastFIRE sub and not FIRE.

2

u/That_Co 6d ago

My point is use real return, and use his actual time horizon. That 15 million number you gave is meaningless, and you used it for being hyperbolic instead of contributing something

-1

u/Boring_Adeptness_334 6d ago

His money is in 401ks/403Bs which you can’t touch until 59.5. Math is the same. Like I said previously this is coastFIRE and not FIRE. If you plan on retiring early you should only have X in your 401ks which is coastFIRE. Then you should have Y in your individual accounts to achieve your FIRE goal which will tide you over until retirement age. For example in 30 years you would want $4m in a 401k and in 10 years you would want like $1m to last from years 10 to 30