You’ve achieved Coast FIRE, congratulations! While paying down your mortgage and eliminating your other low-interest debt it’s time to start thinking about your next career move. You could even call it your first Coast FIRE job.
In this type of career, you’re not working 40 to 60 hours per week anymore. We're talking about a career closer to 20 to 30 hours per week. This part-time job would allow you more family time and more time to focus on your health.
To help on your journey, let’s go over 10 Coast Fire jobs that can help you earn $40/hr. or more. This $40 per hour is not guaranteed right away. But based on my research and the hundreds of people I’ve interviewed over the years, I feel confident that you could make $40 per hour in your Coast FIRE life with these career options.
Negotiate A Part-Time Schedule Where You Currently Work
The easiest and most lucrative Coast FIRE job you’ll ever find is the one you already have. You’ve been trained in this skill for the past 10 to 20 years and have people willing to pay you good money to do it. Let’s not throw away this lucrative situation because you are not enjoying your full-time schedule.
If you have a good rapport with your manager open up some dialogue about a future where you could work fewer hours.
At the same time, talk with other part-time colleagues at your company. Take them out for coffee. Learn how they created a part-time schedule. Ask them about the pros and cons of going part-time at your company. Those conversations could reveal a lot of interesting information for you.
This approach assumes that you are a college-educated professional making $40 an hour or more. All we’re talking about here is decreasing the amount of hours you’re working. If you can negotiate lower hours and keep your benefits, that would be the best scenario.
If not, you can get healthcare coverage as an early retiree or part-time employee at HealthCare.gov. As an example, our family of four pays around $1,200 per month for our healthcare benefits. It's not cheap, but it's not impossible either.
Seek Part-Time Work At Another Company In Your Industry
With your skill set, you may be able to seek out part-time work from another company. For example, let’s say you’re a project manager in the advertising industry and your company does not offer the opportunity to work part-time. Find work from competing companies that offer the opportunity to work fewer hours each week.
You will likely have a decrease in your income to make this happen. But with your hard work in achieving Coast FIRE and eliminating all of your debt, you should have a lower cost of living anyway.
Understanding your specific numbers through a budget is a virtual requirement in this situation. My wife and I have used Monarch for the past 9 months after Mint went away. It helps us plan our lives as we both have Coast FIRE jobs.
Become A Consultant or Work Freelance
This option assumes you are abandoning the employee route and moving more toward the entrepreneur route. Your hope for benefits and a steady paycheck will go out the window with this strategy. On the flip side, your opportunity to make a lot more money and have extreme autonomy over your schedule is a major plus.
To succeed with this option, I would suggest sticking with your area of expertise (the one where you received your college education) and offering it to the marketplace. Based on working in this industry for the past 10 to 20 years, you probably have a lot of contacts that will help you start your business.
Your first client could be your current employer. They may be happy not paying your larger salary and having the opportunity to work with you whenever they want without paying benefits.
In return, you can outsource your hard work by partnering with skilled contractors who can help you get the job done quicker, cheaper, and faster. By doing this, you can scale your business and make more than you ever did in your full-time career while at the same time working half of the hours.
Start Working In A New Industry
This will be the most difficult of all the options. But if you are completely sick of the industry that you’re working in, it may be the best for your family and your mental health.
Here are 7 additional Coast fire jobs that you could have that help you make $40 or more per hour depending on your skills, experience and willingness to stick with it over time:
Bookkeeper
Bookkeeping is an incredible job that has a lot of flexibility to work from home and the income growth potential is huge. You can make the most money bookkeeping as an entrepreneur as opposed to an employee. Tiffany Higgins earned well over $5,000 per month as a bookkeeper before she decided to go full-on with her small business.
If you'd prefer to avoid the whole “business ownership” side of bookkeeping, you can take your current skills to the marketplace and work with a company like Belay. They hire bookkeepers on a fractional basis. You probably won't earn $40 per hour as a part-time bookkeeper employee. Owning your bookkeeping practice will be more difficult but could be more lucrative in the long run.
Freelance Writer
I’ve had the opportunity to interview many freelance writers on my podcast that make well over $40 an hour. The majority of them work from home. For example, a recent interview we did on the podcast with Miranda Marquit showed her making over $10,000 per month on a part-time schedule. This came with over a decade of experience, but freelance writing over the long term can produce rates much higher than $40 per hour.
Financial Coach
I can share this Coast FIRE job from experience. I’ve been a financial coach for the past seven years and currently make over $40 an hour after all the expenses from my business are paid.
Helping people win with money brings me a lot of joy. As far as accreditation, I received an Accredited Financial Counselor certificate from AFCPE last year. However many Financial coaches I know do not have a specific accreditation. A friend of mine Whitney Hansen earns well over $100,000 per year as a Financial Coach.
Financial Advisor
As a financial advisor, you would support people with their investments and retirement plans. The most well-respected designation for a financial advisor is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP). This can take up to 3 years to complete so do your homework and research before going down this path.
Real Estate Agent
Real Estate Agents often manage their schedules and can significantly increase their income over time. This does require you to have more of an entrepreneurial spirit due to the commission-only nature of the job. You’ll need a good network and the willingness to grow your network further. Depending on how much money you want to earn, this Coast FIRE job could fit into a part-time work lifestyle.
Graphic Designer
With graphic design skills and experience, you can command a higher hourly rate. Look for industries like advertising, film, and engineering where higher rates are more often provided.
Programmer
Supporting small business owners with their programming needs can be a great Coast FIRE job. I’ve paid well over $40 per hour for programming on my website. Follow the money and offer services in specialized high-paying industries like healthcare, IT, banking, and cybersecurity.
Final Thoughts on Coast FIRE Jobs
Will these Coast FIRE jobs guarantee you $40/hour right away? No.
And will they all guarantee you a part-time schedule right away? No.
But over time, through small 1% improvements, you’ll increase your hourly rate and decrease your hours worked. That way, you can spend more time living life and less time working.
The best option is to talk with your supervisor about a future where you’re working fewer hours each week. That is the easiest and quickest way to secure a higher-paying coast fire job.
If you're not sure if you've even achieved Coast FIRE, check out our free Coast FIRE Calculator.
What do you think of these Coast FIRE jobs? Do you have any other ideas to contribute?
Please let us know in the comments below.
