Coast FIRE is the point where what you have already invested will grow into your retirement number on its own. Past it, saving more buys you an earlier retirement rather than a possible one.
What you would need invested today to coast for 25 years to age 60
Add this much and you can stop contributing entirely
Your full FIRE number is $1,000,000 — 25× your spending at a 4% withdrawal rate.
Coast FIRE separates two questions people usually collapse into one: whether you can retire, and when. Once your invested capital is large enough that compounding alone carries it to your target by your retirement age, retirement stops being in doubt. Everything you save after that moves the date closer.
It is a genuinely useful milestone because it arrives years before full financial independence, and it changes your options straight away. Coasting means you can take the lower-paid job, drop to four days a week, or absorb a career break without derailing the plan.
The usual caveats apply. The number assumes an average annual return that real markets will not deliver smoothly, and a withdrawal rate that is a rule of thumb rather than a guarantee. Treat the result as a direction, and recheck it as your spending and portfolio change.
A number today is nice. Watching it grow month after month is what builds wealth. Track it free with Totala — no bank connections, your data stays yours.
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