#2 Calculate your coast FIRE number (When can you stop investing and let your money grow)

1/ Motivation to invest

Discovering Coast FI

Coast FI means you have enough saved that, even if you stop investing more money, your investments will still grow to your financial goal.

If we stopped investing today, our portfolio would grow to our FI number of $1 million in about 22 years from compounding growth. But here’s the exciting part: continuing to invest can reach that goal faster. Instead of focusing on how much we’ve saved, I now see our contributions as a way to cut down the time it takes to reach financial freedom. This shift in thinking gives me a real motivation to invest more.

2/ Spend mindfully

This month, YouTube Premium has been on my mind. My discounted subscription ended, and I had to decide if I wanted to pay $22.99 a month for the family plan. It would be my most expensive subscription. My first reaction? Don’t pay for it. But after a week of struggling, I gave in. (I really missed being able to listen with the locked screen—especially when I play bedtime stories for my kids.)

So, I did the math. How much would I need invested to withdraw $22.99 every month and never run out of money? Using the 4% rule, I’d need $6,897 in my portfolio just to cover YouTube Premium.

Then I went to the extreme: What if I invested that $22.99 each month instead? Over 10 years, assuming a 7% return, I'd end up with almost $9,000. So, in the worst case, I'd need an extra $9K in my investments or work two extra months to enjoy this subscription. That sounded like an okay deal.

This little exercise showed me what I'm willing to pay for. YouTube Premium? Yes, worth it. But Audible? Not so much. One book per month for that price just doesn’t feel worth it, especially since I already have a subscription to Everand, a book service.

3/ Read recommendation

The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement by Mr. Money Mustache

“But simply cutting cable TV and a few lattes would instantly boost their savings to 15%, allowing them to retire 8 years earlier!! Are cable TV and Starbucks worth having two income earners each work an extra eight years for???“

4/ Weekly action prompt

Calculate Your Coast FI Number

This week, find out when you could achieve financial independence if you stopped investing today. Here’s how:

 1. Know Your FI Number

This is the amount you need to invest to withdraw and cover your expenses safely. For us, that number is $1 million. Here is how we calculated it.

 2. Estimate When Your Investments Will Grow to Your FI Number

 •You can use the Rule of 72 for a quick estimate: At a 7% annual growth rate, your investments will double roughly every 10 years.

 • For example, we have $233K invested, in 10 years, it will grow to about $466K. In another 10 years, it will be close to $933K, and in 22 years from now, we’d reach our FI number of $1 million.

This simple calculation can show you how your current investments might grow, even without adding more.

5/ Quote  

On the ChooseFI podcast, a listener asked whether it was too late to achieve financial independence. She’s 53, has no investments, and deals with credit card debt. Here’s the response: