A 30-year-old with $94,000 invested today — and zero additional contributions — would reach $1 million by age 65. No 401(k) match needed. No aggressive savings rate. No side hustles. Just compound growth doing what it does over 35 years. That’s coast FIRE in one sentence. Most people hear “financial independence” and picture decades of … Read more
The 4% rule has survived three decades, two market crashes, and a pandemic. It hasn’t survived 2026. William Bengen, the financial planner who created the rule in 1994, just raised his own number to 4.7%. Morningstar’s 2026 research says the safe rate is actually 3.9%. That’s a 20% disagreement between two of the most cited … Read more
One number should change how you think about your FIRE savings rate: doubling your income — from $60K to $120K — while keeping the same 25% savings rate doesn’t save you a single year toward FIRE. Read that again. You earn twice as much. You save twice as many dollars. And you reach financial independence … Read more
