Coast FIRE Calculator
Find the point where your existing savings will compound to your retirement target on their own, with no further contributions.
Your numbers
What you are adding until you reach the coast point.
In today's money, because the return below is a real one.
After inflation. Five to seven percent is the common equity assumption.
You can stop contributing at
Age 41
At 41 your balance overtakes the amount needed to coast. After that, contributions are optional and the portfolio reaches $1,500,000 by 65 unaided.
- Coast number today
- $184,160
- Balance at 65, still contributing
- $1,965,764
- Target
- $1,500,000
What this assumes
A constant real return, contributions continuing until the coast point and none after it, and a target expressed in today's money.
What it does not tell you
Coasting assumes returns arrive roughly on schedule. A poor decade early on moves the coast point, so it is a checkpoint rather than a finish line.
What coasting actually means
Coast FIRE is the point at which the money you have already saved will compound to your retirement target on its own, without a single further contribution. It is not retirement. You still need income to live on. What changes is that you no longer need to save.
For a lot of people that is the more useful milestone, because it is reached far earlier than financial independence and it unlocks real choices: a lower-paid job you prefer, fewer hours, a career change, or simply spending what you earn without guilt.
The arithmetic is a rearrangement of compound growth. Given what you have, the return you expect and the target you want, the tool solves for how long the existing balance needs to compound.
Why the return assumption should be a real one
This calculator asks for a real return, meaning after inflation, and expects your target to be expressed in today's money. Mixing the two, a nominal return against a target in today's money, is the most common error in retirement arithmetic and it flatters the result substantially.
Around 5% to 7% real is the range most people use for a globally diversified equity portfolio, based on long-run history. It is an assumption, not a promise, and the difference between 5% and 7% over thirty years is enormous, which is worth seeing for yourself by changing the input.
The limitation worth taking seriously
Coasting assumes returns arrive roughly on schedule. They will not. A poor first decade pushes the coast point out, and you will not know that has happened until years later, by which time you have already stopped contributing.
Treat the coast point as a checkpoint you re-examine every few years rather than a finish line you cross once. If markets disappoint early, the honest response is to resume contributing rather than to assume it averages out.
Common questions
- What is the difference between Coast FIRE and regular FIRE?
- FIRE means having enough to live on the portfolio now. Coast FIRE means having enough that it will grow into that amount by your retirement date without further saving. Coast comes much earlier and still requires you to cover your living costs from work in the meantime.
- Should I use a nominal or real return?
- A real return, and a target in today's money. Otherwise you are comparing a future number against present-day costs, which overstates how close you are.
- What happens if returns are worse than assumed?
- The coast point moves later and you will need to contribute again. That is why it is worth rerunning the number every couple of years rather than treating one calculation as settled.
- Does this account for tax on withdrawals?
- No. Set your target high enough to cover the tax you expect to pay, or treat the output as a pre-tax figure.
Next
- Sequence of Returns Risk
Reaching the target is one problem. Drawing on it safely is a different one.
- Compound Interest Calculator
See the growth curve behind the coast calculation.
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