The guide to Coast FIRE Calculator
Coast FIRE: when could you stop saving for retirement?
Coast FIRE is the point where existing investments could grow toward your later retirement target without further contributions. You still need income to cover life while those investments remain invested.
Open the Coast FIRE Calculator
The idea behind itSeparate the age you stop contributing from the age you retire.
What the calculator compares
Enter your current age and investments, planned retirement age, annual take-home income, annual savings, return assumption, withdrawal rate, and cost-of-living adjustment. Living expenses are calculated as take-home income minus savings, with a floor of zero.
The calculator compares continuing to save with stopping contributions at the Coast FIRE checkpoint. It shows the invested amount at that checkpoint and the target needed at the planned retirement age. The paths make the cost of stopping contributions visible.
The philosophy: more choices before full retirement
You may want the option to reduce hours, change work, or redirect future savings before the portfolio can fund your whole life. Coast FIRE describes one possible checkpoint along that route.
The distinction is practical: stopping contributions does not mean the portfolio is ready for withdrawals. The Coast path assumes you leave it invested and cover current expenses some other way. Spending the portfolio during those years changes the premise.
The math behind the checkpoint
The retirement target is future annual expenses divided by the withdrawal assumption. The calculator then discounts that target back by the assumed growth over the years remaining. Saving can stop when the projected portfolio is large enough to grow to that future target without more deposits.
For a simple example, set annual expenses to $40,000, withdrawal to 4%, cost-of-living adjustment to 0%, return to 5%, and retirement 20 years away. The retirement target is $1,000,000. About $376,889 today would compound to that amount at a steady 5% over 20 years. Actual returns will differ.
Use the two paths
Move the retirement-age slider and watch the checkpoint change. More years allow more assumed compounding; retiring sooner leaves less time. Next lower the return assumption, then raise the cost-of-living adjustment. Both can increase the amount needed before contributions stop.
Compare the keep-saving path with the Coast path at the same retirement age. The difference shows the projected effect of continued deposits. If no checkpoint appears, the entered plan does not reach one before the selected retirement age.
Where this tool stops
This is an accumulation model. Its extended schedule does not subtract retirement spending, even when it displays years after the planned retirement age. Use the Retirement Planner to connect saving with withdrawals.
Returns and withdrawal rates are assumptions. The calculator does not model taxes, fees, market variability, or the risk of poor early retirement returns. For the point at which assets could cover expenses without employment income, read the FIRE guide.
Try it with your own numbers
Change one assumption, compare the result, then try another. Calculator settings stay in your browser.
Open the Coast FIRE Calculator