Whether it’s climbing a mountain or achieving a financial milestone like Coast FIRE, it’s easy to develop tunnel vision when you’re focused on achieving an epic goal. But there’s one question that plenty of people forget to ask themselves along the way. What happens after you’ve finally done what you set out to do?

That’s the question Suzy May and her husband Mark faced just before they turned 40. After investing for years, the couple had finally achieved Coast FIRE, with a $900,000 portfolio. By the time they turn 60, it could grow to be worth $3 million–even if they never make another contribution. 

Find out what their life was like before Coast FIRE, what it’s like now, and how they bridged the transition. 

Suzy May Finds Her Coast FIRE Motivation

Suzy May spent much of her early career as an Air Force travel nurse, a job that didn’t leave much time for outside time commitments. But when she and her husband learned that they were expecting their first child, they began to look for ways to enjoy more freedom. 

“My gosh, I have this huge desire to get my time freedom back, my work flexibility back,” Suzy recalls thinking. “I really wanted to transition out of a career where my time was owned by other people.”

That was around 2018, when she “went down the FI rabbit hole,” read classic books like Die With Zero and ran her family’s numbers in a Coast FIRE calculator. Over time, Suzy began to realize two things. 

The first was that achieving Coast FIRE could unlock a lot of opportunities for her family. The second was that she didn’t have to stay chained to a full-time schedule to achieve it. 

She and Mark began exploring their options at work, only to discover that there were a lot more than they thought. Suzy was able to keep working as a nurse for several years–but on her own schedule. 

Ultimately, Mark was also able to find more work flexibility, trading in his marketing job for a full-time remote job as an IT software architect. 

But the couple didn’t stop there. Together, they found ways to achieve their shared goal by earning extra money in different ways. They signed up as Rover pet sitters, took on roommates, and even turned an old property into a rental property.  

Looking back, Suzy admits that their journey to Coast FIRE wasn’t always easy. But with a little creativity, she and Mark were able to achieve their goals and enjoy more freedom along the way.  

Life After Coast FIRE

At 42, Suzy May and her husband are now enjoying all the rewards that coasting into retirement has to offer. 

Today, Suzy is a certified financial educator, travel planner, and host of the Wander Worldschool Podcast. When she, Mark, and their two kids aren’t home in Colorado, you can find them globetrotting all over the world. 

“We’re really open to exploring different things,” Suzy says. “Like we’ve been able to travel and we’re actually living in Spain right now.”

But she also admits something that often gets lost in Coast FIRE conversations: shifting from a pre- to post-Coast FIRE mindset took some getting used to.  

How to Navigate the Switch from Saving to Coasting

No matter where you are on your Coach FIRE journey, it’s only normal to wonder what changes you can expect once you reach your goal. As Suzy reveals, reaching a new level of financial independence can change the way you look at money, life, and even what success means. 

Check out her advice on what to expect when you make the leap to coasting–and on how to navigate it. 

Give Yourself Time to Adjust

Few people are able to pull off Coast FIRE at an early age without getting into the habit of regular saving. But what do you do when you wake up one day and realize you don’t need to save anymore?

The first thing Suzy advises is to understand that it’s going to feel strange to stop saving–and that that’s okay. Much like any big change, adapting to a new lifestyle isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight. 

“It’s okay to acknowledge that easing into coasting is going to be a transition,” Suzy says. “I thought this transition would take maybe a couple months, and it’s honestly taken three plus years to get used to cutting back on savings.” 

Find a New Outlet for Your Focus

While many Americans struggle with financial discipline, those who achieve Coast FIRE often find themselves with the opposite challenge. After all those years of saving, how do you learn to loosen the purse strings?

After all, it takes a lot of focus to achieve a large financial goal. But for the Mays, the key was finding a new outlet for that focus. Now that their future is covered, the couple finds that they have a lot more freedom to fully enjoy the present. 

These days, Suzy says that she and Mark’s main focus is “really designing the life that we want to have. Because I know this time with these ages and stages for my kids is not going to last forever. And at some point we’re going to look back on this time and be like, I shouldn’t have worried so much.” 

Stay Financially Aware

As you reach new levels of financial freedom, you’ll begin to feel less of a need to control every cent you spend. But that doesn’t mean not paying attention to your spending at all. 

“I try to consider it less about controlling our expenses and more about awareness at this point,” says Suzy, who uses tools like Monarch Money and spreadsheets to track her family’s budget. 

She explains that staying on top of the family’s budget allows them to cut expenses in some areas, while splurging more on things that are meaningful to them. For example, Suzy and Mark were able to send their kids to a private, tri-lingual school in Spain this year, but still have a 10-year old car that just crossed the 100,000 mile threshold. 

Pass It On

As Mark and Suzy May have discovered, some of their most valuable Coast FIRE payoffs have nothing to do with finances. Not only have they set their kids up with Roth IRAs and 529 plans, but they’ve been able to pass on the financial lessons that led to their own success. 

As Suzy learned from her own parents, who helped her set up her first brokerage account, growing up financially literate can give any kid a headstart in life. So that’s what she and Mark are attempting to do for their own children. 

“We make sure we have spending chats in front of them so that they know where we stand and know that it’s okay to talk about money. It’s okay to have questions and be curious and learn and grow,” she says. 

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, Suzy’s story has helped give you an idea of what to expect at the end of your Coast FIRE journey. But in the meantime, her advice is to start with the basics.

“Start tracking your numbers, your net worth, making those savings goals and make it fun along the way. So you have to know where you are in order to create a vision for where you want to go,” Suzy says. “But I also encourage people to really think about the money scripts that they’ve learned along the way.”

As Suzy and Mark’s story proves, Coast FIRE can be an intense but life changing journey. If you’re interested in finding out more about how Coast FIRE can help you  reclaim your time, life, and legacy, then be sure to check out Andy’s new book Own Your Time. 

You’ll hear more stories of families who have achieved financial independence and get plenty of solid tips on how you can too.