Finance
Find your coast age.
Solo, household, income offsets, and currency presets on one page.
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About this calculator
Method, formulas, and limits.What this does
Calculates the lump sum needed today so compounding alone can grow your portfolio to retirement target. Also estimates your earliest coast age — when contributions can stop and compounding carries you to your goal.
Who it is for
Anyone pursuing financial independence. Works for single planners and married couples, with support for pensions, Social Security, and other fixed income offsets.
How it works
Adjusts retirement spending for guaranteed income, applies your withdrawal rate to find the target portfolio at retirement, then discounts it back using real return to find the coast number. Also projects contributions year by year to find your earliest coast age.
Limitations
Assumes constant real return and ignores sequence-of-returns risk, taxes, and market volatility. The coast number assumes zero contributions after reaching coast, which may not reflect real-world market cycles.
Key calculations
- Target Portfolio
- The portfolio size needed at retirement to sustain your planned spending. targetPortfolio = annualSpending / withdrawalRate
- Coast Number
- The lump sum needed today so that compounding to retirement equals the target portfolio. coastNumber = targetPortfolio / (1 + realReturn)^yearsToRetirement
- Real Return
- Inflation-adjusted investment return derived from nominal growth and expected inflation. realReturn = (1 + nominalReturn) / (1 + inflation) - 1
- Income-Adjusted Spending
- Retirement spending reduced by any guaranteed income that starts on or before retirement. adjustedSpend = max(0, spending - incomeAtRetirement)
Reference ranges
- Withdrawal Rate
- 4% is the traditional rule for 30-year retirements. 3–3.5% for longer horizons or conservative planning. 5%+ may work with flexible spending or shorter timelines.
- Real Return
- Historical S&P 500 real return is roughly 6–7%. Conservative planners use 4–5%. Aggressive assumptions go above 8%. Actual yearly returns vary significantly.
- Coast Age
- Common coast ages range from 35 to 55 depending on savings rate, return assumptions, and spending goals. Younger coast ages require higher savings rates.
- Progress Percent
- Below 50% means significant future contributions are needed. 50–80% is on track. Above 80% means the coast threshold is near or within reach.
How to use it
- 1.Choose your modeSelect Solo for individual planning or Household for joint planning with a shared portfolio and one coast age.
- 2.Enter your agesSet your current age, partner age in household mode, and target retirement age to define the compounding timeline.
- 3.Set your capitalInput your current invested assets, monthly contributions, and expected annual contribution growth rate.
- 4.Configure market projectionsSet your expected nominal return, inflation assumption, and safe withdrawal rate for the retirement phase.
- 5.Add income streamsInclude pensions, Social Security, or other fixed income with their respective start ages to reduce the required portfolio.
- 6.Review your resultsCheck the coast number, target portfolio, progress percentage, and earliest coast age to understand your FIRE timeline.
Coast FIRE is the point where your invested assets have grown enough that, even if you stop adding new money, compounding alone will grow your portfolio to your target retirement balance by your planned retirement age. The key insight is that early contributions do the heavy lifting—once you reach the coast number, you can reduce your savings rate or switch to a less demanding job while time and compound returns finish the job.
Yes. Switch to Household mode to plan with a shared portfolio, combined income streams, and one coast age based on the primary partner's timeline. The calculator uses the primary age as the projection clock and applies the same real return and withdrawal rate assumptions to the entire household balance.
Yes. Add the total value of all accounts earmarked for retirement as your invested assets. The calculator does not distinguish between tax-deferred, tax-free, or taxable accounts—it treats every dollar the same. If you want a more tax-aware picture, you can adjust your spending or withdrawal rate inputs to approximate after-tax outcomes.
Most spreadsheets and Reddit examples use the same core present-value math, but this calculator adds income offsets for pensions and Social Security, a year-by-year contribution projection with growth, a progress percentage, an earliest-coast-age search, and currency presets with country-specific inflation defaults. It also shows the gap between your projected retirement portfolio and your target so you can see whether you are on track or falling short.
Yes. The calculator ships with presets for USD, CAD, GBP, EUR, AUD, NZD, JPY, CHF, SGD, and HKD, plus a custom option. Each preset changes the currency symbol and sets a default inflation rate appropriate for that economy, which flows into the real return calculation automatically.
The coast age is the earliest year where your projected portfolio—including all future contributions up to that age—is large enough that compounding alone can reach your target by retirement. After that age, the calculator assumes you stop adding new money. In practice, many people keep contributing beyond their coast age to build a buffer against market volatility or to retire earlier.
Income streams that start on or before your retirement age reduce your effective retirement spending, which lowers the target portfolio you need. Income that starts after retirement is discounted back to retirement day using your real return and subtracted from the target. Adding guaranteed income always reduces the coast number and may bring your coast age earlier.
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