Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Hello. Nice to be here. A brief introduction is as follows.

I'm about 40 years old, and I think I just became coast FIRE basically. I've been running some numbers - I have 6 figures invested, and they will hopefully grow into 7 in the next few years.

I didn't even know that term until a couple weeks ago, but a friend mentioned it to me. I am of course familiar with ERE, FIRE, etc etc, but I had not yet heard about coast FIRE. I have been aiming towards early retirement, however; and that seems to be roughly what I can be described as right now.

I've also been laid off several times in my life, which hasn't helped, and I've lived all over the world as well. A combination of lifestyle choices and bad luck has set me back a little, but I seem to be catching up again lately.

My financial situation has been rapidly improving recently due to hard work, paying off debt, investing wisely, and so on.

At this time I don't have any debt of any sort. Medical debt, student debt, credit card debt, etc etc has all either been paid off or I didn't take it out in the first place.

I can survive on almost any amount of money. I've spent anywhere from $200 a month to the high thousands. I can easily get by on about $1,000 or so.

I'm very DIY-oriented and can accomplish many tasks myself. I actually prefer to do things that way as long as I have time, which unfortunately many of us with full-time jobs do not always have.

So that's basically where I'm at right now.


--- Current issues at hand: ---


I do not currently own any housing. That's one issue I have been thinking about lately. I've been keeping at eye out for anything interesting just about anywhere in the world. I have a very international lifestyle, so just about anywhere could potentially work if I like it and it makes sense.

I would also like to set up some passive income. Aside from some dividends that I automatically reinvest, I don't really have much going on in this regard right now. Does anyone have any ideas?

The ultimate dream would be to have even $1,000 a month of passive income, which would enable me to have a lean retirement/ERE while a more traditional retirement snowballs in the background.

So these last couple points are what I'm starting to think about more now. Any ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you guys around more soon.

Thanks for your journal update! Getting by on $1,000 a month is quite a feat, that's like 2 times Jacob's level of spending. I'd look forward to reading more about how you manage that.

Investing is generally considered the way to passive income. JL Collins The Simple Path To Wealth shows the way most people go about it.

If you are 40 years old and you've never bought a house, you may not be a natural house owner. Selecting a house to buy is a zero sum game where you are an amateur between professionals. Purchasing a house is a complicated legal process. A house wants to be cared for, and this involves painting window frames, picking weed, repairing plumping, being friends with neighbours, selecting heat and electricity providers, and so on. A house ties up a large part of your financial wealth. The same JL Collins from above also wrote Why Your House Is A Terrible Investment.

Oh I can definitely get by on less. As mentioned, I've spent as little as $200 a month before! $1,000 is probably on the high side. That was just a rough figure of something I would like to aim for for passive income. I'm currently thinking about what I can do on that front. I think I would probably need less the more time I have available.

You're right that homes can be a burden. I've also moved a lot and lived in many countries, as I also noted, so I may not need one. But it could be fun, or I might change my lifestyle in the future and perhaps want to settle down etc. Guess we'll see.

But as I hinted at, my current strategy is two-pronged - bring in some passive income (+/- $1,000 of passive income) while a "regular" retirement accumulates. I think it could be a good idea.

Thanks for the reply!