See how much smaller your retirement target gets when part-time income covers some of your spending, and how many years sooner you can leave full-time work
Barista FIRE is early retirement with a part-time job: your investments cover part of your spending and a lighter job covers the rest. Because the portfolio only has to fund the gap, the target is smaller than a full FIRE number, often by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Enter your yearly spending, the after-tax income you expect from part-time work, what you have invested and what you add each month. The calculator gives your Barista FIRE number, how long it takes to reach at your current saving rate, and the full FIRE number for comparison.
Barista FIRE number = (annual spending − part-time income) ÷ safe withdrawal rate. At a 4% withdrawal rate that is 25 times the gap. The time to get there is found month by month: the balance grows at the real (after-inflation) return and your contribution is added each month, both in today's dollars, until it passes the target. The calculator also shows the reverse view: how much part-time income your current portfolio would need alongside it to cover spending today.
Someone spending $50,000 a year needs $1,250,000 for full FIRE at 4%. If a part-time job brings in $20,000 a year after tax, the portfolio only has to cover $30,000, so the Barista FIRE number is $750,000, $500,000 less. Starting from $250,000 and adding $1,500 a month at 7% returns and 3% inflation, that takes 13 years 10 months, against 22 years 10 months for full FIRE. With $250,000 invested today the portfolio supports $10,000 a year, so leaving now would need $40,000 a year from work.
| Part-time income a year | Barista FIRE number | Time to reach it |
|---|---|---|
| $0 (full FIRE) | $1,250,000 | 22 years 10 months |
| $10,000 | $1,000,000 | 18 years 9 months |
| $20,000 | $750,000 | 13 years 10 months |
| $30,000 | $500,000 | 7 years 10 months |
| $40,000 | $250,000 | already there |
In the US the classic Barista FIRE job is one that comes with health cover, because buying insurance individually before Medicare eligibility at 65 is one of the largest costs in an early retirement budget. If your part-time job will not include it, add the premium and expected out-of-pocket costs to your annual spending before you run the numbers. Check marketplace prices for your age and area at HealthCare.gov rather than using a rule of thumb.
Use after-tax part-time income, and be realistic about how many years you will want to work. If you plan to stop the part-time job at some age, the portfolio must be large enough by then to cover all spending; the Coast FIRE calculator answers that question for a later date. Social Security and pensions are not included; if you count on them, lower the spending figure for the years they pay. Returns are assumed steady, so keep a cash buffer for bad years rather than selling investments after a fall.
A form of early retirement where you leave full-time work once your investments can cover part of your spending, and part-time or lower-stress work covers the rest. The name comes from the idea of working at a coffee shop for the income and, in the US, the health insurance.
Subtract your after-tax part-time income from your annual spending and divide the gap by your safe withdrawal rate. At 4%, that is 25 times the gap: spend $50,000, earn $20,000, and the target is $750,000.
With Barista FIRE you withdraw from the portfolio now and work part time to cover the rest. With Coast FIRE you stop contributing but withdraw nothing, working enough to cover all current spending until the portfolio reaches your full target at retirement age.
Yes. Spending, income, contributions and targets are all in today's dollars, and growth uses the real return, (1 + expected return) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1.
Yes, if the part-time job will not provide it. Add premiums and expected out-of-pocket costs to annual spending; in the US this is often the single biggest cost people leave out before Medicare at 65.
Tax rules, limits and pay data change. Check the current figures with the primary source before acting on them.