Coast FIRE

Marisa and I passed a few financial milestones recently. We didn’t grow up in wealthy families, so this is new territory for us.

The first milestone was saving a million dollars. According to recent data, about 19% of Americans are net worth millionaires (including the value of their home), but only about 2% are savings millionaires. Among doctors my age, about half are net worth millionaires. This doesn’t mean as much as it did 30 years ago — because of inflation — but it is still quite an accomplishment.

Second, we paid off our mortgage last month and are completely debt-free. It was a 30-year mortgage, but it only took us 10 years. As soon as I paid off my student loans in 2019 we started making extra payments on the house. Last month we got the principal balance within striking distance and decided to go for it. Guess what we are doing with all of that cash we used to throw at the mortgage every month? Yeah, we are saving it.

“Financial Independence, Retire Early” (FIRE) is a major goal promoted by personal finance bloggers. It means that your current assets are enough to live on for the rest of your life, so that working for income is optional. I haven’t quite achieved that yet. But I ran some numbers last week and found that if I stopped making any contributions to my retirement savings accounts and just let them compound for the next 20 years until I am in my mid-60’s, I would have enough to live comfortably in retirement. All I have to do, if I want to be a minimalist about it, is earn enough money to meet current living expenses until I retire. This situation is known as coast FIRE. I can take my foot off the accelerator and coast the rest of the way to financial independence.

Given that I have been using 30-40% of my gross income on retirement savings and debt payments for the last ten years, I could reduce my income by about a third and still be OK. I could drop down to part time or even take a sabbatical year.

These milestones have plunged me into some deep thinking and a new emotional space. For the rest of this post, let’s go spelunking there.

High Fives All Around

The first emotional reaction I have had is a celebratory mixture of accomplishment, gratitude, relief, astonishment, and imposter syndrome. Marisa and I both come from humble circumstances and have worked hard for decades to achieve this success. We were helped along the way by family, friends, teachers, government grants, scholarships, and by many financial education resources ranging from books and blogs to the self reliance workshops developed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In a previous post I mentioned the pessimism of my youth, the feeling that this world wouldn’t let me succeed. Well, it turns out that I was wrong about that. Being wrong about something has never felt so good.

When we paid off the house we took the whole family out to dinner at an all-you-can-eat buffet. I’ve got plans for a modest upgrade to my bicycles and guitars. The house could use some new carpet and windows here and there. We can afford to celebrate a bit.

Stay the Course

But just a bit. You become a millionaire by not spending a million dollars. Revving up the hedonic treadmill too much could very quickly ruin our prospects.

Our family vacation this summer will be camping at a nearby National Park. The European vacation can wait a few more years. I don’t plan to buy another vehicle any time soon, and we won’t be getting a second home.

A Warning

There is a voice in my head like the robot from Lost In Space, saying, “Danger, Will Robinson!” Actually, it sounds more like the voice of Elder David A. Bednar:

“Ancient voices from the dust plead with us today to learn this everlasting lesson: prosperity, possessions, and ease constitute a potent mixture that can lead even the righteous to drink the spiritual poison of pride. […]

“May I suggest that if you or I believe we are sufficiently strong and stalwart to avoid the arrogance of pride, then perhaps we already are suffering from this deadly spiritual disease. Simply stated, if you or I do not believe we could be afflicted with and by pride, then we are vulnerable and in spiritual danger. In the space of not many days, weeks, months, or years, we might forfeit our spiritual birthright for far less than a mess of pottage.

“If, however, you or I believe we could be afflicted with and by pride, then we consistently will do the small and simple things that will protect and help us become ‘as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [us].’ ‘Blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble’” (October 2024 General Conference).

I have studied the scriptural warnings about wealth, and they are sobering. Whatever celebration of our success we may indulge in, these warnings take the intoxication out of the party. All of this wealth could be taken away from us — through hyperinflation, deflation, devastation, or confiscation — and I would still want to be faithful to the Lord.

Sacrifice and consecration are antidotes to the poison of pride. I have always paid a full tithing, but I have also tried to be generous with my fast offerings and my donations to the Church’s humanitarian aid fund. The rule of thumb I have followed is that my donation should be enough that it hurts. “How many nice guitars could I buy in a year with this money?”

I feel the danger for myself, but I worry the most for my children. This makes me want to do everything I can to help them do the “small and simple things” that Elder Bednar recommends, and to teach them the principles of personal financial management.

A Bright Future

Financial freedom opens up a world of opportunities for volunteering. Mostly I am interested in Church service, but I could also consider medical and other community service. I hope to become a temple worker when I drop down to part time work someday. And when we load the last kid onto the catapult and launch him, I can’t wait to serve a mission with Marisa. In the meantime, we are ready to serve wherever and whenever we are called.

Clarity of Purpose

When the urgency of earning an income drops down a notch, it makes you pause and consider why you are still working. I had a new thought this week in clinic: “I am here because I want to be here.” Somehow that had never occurred to me before.

My work provides a valuable service in my community, and I am one of very few people who are capable of providing it. There are hundreds of people who would be worse off if I were to stop practicing, so I will keep working because I am needed. I want to help these people.

I also enjoy the people I work with. My clinic team includes my physician assistant, our medical assistants, and our scheduler/receptionist. We have been working together as a team for years, and I care about them. They are good people who do good work.

And have I ever mentioned how much I love neurology? I get to troubleshoot problems in the most amazing and complex circuitry ever designed! Every day I scroll through MRI scans and act as a tour guide for people seeing their own brains for the first time. It is my great privilege to help people understand what is causing their neurologic symptoms, and to counsel them through the options for treatment.

In short, I am a doctor. That is awesome! Why would I stop doing the thing that I spent so much time learning how to do, and that I still enjoy doing?

I am here because I want to be here.

Conclusion

I have indulged in some financial exhibitionism here, which makes me a little uncomfortable. Most readers probably don’t care that much about the finances of some random guy on the internet, so I probably shouldn’t worry that much. My goal is not to boast of my accomplishments but to give context for the pondering they have caused. Hopefully that pondering will be useful, or at least interesting, to a few readers.

Money is like any other tool: you need some knowledge and experience to use it effectively and safely. It also helps to remember that it cannot buy the most important things. My financial success cannot bring my daughter Evelyn back, for instance. And my 401(k) balance will be a cold comfort if my kids all turn out to be spoiled and financially incompetent. A nice guitar can only bring me so much pleasure compared to the transcendent peace available in the temple.

As with everything in life, there are competing interests that need to be balanced and rebalanced, and we always have to keep things in perspective. Remembering that I am a steward of the Lord’s property, and that I will someday give an accounting of that stewardship to him, will make it easier to manage my finances wisely.

So, yeah: high fives all around. But also: stay the course, heed the warnings, and remember what’s really important.

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Alan B. Sanderson, MD is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is a practicing neurologist.