Coast FIRE: when you can stop saving and still get there
Coast FIRE is the amount you need invested today so that it grows into full financial independence by your target age, with no further saving at all. It is your full number discounted back at your growth rate. At 35, targeting 60, and a full number of €1,050,000 at 8%, coast is about €153,000.
The formula
Full FI number ÷ (1 + growth rate) ^ years remaining. Every year you wait, the coast number gets bigger.
Assumptions: 4% withdrawal rate, 8% growth before inflation, age 35 targeting 60. Stated in full in the methodology.
Worked example: €3,500 a month
This is not a round number. It is what my own living costs were at the point passive income covered them, which is the moment I would call being free.
Grows into full FI by age 60 with no further savings (25 years of compounding).
And here is how long that takes, by what you put in every month.
| Invested each month | Time to Coast FIRE |
|---|---|
| €1,000 | 9 yrs |
| €2,000 | 5 yr 3 mo |
| €3,500 | 3 yr 3 mo |
Look at what changes between those rows. The gap between them is a pay question, not an investing question, and that is the whole argument of this site. The calculator works out how much more you could be putting in without changing job.
Who it suits
Anyone who wants to know how much longer the hard part lasts.
What I think of it
This is the most useful number on the page, and the one almost nobody works out. It changes the question from 'when can I stop working' to 'when can I stop saving', which is a much nearer date and a much better motivator. It is the same insight as the freedom ladder: the first rung matters more than the last one, because it is the one that proves the machine works.
Questions
What growth rate should I use for Coast FIRE?
The rate matters more here than anywhere else, because it is compounded over decades. This site uses 8% before inflation. Run it again at 5% and treat the gap between the two answers as the real range.
Coast FIRE vs Barista FIRE, what is the difference?
Coast FIRE means you stop saving but keep working and covering your own costs. Barista FIRE means your investments already cover most of your costs and light work covers the rest. Coast is about the saving stopping. Barista is about the working shrinking.
Can I coast and still contribute a little?
Yes, and you will arrive earlier or richer. Coast is a floor, not a ceiling. It tells you the point at which saving stops being required.
The other eight
- Traditional FIREI never have to work again
- Lean FIREI need very little
- Fat FIREFreedom and a great lifestyle
- Barista FIREI only need to work a little
- Flamingo FIREThe halfway strategy
- FI, not REWork because you want to
- Slow FIDon't sacrifice your 30s for your 60s
- Geoarbitrage FIRESame portfolio, cheaper life
None of this is financial advice and I am not an adviser. Read what this is and what it is not.