◷ The Freedom Clock
Your time is worth more
Choose your path to financial freedom

Coast FIRE estimates when you could stop retirement contributions while your investments grow toward your planned retirement age. You still need income for living expenses.

COAST FIRE · YOUR FIRST MILESTONE

When can you stop saving?

Find the age when your retirement savings could coast on their own.

Discover when you might stop contributing to retirement and let your existing investments grow toward your planned retirement age. You would still work to cover living expenses.

🌊COAST FIRE · Stop saving, keep earning
Interactive, private, and built around your numbers.
Your estimated Coast FIRE age
Stop saving age—years oldYour journey starts here
Ready when you are
Enter your numbers, then wind the clock.
01 / Make it yours

Set your freedom number.

Adjust the example inputs, then press Wind the Clock to calculate your results. All amounts are in today's dollars, with purchasing power accounted for through the assumed real return.

Your situation

$
$
Include employee and employer contributions. Enter today's monthly amount: the model assumes you increase contributions with inflation, keeping their purchasing power constant.
$
Enter how much you expect to withdraw from your investments each year in today's dollars, including amounts needed for taxes on those withdrawals. Exclude spending covered by Social Security, pensions, or other income. We do not calculate taxes for you.

Model assumptions

Everything is expressed in today's dollars. Your investment growth assumption is after inflation, and your annual retirement withdrawal goal is the amount your portfolio needs to provide in today's purchasing power. Monthly deposits are assumed to increase with inflation.
%
Expected yearly portfolio growth after inflation. Example: 8% investment return with 3% inflation ≈ 4.85% real growth. Use a lower figure if you need to allow for investment fees or taxes.
%
The percentage of your portfolio you plan to withdraw in your first retirement year. For example, withdrawing $60,000 at 4% requires a $1.5 million starting portfolio. Want to preserve your balance? In a perfectly smooth, inflation-adjusted model, withdrawals at or below real investment growth may help maintain your portfolio’s purchasing power. But markets do not grow evenly: bad early returns, fees, taxes, and rising withdrawals can still reduce your balance. A 4% starting withdrawal rate is not a promise that principal will remain intact.
Results will appear only when you wind the clock.

Your potential future Not calculated

Illustrative financial independence target
—
Invested assets needed to support your selected annual portfolio withdrawals at your initial withdrawal rate.
Time to target
—
In this smooth-return model
Projected calendar year
—
Not a guaranteed date
Wealth at age 65
—
If you continue investing
Coast FIRE age
—
When contributions could stop*
Enter your numbers above, then press Wind the Clock.

Buy back your time.

Try adding to your future monthly contributions. This mini-scenario updates instantly without changing your main clock.
+$500/mo
—
Potential time saved
⌛
02 / The path ahead

See the moment your savings might cover retirement.

The rising teal line is your projected investment balance. The horizontal gold line is how much you aim to have invested. Where teal meets gold is your estimated financial independence point.
InvestmentsFI target
↗ Teal lineYour investments growing through contributions and assumed returns.
— Gold lineYour savings goal, based on annual withdrawals and withdrawal rate.
◎ IntersectionThe point when projected investments reach your goal.
Wind the Clock to reveal your investment path.
03 / Understand your freedom

Three numbers. One bigger picture.

01

Your freedom number

Annual retirement withdrawals (gross) divided by your assumed initial withdrawal rate. At 4%, $60,000 in withdrawals implies a $1.5 million target. It's a planning shortcut, not a safe-withdrawal guarantee.

02

Your freedom date

The model projects your investments using a constant inflation-adjusted return and contributions that rise with inflation, keeping their value constant in today's dollars. Actual market returns are unpredictable and can move the date considerably.

03

Your coast point

Coast FIRE estimates when you could stop new contributions and have your existing investments grow to the target by age 65 (using the same hypothetical return). You would still need another way to cover living expenses until then.