What is the Coast FIRE?
Coast FIRE is a milestone before full financial independence. It is the corpus that, left completely alone, will compound into your full FIRE number by traditional retirement age.
Reaching it does not mean you stop working — it means you can stop saving. You only need to cover current expenses, which opens up lower-paid but more enjoyable work, part-time hours or a career change.
Formula & worked example
Coast FIRE = Full FIRE number / (1 + real return)years to retirement
Worked example: ₹10,00,000 of retirement expenses at a 3.5% withdrawal rate means a full FIRE number of ₹2.86 crore. At 32 with 28 years to 60 and a 7% real return, the Coast FIRE number is ₹42.4 lakh. With ₹30 lakh invested you are ₹12.4 lakh short — but that ₹30 lakh alone will still grow to about ₹2.02 crore.
How to use this coast fire calculator
- Enter the annual expenses you expect in retirement, in today's money.
- Set your current age and traditional retirement age.
- Use a real return (after inflation) — around 6–7% for equity-heavy portfolios.
- If "Coast FIRE Reached" appears, further saving is optional rather than necessary.
Smart tips
- Use real returns, not nominal, since your expense figure is in today's rupees. Mixing the two badly overstates progress.
- Coast FIRE is powerful in your 30s — the compounding runway does most of the work.
- Reaching it does not mean stopping. Continuing to invest simply brings full independence forward.
- Keep health insurance and an emergency fund fully intact; Coast FIRE assumes no forced withdrawals.
Frequently asked questions
What is Coast FIRE?
The corpus at which your existing investments will grow to your full FIRE number by retirement age without any further contributions.
What is the difference between Coast FIRE and full FIRE?
Full FIRE means you can stop working entirely. Coast FIRE means you can stop saving but still need to cover current expenses.
Should I use real or nominal returns?
Real returns (after inflation), because the expense figure is in today's rupees. Around 6–7% real is reasonable for an equity-heavy portfolio.
Is Coast FIRE risky?
It relies on returns materialising over decades. Reviewing every few years and resuming contributions if markets underperform makes it far safer.
Want the theory behind the numbers? Read our FIRE guides on the Money Blog.