Barista FIRE Calculator

Barista FIRE means leaving full-time work once your investments can cover part of your spending, with part-time income paying the rest. Because your portfolio only has to cover the gap, the target is smaller and you can get there sooner. Enter your spending and your expected part-time income to see your number.

Your details

Current ageAnnual income after tax ($)

Salary and wages only. Add Social Security separately below

Annual expenses ($)

Current portfolio ($)

Expected return after inflation (%)

Stocks historically return about 7% after inflation.

Lean expenses ($/year)

For Lean FIRE: 70% of your current spending

Aspirational spending ($/year)

For Fat FIRE: 2.0x your current spending

Part-time income ($/year)

For Barista FIRE: covers 40% of expenses

Target retirement age

For Coast FIRE: let compounding close the gap

Safe withdrawal rate (%)

Classic 4% rule: lower is more conservative

Saved to this browser, up to 5 scenarios.

Your Barista FIRE number

$750,000

12.9 years to go, reached at age 43

Your FIRE number

$1,250,000

18.0 years to go, FI at age 48

Savings rate

37.5%

$2,500/mo saved

✓

Your portfolio sustains through age 95.

Portfolio projection

All paths to FI

Lean FIRE

Cover essentials only

$875k

14.4 yrs at age 44 (2041)

Barista FIRE

Part-time work covers the gap

$750k

12.9 yrs at age 43 (2039)

FIRE

Full financial independence

$1.25M

18.0 yrs at age 48 (2044)

Fat FIRE

Your dream lifestyle

$2.50M

26.0 yrs at age 56 (2052)

Coast FIRE

Stop saving now, retire at 65 on growth alone

$117k

43% of the way

Once you hit FI at age 48, each extra year of work grows your nest egg and boosts your retirement income. Working 5 extra years past your FIRE date would raise your monthly income by $2,340/mo but with diminishing returns each year.

How the Barista FIRE number works

The calculator subtracts your part-time income from your yearly spending. Your portfolio only needs to cover what is left.

Your Barista FIRE number is that gap divided by your withdrawal rate, so at 4% it is 25 times the gap. The calculator then projects your savings and returns to show when you would reach it.

Barista FIRE number = (yearly spending − part-time income) ÷ withdrawal rate

A worked example

Say you spend $50,000 a year and expect $20,000 from part-time work. Your portfolio only has to cover the $30,000 gap, so at a 4% withdrawal rate your Barista FIRE number is $750,000, against $1,250,000 for full FIRE. Starting from $50,000 and saving $30,000 a year at 7%, you would reach it in 12.9 years instead of 18.0.

Common questions

Does it have to be a barista job?

No. The name comes from people taking part-time jobs that come with benefits, but any part-time, freelance or consulting income works the same way in the math.

What about health insurance?

In the US, health coverage is often the biggest cost of leaving full-time work before Medicare starts at 65. Include premiums in your spending, or count a part-time job's coverage as part of what that job pays.

How is this different from Coast FIRE?

With Coast FIRE you stop saving but keep earning enough to cover all of your spending, and you leave your portfolio alone until retirement. With Barista FIRE you start drawing on your portfolio now and part-time income covers the rest.

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