Coast FIRE is the point where you've saved enough for retirement that you never have to save another cent for it — compound growth alone will carry your existing balance to your target by the time you retire. You're not retired, and you still work to cover today's bills. But you can stop saving for retirement, which frees up income and pressure right now. It's one of the most freeing — and least understood — milestones in personal finance.
Key takeaways
- Coast FIRE = you've saved enough that, with zero new contributions, growth alone reaches your retirement number by retirement age.
- It's not early retirement — you still work to cover current expenses; you just stop adding to retirement.
- Because compounding does the heavy lifting, hitting it early is hugely valuable — a dollar saved at 30 has decades to grow.
- It buys options: downshift to a lower-paid but happier job, go part-time, take a career risk.
- See how close you are to coasting →
Most retirement advice is about the finish line — the big number you need to stop working. Coast FIRE is about a quieter, earlier milestone that almost nobody talks about: the moment your retirement stops needing you.
What "coasting" actually means
Your retirement savings grow in two ways: the money you add, and the growth on what's already there. Early on, your contributions matter most. But compounding accelerates — and at some point, the balance you've already built is large enough that, left completely alone, it will grow into your full retirement number by the time you retire.
That point is Coast FIRE. You haven't retired. You still need income for rent, food, life. But you no longer need to save for retirement — that box is, in effect, already ticked. Every retirement dollar from here is optional.
Here's a simplified example. Say you'll want roughly $1 million at 65 (your 25x number). If your investments grow at a reasonable long-run rate, a lump sum invested decades earlier can grow into that $1M on its own. At 30, you might only need something in the low six figures already invested for it to compound to $1M by 65 — no further contributions required. Hit that balance, and you're Coast FIRE.
Why hitting it early is so powerful
The magic is time. A dollar invested at 30 has 35 years to compound; a dollar invested at 55 has 10. That's why front-loading retirement savings early — even aggressively, for a few years — can let you reach Coast FIRE while you're still young, and then stop. You trade a hard push now for decades of reduced pressure later.
This flips the usual script. Instead of grinding to save for retirement across your entire career, you sprint early, hit Coast, and then only ever have to earn enough to cover today.
What Coast FIRE actually buys you
The point isn't to stop working — it's the freedom that comes with knowing retirement is handled:
- You can downshift. Leave the high-stress, high-pay job for something you enjoy that pays less, because you no longer need the extra to fund retirement.
- You can go part-time, or take a sabbatical, or start something risky.
- The anxiety lifts. "Am I saving enough for retirement?" — the question that quietly stresses most people — is simply answered.
Coast FIRE isn't about escaping work. It's about removing retirement from the list of reasons you have to keep a job you don't want.
How to find your Coast number
- Estimate your retirement number — your annual spending × 25 (see how much you need to retire).
- Work backwards. Figure out how much invested today would grow into that number by your retirement age, assuming a reasonable long-run return and no new contributions. That's your Coast number.
- Compare to what you have. If you're already there — congratulations, you can stop saving for retirement. If not, the gap tells you how much more to invest before you can coast.
- Keep covering today. Coasting only works if you keep paying current expenses without raiding the retirement pot — so it needs to keep growing untouched.
A caveat worth stating: coasting assumes your investments actually grow as expected and you don't touch them. Markets vary, so many people aim for a Coast number with a bit of cushion, and keep an eye on it rather than setting it and forgetting entirely.
The read that tells you if you're there
Coast FIRE sounds abstract until you see it against your own numbers — your real balance, your real timeline, your real target. Most people have no idea whether they're 30% or 90% of the way there.
That's what Ed is built to show. Ed won't tell you to quit your job — it reads your whole picture and shows you how close you are to coasting: whether your retirement is already on autopilot, or how much more it needs before it is. A free Money Diagnosis turns "will I be okay?" into a number you can actually see.
You might be closer to coasting than you think. And the day you hit it, work becomes a choice — not a sentence.
Money at peace. Wealth in motion.
See how close you are to coasting → · Ed is on the App Store and Google Play.
Ed: Wealth is a research and self-reflection tool, not a registered investment advisor. Nothing here is financial, investment, or tax advice. The decision is always yours.
Sources
- Fidelity, Retirement guidelines (retirement targets and compounding assumptions) — https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/retirement/retirement-guidelines
- Bengen / Trinity Study, 4% rule (basis of the 25x retirement number) — https://www.financialplanningassociation.org/article/journal/JAN23-safe-withdrawal-rates
