Coast FIRE Explained: Stop Saving and Still Retire on Time

What is Coast FIRE?

Coast FIRE is the point at which you have already invested enough that, with zero additional contributions, compound growth alone will carry your portfolio to a full retirement by your target age.

After hitting Coast FIRE you still work — but only to cover your day-to-day expenses. You no longer need to save a cent for retirement. The market does the rest.

Why it matters

Reaching Coast FIRE is a huge psychological and financial milestone:

• You can downshift to a lower-paying, lower-stress job.
• You can take a career break without derailing your retirement.
• You stop feeling trapped by a high savings rate.

It usually arrives years or even decades before full financial independence, because compounding does the heavy lifting in the final stretch.

The Coast FIRE formula

Start from the FIRE number you will need at your target retirement age, then discount it back to today using your expected return:

Coast FIRE number = Retirement FIRE number ÷ (1 + r)^n

where r is your expected annual return and n is the number of years until retirement.

Example. Suppose you will need €1,000,000 at age 65, you are 35 today, and you expect a 5% real return:

n = 65 − 35 = 30 years
Coast FIRE number = 1,000,000 ÷ (1.05)^30
                  ≈ 1,000,000 ÷ 4.32
                  ≈ €231,000

If you already have €231,000 invested, you have reached Coast FIRE — you can stop contributing and still expect €1,000,000 by 65.

Coast FIRE vs. Barista FIRE

They are often confused:

• Coast FIRE — you stop saving but keep working to cover current expenses.
• Barista FIRE — your investments already cover part of your expenses (often ~60%), so part-time work bridges the rest.

Coast comes first; Barista is a step closer to full independence.

Find your number

The exact Coast FIRE age depends on your return assumption, your target retirement age, and how inflation erodes your future expenses.

The FIR€$ calculator computes your Coast FIRE age automatically as part of every projection, alongside your full FIRE age and Barista FIRE threshold — so you can see exactly when you can stop saving.