Free Coast FIRE CalculatorYour Number in 30 Seconds
Get your Coast FIRE number in seconds—then see whether retirement savings can grow on their own from here.
What's Your Coast FIRE Number?
Your Coast FIRE Number
$329,443
This is the $1,250,000 retirement nest egg, discounted back to today.
You've covered 15% of the target. Gap: $279,443.
About $1,207 per month would be needed to fund the full retirement target by retirement.
Defaults: retire at 65, $0 monthly contribution, 7% nominal return, 3% inflation, 4% withdrawal
What Is a Coast FIRE Number (and Have You Reached It)?
Your Coast FIRE number (also called a Coast FI number or retirement coast number) is the amount you need invested today so compound growth alone can reach your retirement target—as long as you leave that portfolio untouched and earn enough from work to cover current living expenses.
- •At or above the number (Am I Coast FIRE?): the estimate says you have already reached Coast FIRE under these assumptions. Stress-test with a lower return and higher inflation before cutting contributions or switching jobs.
- •Below the number (When can I Coast FIRE?): check the projection chart above—the age where the orange investment line crosses the blue target line is your projected Coast age. You can close the gap faster by raising monthly contributions, retiring later, or lowering retirement spending under Adjust your plan.
There is no single good Coast FIRE number for everyone. In the worked example below (age 35, retire at 65, $50,000 annual spending), the Coast number is about $398,578 at a 7% nominal return, 3% inflation, and 4% withdrawal rate—meaning someone attempting Coast FIRE with $500k invested at age 35 would already be ahead of that benchmark.
Compare benchmark numbers by ageWhat Is Coast FIRE (Coast FI)?
In one sentence: Coast FIRE (or Coast FI, short for Coast financial independence) means you have saved enough early on that compound growth alone can fund your traditional retirement—even if you never contribute another dollar.
Why it matters: it marks the point where retirement savings may coast, while you only need income for today's bills.
If you skip this checkpoint, it's easy to keep grinding for a full FIRE number you may not need yet—or to cut retirement contributions before the math actually works.
Doing it right helps you:
- • See a clear Coast FIRE number instead of guessing
- • Know when a lower-stress job that covers expenses becomes realistic
- • Pressure-test the answer before you change your savings plan
How does it play out?
- • Save aggressively early in your career
- • Hit your Coast FIRE number
- • Switch to a lower-stress job that just covers your expenses
- • Let your investments grow untouched until retirement
It's the halfway point to full FIRE—for people who don't want to wait until 65 to stop grinding.
Compare Coast FIRE vs. Barista FIRE and Traditional FIRE →How to Use This Coast FI Calculator
What's your current age?
Enter how old you are now. Younger ages need a smaller Coast number for the same retirement target, because compound growth has more years to work.
When do you want to retire, and on what budget?
Set retirement age and annual retirement spending. Earlier retirement or higher spending raises the Coast FIRE number.
What have you already invested?
Enter current invested savings you expect to leave compounding. Under Adjust your plan, you can model your Coast FIRE calculation with inflation (default 3%), nominal return (default 7%), and withdrawal rate.
How do you read the chart?
Orange is projected investments. Blue is the Coast target at each age. A crossing is the first age the projection says you've hit Coast FIRE. No crossing before retirement means this monthly contribution is not enough under the assumptions you entered.
How to Calculate Your Coast FIRE Number (Coast FIRE Formula)
To calculate your Coast FIRE number, the Coast FIRE formula links three core equations: your inflation-adjusted real return, your target retirement nest egg, and the present value needed today.
What's the real return?
Nominal return is growth before inflation. Real return is what's left after inflation eats into it.
With a 7% nominal return and 3% inflation, the real return is about 3.88%.
The calculator does not treat 7% as a real return—that 7% is the editable nominal default.
How big is the retirement nest egg?
This is the full amount you want invested by the retirement date—not today's Coast number.
Example: $50,000/year ÷ 4% = $1,250,000 needed at retirement
The nest egg is the retirement-date target. Today's Coast FIRE number is smaller.
How do you get today's Coast number?
Discount the nest egg back to today using real return and years left until retirement.
Where:
- Real Return = (1 + Return Rate) ÷ (1 + Inflation) - 1
- Years = Retirement Age - Current Age
Example: Age 35, retire at 65, 7% return, 3% inflation
Real Return = (1.07 ÷ 1.03) - 1 = 3.88%
Coast Number = $1,250,000 ÷ (1.0388)^30 = $398,578
At age 35, $398,578 is the amount that would grow to the $1,250,000 retirement target if the selected assumptions hold and the money remains invested.
Common Coast FIRE calculation mistakes to avoid
1. Using nominal return instead of inflation-adjusted real return
Plugging a raw 7% or 8% stock market return directly into the Coast FIRE equation without subtracting inflation understates your required Coast number by tens of thousands of dollars. Always discount with real return (e.g., 7% nominal and 3% inflation equals 3.88% real).
2. Counting years to career change instead of traditional retirement age
The exponent Years in the Coast FI formula is the total compounding horizon until you start drawing down the portfolio (such as age 65), not the age when you downshift to lower-stress work.
3. Forgetting guaranteed retirement income streams
Defined-benefit pensions or Social Security reduce the annual spending your portfolio must cover on its own.
Sources and research basis
AAII hosts the Cooley, Hubbard and Walz research. Historical withdrawal results do not guarantee a future outcome.
The SEC states that past performance does not necessarily predict future results. The 7% nominal return is an editable assumption.
BLS publishes the Consumer Price Index. The calculator uses your inflation input rather than predicting future inflation.
Sources last reviewed: July 25, 2026
Does Coast FIRE Include 401(k), IRA, and Brokerage Accounts?
Yes—when people ask "does Coast FIRE include 401(k)?", all long-term retirement and investment accounts left to compound until retirement count toward your current invested savings.
Usually include
- Retirement accounts such as a 401(k), 403(b), traditional IRA or Roth IRA
- Taxable brokerage investments set aside for retirement
Usually keep separate
- Emergency cash and money reserved for near-term spending
- Your primary home unless your plan converts home equity into retirement assets
- Future income, employer matches not yet received, pensions and Social Security
This calculator does not adjust for taxes by account type. Use the amount available to your plan, and get tax advice when account treatment could change the decision.
How to Stress-Test Your Coast FIRE Plan (Inflation & Return Scenarios)
One estimate cannot show how sensitive the answer is. Run it again with:
- A lower nominal return
- Higher inflation
- A lower withdrawal rate
- Then compare the Coast number, required monthly contribution and retirement shortfall with your first run
This is a sensitivity check—not a forecast or a best/worst-case range.
What does this calculator leave out?
This is an educational estimate, not financial, tax or investment advice. It uses the return, inflation, withdrawal and contribution assumptions you enter. It does not model:
- Taxes on contributions, growth or withdrawals
- Investment fees or changes in asset allocation
- Sequence-of-returns risk from uneven annual market results
- Withdrawal rules, penalties or required distributions for specific accounts
- Life expectancy, healthcare shocks or changes in retirement spending
- Market guarantees or the probability that a plan succeeds
Talk with a qualified financial professional before reducing retirement contributions or changing your work plan.
Planning in Canada, the UK, India, or another currency?
Because the Coast FIRE math is currency-agnostic, users in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Europe (EUR), South Africa (ZAR), or Malaysia can enter expenses and savings in their local currency and set local inflation under Adjust your plan. If you need local tax-Wrapper and pension rules (RRSP/TFSA/CPP, ISA/SIPP/State Pension, or EPF/PPF/NPS in Lakhs & Crores), use a dedicated regional calculator:
Sources last reviewed: July 25, 2026
Coast FIRE Calculator FAQ
The calculator starts with a 7% nominal return and 3% inflation—about a 3.88% real return: (1.07 ÷ 1.03) - 1.
Past returns do not predict future results. Review the inputs, then stress-test a less favorable set.
Yes. Coast FI is a shorter way to say Coast FIRE (FI = financial independence).
This tool calculates the same number: how much you need invested today so compound growth can carry you to retirement.
Compare your current invested savings with the Coast FIRE number shown at the top of the calculator. If your savings are already at or above that target, you have reached Coast FIRE under your chosen assumptions.
If you are still building toward it, open Adjust your plan and enter your monthly contribution. The projection chart will mark the exact Coast age where your projected investments (orange line) cross the Coast target (blue line). If the lines do not cross before retirement—or if monthly contributions are $0—the calculator shows your projected retirement gap instead of inventing a date.
You can build a Coast FIRE spreadsheet using the standard present-value function: =PV(real_return, years_to_retirement, 0, -target_nest_egg).
For example, at age 35 retiring at 65 on $50,000/year (4% withdrawal rate = $1,250,000 nest egg) with a 7% nominal return and 3% inflation, enter =PV((1+0.07)/(1+0.03)-1, 65-35, 0, -(50000/0.04)) to get $398,578. This online calculator automates that exact formula while also modeling monthly contributions and your year-by-year compounding curve.
Recheck the inputs and the risks the model leaves out before changing your plan.
Coast FIRE still assumes you cover current expenses and leave retirement investments untouched. Taxes, fees and future returns can move the outcome—get professional advice before cutting contributions or changing work.
Traditional FIRE: Save until you can quit work forever. Usually requires 25x annual expenses.
Coast FIRE: Save until compound growth handles retirement. Then work for living expenses only.
Coast FIRE is the halfway point to full FIRE.
Markets rarely return the smooth annual rate used here—order of returns can matter.
Healthcare is a concrete one: US coverage before Medicare (65) is expensive, so budget $500–1,000/month per person if you're not employer-covered. Taxes, fees, withdrawal rules and spending changes can also move the result. This calculator does not model those items or estimate a success probability.
Higher inflation lowers real return when nominal return stays fixed, so today's Coast number rises.
Example at age 35, retire at 65, $50,000 annual expenses, 7% nominal return: about $398,578 at 3% inflation vs $532,595 at 4%. Change the inflation input to check your own result.
Yes. Use the dedicated For Couples calculator.
The homepage stays intentionally simple. For household planning, open Couples to enter both partners' ages, savings, monthly contributions and retirement dates.
You can compare combined and separate paths there without changing the homepage estimate.
Have more questions? Drop us a line.
Related Calculators
Need a different calculation? Try these:
For Couples
Calculate with dual incomes and joint expenses
Coast FIRE by Age
See benchmark numbers for every age from 25 to 60
With Pension
Subtract pension income from your target, including the gap years
Canada Coast FIRE Calculator
Coast FIRE in CAD with a CPP/QPP and OAS benefit bridge
UK Coast FIRE Calculator
Coast FIRE in pounds with ISA, SIPP and State Pension
India Coast FIRE Calculator
Coast FIRE in today's rupees with lakh, crore and scenario testing
With Social Security
Count all, some or none of your benefit and see the lower target
Is Coast FIRE Worth It?
Honest pros, cons, and risks to help you decide
"It's not that I don't want to work hard—I just want to work hard for myself."
May you reach the shore soon 🌅