323: Coast FI: The Calculated Way to Retire Early WITHOUT Giving Up What You Love w/Jessica from The Fioneers

Coast FI is an interesting concept. Unfortunately, to much of Mindy’s surprise, “coast FI” doesn’t mean having enough money to live by the coast. But, just like living down by the beach, the coast FI lifestyle is far more enjoyable than most. We constantly hear from online personal finance bloggers about how you need to save as much as you can, eat at home every night, and never take a vacation. While this does allow you to hit financial independence faster, it makes the journey a highly stressful one at worst and a barely bearable one at best. What about a different way to reach financial independence? What about still eating out and taking trips, all while working to retire early? This is the path that Jessica from The Fioneers has chosen to take. She and her husband learned about the financial independence movement while they were making just $30,000 per year combined. As their income grew, so did their savings rate. But, Jessica realized that the stress of climbing the corporate ladder wasn’t worth it when she ended up taking a six-month mental health break from her work. Jessica never ended up going back to work, but she did start working for herself. Now, she’s on the path to coast FI, or as she also likes to call it, “slow FI.” She still takes trips and lives comfortably, but she does so with full autonomy of her time and a plan to retire in her early 50s. She is living proof that you don’t need to burn yourself out to hit financial freedom, and you definitely don’t need to do so just to reach retirement. In This Episode We Cover Coast FI explained and how it’s a far more enjoyable alternative to standard financial independence Saving and investing even while making a below-median income salary  Resisting lifestyle creep and how to use pay raises to increase your net worth The danger of going “too fast to FI” and how retiring too early can be a detriment Part-time jobs, side hustles, and other ways that you can make more apart from your W2 Spending money to “escape” and how quitting a stressful job could save you more money And So Much More! Links from the Show BiggerPockets Money Facebook Group BiggerPockets Forums Finance Review Guest Onboarding Mindy's Twitter Listen to All Your Favorite BiggerPockets Podcasts in One Place Apply to Be a Guest on The Money Show Podcast Talent Search! Subscribe to The “On The Market” YouTube Channel Listen to The “On The Market” Podcast: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, BiggerPockets Check Out Mindy’s 2022 Live Spending Tracker and Budget David on BiggerPockets David’s Site From Military to Millionaire Change Your Money Mindset, Change Your Life with Vicki Robin Interested in learning more about today's sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Check out our sponsor page! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices