[USER]

I’m trying to decide if it’s realistic to coastFI by 40?
I’m currently 34 and I’m an RN making $115k/yr in a MCOL area that is becoming more populated and expensive.

My trouble is that being an RN full time is not sustainable.

I am hoping that at 40 I can give up my FT job and just work PRN (as needed) which might bring me in $30-40k/yr depending on how much I decide to work.

My husband makes about 80k/yr but can make up to 150k/yr with contract work.

Our expenses are lower, about 50-60k/yr depending how much we are traveling.

We currently rent since we do not know where we want to settle down and we may never buy, realistically.

But if we do, I’d expect our annual costs to go up significantly with a mortgage, insurance, usual homeowner costs.

BUT for the next 6 years I’d be able to put away hopefully 50k/yr (or more) into various accounts.

Our retirement accounts aren’t as robust as I’d like but we spent our time getting out of debt until recently.

Our retirement accounts amount to only $100k right now.

We have zero debt.

My husband will retire from the military in 5.5 years so we will have health insurance covered.

He will receive a pension starting in 5.5 years as well.

When I ultimately retire I will have a small pension (think $500/mo, it still depends on a few things) as well.

My husband plans to keep working FT because he loves it.

While I want to go PRN I will never leave a job completely because of my fear of the unknown (divorce, death, crazy economic environment, etc).

Is it possible for me to leave the full time world in 5-6 years and still be financially sound?

Additionally: we only recently got married.

So I am still figuring out finances as a couple and our best way to save and how much we can save!

We have had so many conversations about money and are on the same page.

He is also very on board with me leaving full time work behind as quickly as I can while still making sure we are set up financially.

[Jacob]

Why don’t you consider switching to a less stressful more sustainable nursing job.

One of the biggest reasons I got into nursing was the numerous opportunities.

[DeeDee]

If you are recently married, what’s the plan for children? Are you planning on having them or not?

hey are expensive.

Without having kids, and based on what you shared about having zero debt and a low cost lifestyle, I think you could totally reach coastFI by the time you are 40.

I read your comments about not wanting to do nursing FT due to management, not because of the actual work, and you’re right, it’s the same everywhere.

1 of the many reasons I also wanted to not be FT anymore.

I ended up becoming a traveler…

and I’ve been at the same hospital for 2 yrs now (which means I’m a local agency nurse at this point).

I maybe got lucky, cause the less I care about management and show up to do my job so that my patients are all safe, the more they want to extend my contracts at this facility, so it’s a win-win for both parties.

And I’m also not working 40hrs per week anymore, just 32hrs (which is still considered FT for the agency).

So I’m off on Thursdays and weekends…

my day off is my errand day, and my weekends I get to do tons and go places with my son.

It’s wonderful! And the pay is great

But if you and hubby are planning for kids, I’d say it will be difficult to coastFI with either of your jobs alone.

I’ve started in REI and plan to have that as my slightly passive income generator…

I say slightly passive because I will be 100% involved in setting up each STR and running them.

[Ashley]

I switched to pediatric home health from the ICU and actually WANT to work 40-50 hours a week now.

It’s nothing like working in a hospital or clinic.

Just an idea!

Totally respect and understand wanting to step back altogether, but there are other jobs that feel like you get to be a nurse and not a paper pusher.

[Lauren]

I’m an RN and we’re paid no where near that here. Can I ask where you’re located and what type of nursing??

[Bill]

Your numbers aren’t adding up. If you make 115k and your husband makes 80k and you spend $60k, you should be saving over $100k per year and should already be quite wealthy.

But sure, if you only want to spend $60k and he gets a pension, that’s achievable very quickly.

Try actually living like that for a couple years and see how it goes.

You would only need to do that for 3 years or so to get $400k invested and then that would grow to over a $1.5 mil target by age 65.

[Luigi]

Honestly the entirety of your idea simply depends on your husband and whatever this “contract work” entails (not detailed here), and if he’s willing to work with you on this plan.

My guess is if its contract work after a military career – this is not exactly a glamorous world.

I would have some serious conversations about if that’s what he actually wants to do.

I’m just concerned that you’re going to do it, work him into the ground, make life miserable for both of you and the entirety of this idea backfires, then you end up 50, divorced, still a nurse with half a retirement now and a forced to work until your 70 because you don’t trust a soul after what you just went through for the previous 20 years and end up mentoring younger nurses to make the same mistake you did.

I say this as an also 34 year old male nurse, working around beautiful other nurses day in day out who are on a hell bent never ending desperate spiral to find a sugar daddy.

I know it sounds harsh, because it is.

[Davey]

A couple both working, no debt with
a very detailed written plan and completely committed to the plan
can definitely be coast FI in 7 years!

Make the plan, set quarterly goals and check in monthly to make sure you are on track…

and you will 100% be where you want to be at 40! If you don’t write it down …

and map it out …

chances of it happening are slim.

[Jennifer]

How long will it take you to boost up your retirement?You could really max out some buckets for the next few years with your incomes!

Congrats on that!! Also, maybe get 2 PRN jobs?

I’m an RN too, and have a less stress surgery center job working 4 8s, and a PRN job that’s only 3 12’s per month.

I hope to get to 2 or 3 PRN jobs once I’m sure I don’t need insurance!

Live that PRN princess life!

[Rick]

The magic 8 ball says it is unknown.
Kidding aside the 8 ball is right.

You have a significant amount of variability between now and age 40.

Biggest positives – military pension and zero debt
Biggest things to prove out – can you save enough fast enough as this is a bit of a brute force effort given the short time frame so can you max every available account and avoid hoarding cash

(as we read here every day some are doing) to instead invest in long term growth asset classes?

If you can start this asap, seriously asap, I think the magic 8 ball gives a much more positive answer in two years from now.

[Timika]

It seems possible with the pension plus the continued FT job from your husband, and the part time/PRN work from you.

Especially with the health insurance covered.

If there are no child care expenses, even easier!

[Nisha]

You really need a financial professional to do a deep dive into your finances with you guys to truly understand your situation in order to properly guide you.

There’s a lot of different views out there and some may work for you and some may not so understanding all aspects of your finances are very important to get you a better picture of how you can achieve the goals you’re wanting to achieve.

If you would like I can put you in touch with my mentor who can sit down with you to be able to help you.

There’s not strings attached.

Maybe you can take something away from it or maybe not.

[Author]

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