Coast FIRE Calculator — Can You Stop Contributing at 30?
Coast FIRE is the point at which your invested assets are large enough that compound growth alone—with no further contributions—will fund your target retirement income by your chosen retirement age. At age 30 with $150,000 invested, you have 35 years of compounding before age 65. At an 8.5% nominal return, that principal grows to approximately $2.57 million by retirement—enough to fund $80,000/year inflation-adjusted income without touching the principal for over 25 years. The monthly contribution is pre-set to $0 so the calculator shows the pure coasting scenario. Increase it to model a hybrid approach where you contribute only enough to cover the inflation gap.
Expert tip: The Coast FIRE number is extremely sensitive to your assumed rate of return. A 1% reduction in annual return—from 8.5% to 7.5%—lowers the terminal value at 65 by roughly $700,000 on a $150,000 starting balance. Run the calculation at 6.5%, 7.5%, and 8.5% to bracket your realistic range. If $150,000 only coasts at the optimistic return, you have not yet reached your true Coast FIRE number.
Savings
Set to $0 to rely entirely on custom contributions
Rates
Retirement Income
Custom Contributions
On Track
Funds last to age 95 — 30 years of retirement covered.Nest Egg at Retirement
$1,152,913
Total Contributions
$150,000
Coast FIRE Reached
You can safely stop contributing completely today. Your current portfolio will grow on its own to fully fund your retirement by age 65. In fact, you could retire as early as age 63, or age 66 to preserve your principal indefinitely.Portfolio Trajectory
Retirement Planning — Common Questions
Standard retirement advice focuses on reaching a specific age. That is the wrong framework. Financial independence is a state of leverage, not an age, and planning ahead is simply the act of buying back your future time.
The Cost of Delay
Time is the most powerful variable in the compound interest formula. Capital deployed today does the heavy lifting so you don't have to break your back later. Every year you wait forces you to save exponentially more of your active income just to catch up.
Outpacing the Silent Tax
Inflation aggressively steals your purchasing power every year. If historical inflation averages 3 %, a $100,000 cash savings account loses roughly $3,000 of buying power in year one. Over 24 years, that same $100,000 will buy exactly half as much as it does today. This is why this calculator uses Real Return (Growth minus Inflation).
Building Optionality
You aren't just saving to quit working at 65. Reaching financial milestones early gives you absolute leverage to start a business, take a sabbatical, or downshift your career on your own terms.