At 25, you have 40 years of compounding ahead of a traditional retirement at 65 — the strongest position anyone can be in. With $50,000/yr of retirement spending, a 7% return, 2.5% inflation, and a 4% withdrawal rate, your Coast FIRE number is about $224,000. Reach it, and you could stop retirement saving entirely for the rest of your career.
Want contributions, a coast-date chart, and adjustable rates? Use the full Coast FIRE calculator.
Assumes retirement at 65, 7% nominal returns, 2.5% inflation, 4% safe withdrawal rate. All figures in today's dollars.
| Retirement spending | Full FIRE number | Coast number at 25 |
|---|---|---|
| $40,000/yr | $1,000,000 | $179,000 |
| $50,000/yr | $1,250,000 | $224,000 |
| $60,000/yr | $1,500,000 | $269,000 |
| $80,000/yr | $2,000,000 | $359,000 |
Every dollar invested at 25 becomes roughly $5.58 in today's purchasing power by 65 at these assumptions. That means a $224k portfolio does the work of $1.25M. The trade-off most 25-year-olds face is aggressive saving now versus lifestyle — Coast FIRE reframes it: sprint for a few years, then downshift permanently while compounding finishes the job.
What if I want to retire before 65? Your coast number rises because compounding has less time. Model any retirement age in the full calculator.
Is 7% realistic? It's near the long-run U.S. total-market average before inflation. Conservative planners use 5–6%; test both.
Does coasting mean I stop investing? It means you no longer have to. Many people keep investing to pull retirement earlier — see the Monte Carlo planner for probability-based projections.