How much you need to stop saving — and whether the money lasts after you do.
Solid green — projected balance in today's purchasing power. Grey — money you put in. Dotted blue — the coast number at each age. Red — what you need by retirement. Hover for any year.
Your contributions stay constant in today's dollars.
The table below assumes retirement at 67, a 5% real return, and a 4% withdrawal rate. No Social Security or pension is included. These assumptions are independent of your calculator settings above — the table is a public reference, the calculator is your own numbers.
| Current age | Years to 67 | $3,000/mo | $4,000/mo | $5,000/mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | 42 | $115,956 | $154,608 | $193,259 |
| 30 | 37 | $147,992 | $197,323 | $246,653 |
| 35 | 32 | $188,880 | $251,839 | $314,799 |
| 40 | 27 | $241,063 | $321,418 | $401,772 |
| 45 | 22 | $307,665 | $410,220 | $512,775 |
| 50 | 17 | $392,667 | $523,556 | $654,445 |
| 55 | 12 | $501,154 | $668,205 | $835,256 |
| 60 | 7 | $639,613 | $852,818 | $1,066,022 |
| 65 | 2 | $816,327 | $1,088,435 | $1,360,544 |
25× your annual spending — the 4% rule. $5,400/mo → $64,800/yr → $1.62M target. Social Security is not subtracted here.
6% nominal − 3% inflation ≈ 2.9% real. Your money compounds at that rate until you retire.
Divide the target by (1 + real return) ^ years left. That's your coast number — the balance you need today to never contribute again.
Social Security is left out of the 25× target on purpose. A $2,083/month benefit shrinks the portfolio you need far more than it shrinks your spending, so the calculator does that subtraction for you.
The earlier you coast, the smaller the number — compound growth needs fewer dollars when it has more years.
Coast FIRE (also written CoastFIRE or Coast FI) is the point where your retirement accounts are big enough that, with no further contributions, they compound into a full retirement by your target age — 67 unless you set it otherwise. You stop adding to them, but you keep working, and your paycheck covers today's bills.
The word "coast" comes from riding a bike downhill: you stop pedaling, and momentum carries you the rest of the way.
The number changes once you add income. A $2,083/month Social Security benefit cuts the portfolio you need by roughly a third to a half, depending on your age — which is why the table above is labelled "no income" and the calculator asks for your benefit.
The catch most people miss: Coast FIRE says nothing about what happens after you retire. You can hit your coast number at 38 and still run out of money at 84 if you spend more than the portfolio can carry.
The number above answers one question: when can I stop saving? It doesn't answer the next one: what does the money do after I stop?
Two people with the same coast number can have completely different retirements. One runs dry at 79; the other still has a cushion at 95. The difference is withdrawal order, spending shape, and how much of the balance sits in tax-deferred accounts you'll be forced to tap at 73.
The full planner runs all 28 years of retirement, one row per year, and flags the year your balance hits zero.
There are three things on this page. One is a calculator, one is a spreadsheet, one is a planner.
The calculator (above) — free, no email, answers "when can I stop saving."
The free spreadsheet — two tabs. Your inputs and your six results, with the arithmetic shown next to each one, plus the three levers that close the gap. Open it in Google Sheets or Excel and change the numbers yourself.
The full planner — seven tabs, $15 for the first 100 buyers and $20 after.
One-time, no subscription.
Coast FIRE doesn't fail because the math is wrong. It fails because the math gets done once and never checked again.
≈ $115,955
$3,000/mo spending · 42 years to 67 · 5% real
Left alone, that balance becomes about $900,000 by 67 — enough to cover $36,000 a year at a 4% withdrawal rate. Put in $50,000 today and you're already 43% of the way there.
≈ $251,815
$4,000/mo · 32 years · 5% real
At $150,000 invested you're 60% there. The gap is a few more years of saving, not a different life.
≈ $512,767
$5,000/mo · 22 years · 5% real
Wait until 70 and the same lifestyle needs $442,950 — three extra years of work buys a $70,000 smaller target.
At 3% real, the 35-year-old's target is $466,000, not $251,815. Pick a return you'd still be comfortable with if you were wrong.
No. Full FIRE means you have enough to stop working entirely; Coast FIRE means your retirement accounts are on track to be enough later, while you still need a paycheck today.
There's no single number — it depends on your retirement spending and how many years your money has to grow. A common target is 25 times annual spending: at $5,400 a month that's $64,800 a year, or $1.62 million at retirement, discounted back to today. Work yours out year by year with the Coast FIRE number by age table.
Most planners assume 6–7% nominal for a stock-heavy portfolio, minus 2–3% for inflation, leaving roughly 3–4% real. Our calculator defaults to 6% nominal and 3% inflation, or 2.9% real. Err conservative — optimistic returns shrink your coast number and hide the risk.
Only if you mix nominal and real figures, which is the most common mistake. A $1.62 million target 37 years out buys roughly what $543,000 buys today. Pick one frame — today's dollars — and stay in it.
Yes — a pension lowers the number because it covers part of your retirement spending. Subtract your expected annual pension from your target spending, then apply the 25× multiplier to the remainder. A $30,000 pension against $64,800 of spending cuts the portfolio you need by about 46%, from $1.62 million to $870,000. Our calculator has a pension field — turn it on and it does this subtraction for you.
It shrinks the portfolio you need, but it doesn't help in the years before you claim. The average retired-worker benefit was about $2,083 a month in 2026. Subtract it from your retirement spending, apply 25× to the gap, and remember that claiming early permanently reduces the check. The calculator does this for you — that's the "With Social Security" in the title.
Nothing breaks unless you panic-sell. An early drop hurts more during the coast phase because you have no new contributions smoothing it out, but sequence-of-returns risk only starts when you begin withdrawing. Keep the plan, not the balance.
It's the line item people forget. Medicare starts at 65, so retiring earlier means buying a marketplace plan yourself — price one before you commit. The full planner reserves about $165,000 for lifetime out-of-pocket medical costs.
These are estimates based on the assumptions you enter. Not financial advice.
The free spreadsheet takes about 10 minutes. The full planner takes an evening, and it's the one that tells you whether you'll run out at 84.
First 100 buyers pay $15. After that it's $20. One-time, no subscription.