Her retirement account hit $300,000 when she was 31 — she says she'll never add another dime. Is this a smart plan?

Her retirement account hit $300,000 when she was 31 — she says she'll never add another dime. Is this a smart plan?

Vawn Himmelsbach

Wed, September 9, 2026 at 7:00 PM GMT+3 6 min read

For many people, saving for retirement is stressful: How much should I be putting away? When will I have enough to retire? Will I have enough, or will I outlive my savings?

So perhaps it's not surprising that a simple retirement formula, called Coast Fi (Coast financial independence), is gaining steam among young people, especially as they face uncertainty around the future of work and concerns about the future of Social Security.

Must Read

• Jeff Bezos backs a platform that lets anyone invest in rental homes for as little as $100 — 6 ways to build wealth like a landlord without actually being one

• Dave Ramsey warns nearly 50% of Americans are making 1 big Social Security mistake. Here's what it is and 3 simple steps to fix it ASAP

• The tax breaks in Trump's 'big beautiful bill' expire after 2028. Here are 4 moves to make before the window closes

Jessica Fick is one proponent of this formula. She discovered that, at age 31, she and her husband had $300,000 in savings. They both quit their jobs and haven't added a penny to their investments since 2023, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The idea is that they will "coast" on this number from now on, as they believe their retirement account should grow enough by the time they are ready to retire, without them having to make any additional contributions. The belief is that compound interest will do the heavy lifting for them from now on.

Since hitting her own Coast Fi number, Fick and her husband have cofounded The Fioneers, which she describes on LinkedIn as a "voice at the intersection of financial independence and lifestyle design" that offers coaching programs, workshops and retreats.

But Coast FI isn't foolproof, and financial experts warn that it doesn't take into account changing economic and personal circumstances.

"Inflation is the number one killer of retirement success," Jon Zetlmaier, founder of Zetlmaier Wealth Management in Seattle, told The Wall Street Journal.

How Coast FI works

Many young adults are faced with financial pressures that "are reshaping the timelines — and in some cases the very possibility — of the lives they imagined for themselves," according to Northwestern Mutual's 2026 Planning & Progress Study. That means delaying major milestones, including marriage, homeownership and starting a family.

Nearly three in four (71%) Gen Zers believe they may never be able to afford at least one of these major life milestones. But, as the study points out, they're responding with resilience by "starting to save for retirement years before their parents and grandparents."

And that could be why Coast FI is so appealing.

Coast FI is not a new concept; it's an offshoot of the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement, which involves extreme saving so you can retire in your 30s or 40s.

Coast FI, like the FIRE strategy, requires aggressive saving and investing in your early working years. But, unlike the FIRE strategy, it's not about retiring early. Rather, it's about freedom.

Maybe you want to take a lower-paying job that you enjoy more than your current one. Maybe you want to take a sabbatical or start your own business. Or maybe you want to reduce your hours at work.

Of course, you still have to pay the bills, but the idea is that — once you reach your Coast FI number — you only need to make enough to cover your current costs, which could be at a lower-paying, less stressful job.

There are several online Coast FI calculators, but basically the formula is: retirement savings goal ÷ (1 + rate of return on investments)^number of years until retirement.

For example, if you want to save $2 million by the time you retire at 65 and expect to spend $80,000 annually in your retirement years, then — assuming a rate of return of 7% — you'd need to have invested about $187,000 by the time you're 30.

But herein lies one of its challenges: You're estimating a rate of return, but there's no guarantee what the market will do next week, next year or a decade from now. And inflation could also eat away at your returns.

Read More: Vanguard reveals what's coming for U.S. stocks — and it could be bad news for this group of investors

What are the risks?

First off, meeting your Coast FI target in and of itself isn't necessarily easy. Maybe it means moving back in with your parents or delaying other plans (like travel), so you can aggressively save to hit your goal.

And, while the formula is fairly simple, markets don't always act the way we hope they will. You may be overestimating an average yearly return that doesn't materialize. Or you may be underestimating inflation.

Inflation can whittle away at your long-term purchasing power. If you're 31, prices could rise substantially by the time you turn 65, so your estimated investment returns should account for this. For example, $100 in 1996 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $212 today. In other words, a dollar today buys about 47% of what it could buy 30 years ago.

There's also lifestyle inflation. Maybe you can live lean because you're single and living with your parents. But what happens if you get married, buy a house and have kids? Or you get laid off? Your annual expenses could be higher than you anticipated when you first came up with your Coast FI number.

Market volatility can also impact your portfolio. If you stop investing altogether, then a prolonged market downturn early in your coasting phase — after you've stopped investing — means you miss out on buying the dip (which can help you recover more quickly from a crash). It also stunts compounding growth.

That means you might not have as much money in retirement as you first estimated. You also need to consider the investments you are making and how risky they may be — for example, are you sticking with low-cost index funds or are you making trickier bets on individual stocks?

But Coast FI is also flexible. You can adjust your Coast FI number as your life evolves. You can also continue working in some capacity, which could help with other costs, such as health insurance.

If you're considering Coast FI, it may be worth chatting with a financial advisor to model various scenarios and make sure the math adds up.

What To Read Next

• Millionaires under 43 hold only 32% of their wealth in stocks. Here's where their money is actually going

• A single line on your car insurance policy could be inflating your premium by up to 30% — here's what to change

• Here's the average income of Americans by age in 2026. Are you keeping up or falling behind?

• Here are 4 simple ways to grow your cash in 2026 without touching the stock market

Join 250,000+ readers and get Moneywise's best stories and exclusive interviews first — clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now.

This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: Her retirement account hit $300,000 when she was 31 — she says she'll never add another dime. Is this a smart plan?

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.