Feb 27 • Finance Review - CoastFIRE
CoastFIRE Fridays - Budget Analysis #2 :
This week's person has the numbers. The question is whether they have permission to actually use them.
The person: 30, single, no kids. Senior SWE at a Fortune 500 earning $180k in Boston. Deeply burned out, managing some mental health conditions, and running on fumes.
The numbers:
- Retirement accounts: $359k
- Taxable brokerage: $72k
- Cash: $56k
- Student loans: -$10k
- Net worth: ~$476k
- Current expenses: $60k/year
The plan: Move to Southeast Asia, drop expenses dramatically, and pick up light consulting work — maybe 5 to 20 hours a week — while leaving the portfolio untouched to grow.
The worry: AI disruption in tech makes stepping back feel risky. What if they can't get back in?
My take: The Coast FIRE math is solid. $359k at 30 with 30+ years of growth is doing a lot of work already. And if living expenses drop to $25-35k in SEA, they barely need to earn anything to make it work.
The AI concern is real but worth flipping around — if the industry is shifting anyway, burning out in a stack-ranking culture for two more years might not be the protection they think it is.
Sometimes the spreadsheet says go before the person feels ready.
Over to you: Has burnout ever been the thing that finally pushed you to make a move? Was the career risk as scary as you thought it would be?
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CoastFIRE Fridays - Budget Analysis #2 :
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