Coast FIRE Calculator
How much you need invested today to coast to financial independence
Enter your numbers and see if your savings can already coast to retirement
Free · No sign-up · Updates as you type
What Is Coast FIRE?
Coast FIRE is the point where the money you have already invested is big enough to reach your retirement target on its own, with nothing added. You still work to pay today's bills, but you can stop saving for retirement.
Your ages
In whole years, e.g. 30.
When the money has to be ready, e.g. 60.
What you have, and what it earns
$
Shares, funds, ETFs and pensions, e.g. 100,000.
$
Optional. Put 0 if you have stopped adding money.
What you expect to earn a year above inflation, e.g. 5 for 5%.
What you want once retired
$
What one year of retired life costs, in today's prices, e.g. 40,000.
The slice of the pot you live on each year, e.g. 4 for the 4% rule.
You are on track, and from about age 46 you could stop adding money
Keeping up $1,000 a month, by age 60 you would have $1,247,570, more than the $1,000,000 you need. And 16 years from now, at age 46, what you have will already be enough to grow to $1,000,000 on its own, so from then on you could stop adding money.
The numbers behind that
Your target: the pot you need at age 60
$40,000 a year of spending, divided by the 4.0% of the pot you take out each year.
$1,000,000
What you would have at 60 if you keep investing $1,000 a month
$247,570 more than your target. Adding nothing more instead, your $100,000 would grow to $432,194.
$1,247,570
What you would need invested today to stop saving now
Your $1,000,000 target, worked backwards over 30 years of 5.0% growth. You have $100,000, which is 43% of it.
$231,377
Your two options
- Keep $1,000 a month all the way to 60 and you end up with $1,247,570, $247,570 more than you need. Stop adding money at 46 and you still land on $1,000,000. Both work; the difference is how much extra you end up with.
Why every figure above is in today's money
All the figures above are in today's money. You gave a return after inflation, so the target is what your spending costs at today's prices. The balance you actually see at retirement will be a larger number that buys the same things.
How much the return you assume changes the amount you need today
Why the return you assume is the biggest guess
The real return is the biggest guess in this whole calculation, so it pays to see the spread. Same spending, same ages, different assumed returns.
| Real return a year | Needed today to stop saving now | With your $100,000 |
|---|---|---|
| 3.0% | $411,987 | $311,987 short |
| 4.0% | $308,319 | $208,319 short |
| 5.0% (yours) | $231,377 | $131,377 short |
| 6.0% | $174,110 | $74,110 short |
| 7.0% | $131,367 | $31,367 short |
The coast number climbs every year, because fewer years of growth are left to do the work. The row where your pot catches it is the year you become Coast FIRE.
| Age | Needed at that age to stop saving | Your pot at $1,000 a month |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | $231,377 | $100,000 |
| 31 | $242,946 | $117,273 |
| 32 | $255,094 | $135,409 |
| 33 | $267,848 | $154,452 |
| 34 | $281,241 | $174,447 |
| 35 | $295,303 | $195,442 |
| 36 | $310,068 | $217,487 |
| 37 | $325,571 | $240,633 |
| 38 | $341,850 | $264,938 |
| 39 | $358,942 | $290,457 |
| 40 | $376,889 | $317,253 |
| 41 | $395,734 | $345,388 |
| 42 | $415,521 | $374,930 |
| 43 | $436,297 | $405,949 |
| 44 | $458,112 | $438,519 |
| 45 | $481,017 | $472,717 |
| 46 | $505,068 | $508,626 |
| 47 | $530,321 | $546,330 |
| 48 | $556,837 | $585,919 |
| 49 | $584,679 | $627,487 |
| 50 | $613,913 | $671,134 |
| 51 | $644,609 | $716,964 |
| 52 | $676,839 | $765,084 |
| 53 | $710,681 | $815,611 |
| 54 | $746,215 | $868,664 |
| 55 | $783,526 | $924,370 |
| 56 | $822,702 | $982,861 |
| 57 | $863,838 | $1,044,277 |
| 58 | $907,029 | $1,108,763 |
| 59 | $952,381 | $1,176,474 |
| 60 | $1,000,000 | $1,247,570 |
Insight: What reaching Coast FIRE changes, and what it does not promise
Coast FIRE is reached the moment your invested balance is large enough that compound growth alone will reach your full FIRE number by retirement. After that point you only need to cover your current living costs from income, your investments coast the rest of the way. These figures are projections based on your assumptions and are not guarantees.
Coast FIRE is a milestone on the path to financial independence. It is the point where your existing investments are large enough that, left untouched and with no new contributions, compound growth alone will reach your full retirement target by your chosen retirement age. This calculator works out that Coast FIRE number and compares it with what you already have invested.
Coast Number = FIRE Number / (1 + r)^years
The monthly amount you invest is deliberately kept out of that formula. Coast FIRE is by definition what your money can do with nothing added, so contributions only answer the second question on the page, how soon you get there.
Step 1: Enter your age today and the age you stop working. The gap between them is how many years your money still has to grow.
Step 2: Enter what you already have invested and, if you are still adding money, how much you invest each month. Then set the yearly return you expect after inflation.
Step 3: Enter what you want to spend each year once retired and the share of the pot you take out each year. Together they set the pot you need at retirement.
Step 4: Nothing to click. The verdict at the top updates as you type, so change the return, the monthly amount or the age you stop working and watch the numbers move.
What Is Coast FIRE?
Coast FIRE is a stage on the journey to financial independence, retire early (FIRE). You reach Coast FIRE when you have enough money already invested that, even if you never put in anything more, compound growth alone will carry your portfolio to your full financial independence number by the time you want to retire. At that point your retirement is, in a sense, already funded, you simply need to let it grow.
What makes Coast FIRE appealing is the freedom it offers before full retirement. Once you have hit your Coast FIRE number, you no longer need to save aggressively for retirement; you only need enough income to cover your present-day living expenses. That can mean switching to a lower-paying but more enjoyable job, working fewer hours, taking a career break, or starting a business, because the heavy lifting of retirement saving is already done.
The Coast FIRE Formula
Coast Number = FIRE Number / (1 + r)^years
The calculation has two steps. First, work out your full FIRE number by dividing your desired annual retirement spending by your safe withdrawal rate. With the widely cited 4% rule, that means multiplying your annual spending by 25, for example, 40,000 a year of spending implies a target of 1,000,000, in whatever currency you use. The withdrawal rate is your own assumption about how much of your portfolio you can sustainably draw down each year.
Second, discount that FIRE number back to today using your expected real return and the number of years until retirement. Because you are working in today's money, the return you use should be a real return, the nominal return minus inflation. The result is your Coast FIRE number: the amount that, invested today and left to compound, grows to your full FIRE number by retirement. If you compare it against the related compound interest and SIP tools, you can see how regular contributions would accelerate reaching that figure.
Coast FIRE vs Barista, Lean and Fat FIRE
The FIRE movement has developed several variations that describe different lifestyles and risk appetites. Coast FIRE, as described above, means your invested assets will grow to your target without further saving, while you keep working to cover current expenses. Barista FIRE is closely related: you have enough invested to cover part of your expenses, and you take a part-time or lower-stress job, often one that provides health benefits, to bridge the rest until your investments are fully drawn upon.
Lean FIRE describes reaching financial independence with a modest, frugal budget, requiring a smaller portfolio because annual spending is low. Fat FIRE is the opposite, a larger portfolio that supports a more comfortable or even luxurious lifestyle with higher annual spending. The right target depends entirely on your own spending plans and values. You can model the part-time bridge scenario with the Barista FIRE calculator to see how Coast and Barista strategies fit together.
Why Coast FIRE Matters
Coast FIRE highlights one of the most powerful ideas in personal finance: the earlier you invest, the more compounding does the work for you. Money invested in your twenties has decades to grow, so a relatively modest Coast FIRE number early in life can become a large portfolio by traditional retirement age. Reaching Coast FIRE can reduce financial anxiety and widen your choices, since you no longer have to optimise every decision around maximising savings. It is a planning milestone rather than a finish line, and the numbers should be revisited as your circumstances, returns, and spending expectations change.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Coast FIRE Calculator
Coast FIRE is the point at which you have enough already invested that, with no further contributions, compound growth alone will carry your portfolio to your full financial independence number by your target retirement age. Once you reach your Coast FIRE number, you still need to cover your current living costs from income, but you no longer need to save for retirement, your existing investments will coast the rest of the way.
Use a real return, the return after subtracting inflation, because your future spending number is in today's money. A common assumption for a diversified stock-heavy portfolio is a real return of around 5% to 7%, derived from long-run historical equity returns of roughly 7% to 10% nominal minus 2% to 3% inflation. More conservative planners use 4% to 5%. The assumption is uncertain, so it is wise to test several rates rather than relying on a single optimistic figure.
Not by waiting, and this catches people out. If you add nothing, your pot grows at your assumed real return, but the Coast FIRE number grows at exactly the same rate, because every year that passes leaves one less year of compounding to do the work. The two rise in step, so the gap never closes on its own. Only fresh contributions, a later retirement age, or lower planned spending will close it.
Coast FIRE relies on assumptions about future investment returns, inflation, your retirement age, and your safe withdrawal rate, none of which are guaranteed. A long stretch of poor market returns, higher-than-expected inflation, or earlier retirement can all leave you short. Coast FIRE is best treated as a planning milestone and a directional guide rather than a certainty. Revisiting the numbers regularly and keeping a margin of safety makes the approach more robust.
Coast FIRE and the Wider FIRE Toolkit
Coast FIRE works best as one input among several. Because the whole approach rests on compound growth doing the heavy lifting, it is worth seeing exactly how a balance grows over time with the compound interest calculator and, if you are still contributing, how regular monthly investments accelerate your progress with the SIP calculator.
If you would rather keep working part-time once your portfolio is large enough to cover some of your expenses, the Barista FIRE calculator shows how a smaller bridge income changes the picture. Used together, these tools help you compare different paths to financial independence and choose the one that best fits your goals and risk tolerance.
Track Your Progress Toward Financial Independence
Knowing your Coast FIRE number is the first step. With Worthmap, you can track your real-time net worth, monitor investments across currencies, and see how close you are to financial independence.
Create free accountBuilt & maintained by Worthmap · Last updated September 29, 2026
Educational use only. This tool provides estimates for informational purposes and does not constitute financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Results are based on inputs you provide and mathematical models, they do not guarantee future performance. Always consult a qualified financial adviser before making investment decisions.