Find the point where your existing investments will grow into your retirement number without another dollar saved.
Coast FIRE number
$197,051
You've passed it.
4% withdrawal rate.
When today's balance alone hits the target.
Your $200,000 is already above the $197,051 Coast FIRE number for your age. Left completely alone at 7% real returns, it grows to about $1,522,451 by 65 — comfortably past your $1,500,000 target. You still need to cover living costs, but you no longer need to save another dollar for retirement.
Reaching Coast FIRE means your retirement is on autopilot. That frees your income for other things — a lower-paying but more enjoyable job, part-time work, a sabbatical, or simply spending more today without guilt. Many people find this milestone more life-changing than full financial independence, because it arrives decades earlier.
This calculator uses a real (after-inflation) return so that everything is in today's dollars — your $60,000 of spending buys the same lifestyle in 30 years. A nominal 10% return looks impressive but ignores that prices roughly double every 24 years at 3% inflation. Planning at 7% real is the honest way to do it.
Coast FIRE means retirement is covered; full FIRE means you can stop working entirely. See what the full number looks like and when you'd reach it.
FIRE calculatorWorked scenarios with the full analysis, so you can see how the numbers move before entering your own.
A mid-career saver checking whether they've already secured retirement without further contributions.
Coast FIRE number
$197,051
Your $200,000 is already above the $197,051 Coast FIRE number for your age. Left completely alone at 7% real returns, it grows to about $1,522,451 by 65 — comfortably past your $1,500,000 target. You still need to cover living costs, but you no longer need to save another dollar for retirement.
Reaching Coast FIRE means your retirement is on autopilot. That frees your income for other things — a lower-paying but more enjoyable job, part-time work, a sabbatical, or simply spending more today without guilt. Many people find this milestone more life-changing than full financial independence, because it arrives decades earlier.
This calculator uses a real (after-inflation) return so that everything is in today's dollars — your $60,000 of spending buys the same lifestyle in 30 years. A nominal 10% return looks impressive but ignores that prices roughly double every 24 years at 3% inflation. Planning at 7% real is the honest way to do it.
A young saver early in the journey, with decades of compounding still ahead.
Coast FIRE number
$112,487
Your Coast FIRE number at age 28 is $112,487 — the amount that, left untouched at 7% real returns, would grow into your $1,375,000 target by 65. You have $80,000, so you're $32,487 short. On your current balance alone, you'd reach the target around age 70.
Coast FIRE rewards saving hard early. Because compounding does the heavy lifting over decades, money invested in your 20s and 30s is worth several times the same amount saved later. Closing the $32,487 gap now means every year afterward, your retirement takes care of itself.
This calculator uses a real (after-inflation) return so that everything is in today's dollars — your $55,000 of spending buys the same lifestyle in 37 years. A nominal 10% return looks impressive but ignores that prices roughly double every 24 years at 3% inflation. Planning at 7% real is the honest way to do it.
A strong balance mid-career, likely already past the Coast FIRE threshold.
Coast FIRE number
$452,233
Your $500,000 is already above the $452,233 Coast FIRE number for your age. Left completely alone at 7% real returns, it grows to about $1,934,842 by 65 — comfortably past your $1,750,000 target. You still need to cover living costs, but you no longer need to save another dollar for retirement.
Reaching Coast FIRE means your retirement is on autopilot. That frees your income for other things — a lower-paying but more enjoyable job, part-time work, a sabbatical, or simply spending more today without guilt. Many people find this milestone more life-changing than full financial independence, because it arrives decades earlier.
This calculator uses a real (after-inflation) return so that everything is in today's dollars — your $70,000 of spending buys the same lifestyle in 20 years. A nominal 10% return looks impressive but ignores that prices roughly double every 24 years at 3% inflation. Planning at 7% real is the honest way to do it.
The same starting point with a more cautious return assumption, raising the Coast number.
Coast FIRE number
$347,066
Your Coast FIRE number at age 35 is $347,066 — the amount that, left untouched at 5% real returns, would grow into your $1,500,000 target by 65. You have $200,000, so you're $147,066 short. On your current balance alone, you'd reach the target around age 76.
Coast FIRE rewards saving hard early. Because compounding does the heavy lifting over decades, money invested in your 20s and 30s is worth several times the same amount saved later. Closing the $147,066 gap now means every year afterward, your retirement takes care of itself.
This calculator uses a real (after-inflation) return so that everything is in today's dollars — your $60,000 of spending buys the same lifestyle in 30 years. A nominal 10% return looks impressive but ignores that prices roughly double every 24 years at 3% inflation. Planning at 5% real is the honest way to do it.
Coast FIRE is the point where your existing investments, left completely alone, will grow into your full retirement number by your target retirement age. You still need income to cover today's living expenses — but you never have to contribute another dollar to retirement accounts. Compounding takes it from here.
It arrives far earlier than full financial independence, which is what makes it powerful. A 30-year-old needs only a fraction of their eventual retirement number, because 35 years of compounding does the rest. Hitting Coast FIRE converts retirement from an ongoing obligation into a solved problem, freeing your future income for whatever you want.
Coast FIRE is the clearest illustration of why saving early beats saving more. Because the Coast number shrinks the further you are from retirement, a dollar invested at 25 does the work of several dollars invested at 45. Someone who saves aggressively in their twenties can reach Coast FIRE by their mid-thirties and then never contribute again — ending up with the same retirement as someone who saves steadily for forty years.
The practical implication is to prioritize the early years, even at some cost to lifestyle. Once you've coasted, the flexibility is real: taking a lower-paying job you enjoy more, going part-time, starting a business, or taking extended time off all become viable, because retirement no longer depends on your income. That optionality is the actual prize, and it's why many people find Coast FIRE a more meaningful target than full FIRE.
Projecting at 10% nominal without inflating your spending target vastly overstates progress. Use a real return.
Coast FIRE covers retirement, not today's bills. You still need to earn enough to live on without touching investments.
A decades-long projection is sensitive to the return assumed. Build in margin with a conservative figure.
If your retirement spending target rises, so does your Coast number. Revisit the calculation as your life changes.
Coasting only works if the balance is left alone to compound. Withdrawing resets the math.
Coast FIRE is the point where your current investments will grow into your full retirement target by your retirement age without any further contributions. You still work to cover living expenses, but retirement saving is done. It arrives much earlier than full financial independence because compounding does the remaining work.
Divide your annual retirement spending by your withdrawal rate to get your FIRE target, then discount that back to today: target ÷ (1 + real return)^years until retirement. For $60,000 of spending at a 4% rate, the target is $1.5 million; 30 years out at a 7% real return, the Coast number is about $197,000.
For retirement, yes — assuming your return and spending assumptions hold. You still need income to cover current living costs, and you'd want to keep an emergency fund and save for other goals. Most people who reach it keep saving something, but the pressure is off and they gain real flexibility in their career choices.
Use a real (after-inflation) return, typically 5–7%, so all figures stay in today's dollars. Using a nominal return like 10% without adjusting your spending target for inflation dramatically overstates your progress. A conservative real return builds in a margin of safety for a decades-long projection.
Coast FIRE means your retirement is fully funded by existing investments and you just need to cover current expenses. Barista FIRE typically means working part-time — often for benefits like health insurance — to cover part of your expenses while investments cover the rest. Coast FIRE is about retirement saving being finished; Barista FIRE is about partially drawing down already.
The next calculations that usually follow this one.
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See the balance, the split between contributions and growth, and what it actually buys.
See what your contributions and your employer's match grow into — and whether you're leaving free money on the table.
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