Coast FIRE Calculator
Calculate the portfolio you need invested today to "coast" to full FIRE by retirement age — with zero further contributions.
Coast FIRE Calculator
Coasting projection (zero further contributions)
How to use the Coast FIRE Calculator
Set retirement expenses + SWR
Same as standard FIRE math — your annual expenses divided by a safe withdrawal rate (4% is the Trinity Study default). This gives you the "full FIRE" target portfolio.
Enter current age + target retirement age
Target age is usually 65 (traditional retirement) but can be any age you'd like to stop working. The number of years between now and target is the compounding window — every year longer dramatically lowers your Coast FIRE number because compound growth is exponential.
Enter your current portfolio
This is your invested assets today. If your current portfolio >= Coast FIRE number, you've already "coasted" — meaning you could literally stop contributing tomorrow and still hit your FIRE target by 65 via compounding alone.
Read the verdict + projection
The tool tells you if you've already reached Coast FIRE, and if not, how many more years of contribution it'll take. The projection table shows what your portfolio would look like at each milestone age if you stopped contributing today and just let it compound.
Coast FIRE — the one-and-done milestone
Coast FIRE is the FIRE community's emotionally most satisfying milestone. The math: how much do you need invested today such that, even if you contributed zero more dollars for the rest of your working life, compounding alone would grow it to your full FIRE target by your target retirement age? Once you've hit that number, you have permission to dial back. You can change jobs to lower-paying but more meaningful work. You can take a sabbatical. You can choose lifestyle inflation without worrying about retirement. The portfolio compounds in the background while you do other things.
The math, in one line
Coast FIRE Number = (Annual Expenses ÷ SWR) ÷ (1 + r)^(years_to_target_age). It's the present value of your future FIRE target. Lower discount rate (more conservative real return assumption) = higher Coast FIRE number. Longer time horizon = lower Coast FIRE number. The leverage of time is enormous: a 30-year-old targeting 65 has 35 years of compounding at 7% — every dollar today becomes ~$10.7. So Coast FIRE for a 30-year-old needing $1.25M at 65 is only about $117K today. For a 50-year-old with 15 years of compounding, the same target needs $452K — almost 4× more.
At 30 years old, $117K today coasts to $1.25M by 65 at 7% real return. The single biggest lever in FIRE is starting young.
Why Coast FIRE is so motivating
Standard FIRE has one milestone: full FIRE, often a 15-25 year journey from start. That's psychologically grueling. Coast FIRE inserts a much earlier, more achievable milestone that delivers most of the optionality. Hitting Coast FIRE typically takes 8-12 years of aggressive saving from a low base; after that, the contributions become optional. Many FIRE practitioners use Coast FIRE as the trigger to switch into lower-stress careers — "I've earned the right to do work I love rather than work that pays the most." That's a powerful framing, and the math backs it.
The APAC Coast FIRE adjustment
The Coast FIRE math is identical across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, and Hong Kong — what differs is the real return assumption. ASEAN equity-heavy portfolios have historically posted 4-6% real returns over multi-decade periods vs ~7% for the US. That difference matters enormously: at 5% real instead of 7%, the same 30-year-old needs ~$215K today instead of $117K to coast to the same target. Use a conservative real return for ASEAN-domiciled portfolios; use 7% for globally-diversified portfolios weighted toward US equities.
10 Things to Know About Coast FIRE
Coast FIRE is roughly 30-40% of full FIRE at age 30, rising to 60-70% by age 45, and converging on 100% as you approach traditional retirement age.
The term "Coast FIRE" emerged on the ChooseFI podcast around 2017, popularising what FI veterans had been quietly tracking for years.
At 7% real return, money doubles every ~10 years (Rule of 72: 72/7 ≈ 10.3). A 30-year-old's Coast FIRE compounds 3.5× over 35 years.
The single biggest lever for Coast FIRE is starting age — every year delayed roughly increases the required Coast FIRE number by 7%.
FIRE community variants include Coast FI Plus (Coast FIRE + small ongoing contributions for buffer) and Barista FIRE (Coast FIRE + part-time job for healthcare).
Coast FIRE Number is sensitive to the assumed real return — change 7% to 5% and your required Coast portfolio grows ~80% for a 30-year horizon.
Many FIRE practitioners use Coast FIRE as the trigger to change careers — from high-pay/high-stress to lower-pay/more-meaningful work.
The Coast FIRE concept relies on not touching the portfolio during the coast period. Pulling out for a house down payment, education, or emergency resets the clock.
Inflation-protected math: SWR is real (inflation-adjusted), real return is real (inflation-adjusted). Don't mix nominal and real numbers in Coast FIRE calculations.
Sequence-of-returns risk still applies in the coast phase: a major market crash 5 years before traditional retirement can wreck the projection. Diversification matters.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Full FIRE = the portfolio that supports your annual expenses indefinitely at 4% SWR. Coast FIRE = the portfolio NOW that will compound to your full FIRE target by retirement age, even with zero further contributions. Coast FIRE is roughly 30-40% of full FIRE for someone starting at 30; the gap closes as you age.
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You CAN, but most FIRE practitioners don't fully stop — they downshift. Reaching Coast FIRE gives you permission to take lower-paying meaningful work, switch industries, take sabbaticals. The minimum to maintain Coast FIRE is to cover annual living expenses without touching the portfolio.
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Compound growth. At 7% real return, money roughly doubles every 10 years (Rule of 72). For a 30-year-old aiming at 65, that's 3.5 doublings — every $1 today becomes ~$11. So Coast FIRE for a 30-year-old is roughly 9% of full FIRE; for a 40-year-old, ~18%; for a 50-year-old, ~36%; for a 60-year-old, ~71%.
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Recalculate. Earlier retirement = less compounding time = higher Coast FIRE number. Later retirement = more compounding = lower Coast FIRE number. The Coast FIRE concept is most useful when target age is fixed at traditional retirement (60-70) and you want to know if you've banked enough.
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7% real for US-stock-heavy portfolios (long-term S&P 500 average). 6% for global stock portfolios. 5% for 60/40 balanced. 4-5% for ASEAN equity-heavy portfolios. Lower real return = higher Coast FIRE number = more conservative. Run the calculator twice with different rates to see the range.
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Partially — your real return assumption should be after-tax for taxable accounts. For tax-advantaged accounts (401k, IRA, SRS), use pre-tax real return. If you have mixed accounts, weight the real return by asset placement. Most FIRE practitioners use 7% as the universal proxy and adjust the SWR to be more conservative (3.5%) to cover tax + uncertainty.
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Subtract them from annual expenses. If Social Security / CPF Life pays $X/year starting at retirement, plug in (annual_expenses - X) as your effective expenses. That lowers both the full FIRE target and the Coast FIRE number proportionally. Most US users do the math two ways — with and without Social Security — to see the range.
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Generally no — your house provides shelter, not investment income. The exception: if you plan to downsize at retirement and unlock equity, count the planned net proceeds as part of the future portfolio. Otherwise exclude home equity entirely and budget retirement housing costs in annual expenses.
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Then you have full permission to downshift. You can change to lower-paying meaningful work, take longer holidays, take sabbaticals, or aim for "Fat FIRE" by continuing to contribute (your future portfolio will exceed your minimum). Many FIRE practitioners use crossing the Coast FIRE line as the moment they renegotiate work-life balance.
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No. All calculation happens entirely in your browser via JavaScript. Open DevTools → Network and watch — there's zero outbound traffic. Safe for confidential personal finance modelling.
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