Coast FIRE at 55

Coast FIRE number at 55

$762,524

On $5,000 a month of spending, invested once and never added to, compounding at 7 percent real for 10 years until 65. That is 51 percent of the $1,500,000 you are aiming at.

Ten years of compounding at 7 percent real roughly doubles what you hold, so coasting at 55 on $5,000 a month of spending needs about $763,000.

That is half the full FIRE number, which tells you something important about the strategy at this age.

Coast FIRE at 55 by monthly spending

Monthly spending	FIRE number	Coast FIRE at 55
$3,000	$900,000	$457,514
$4,000	$1,200,000	$610,019
$5,000	$1,500,000	$762,524
$6,000	$1,800,000	$915,029
$8,000	$2,400,000	$1,220,038

Half the target, which means coasting has almost stopped being a strategy

The whole appeal of Coast FIRE is leverage. At 25 you put in 7 percent of the target and compounding supplies the other 93. At 55 you supply half. The word coast implies momentum doing the work, and at this age you are doing most of it yourself.

What is genuinely worth calculating at 55 is different. The bridge from stopping work to Medicare at 65 and Social Security at 62 to 70 dominates everything. So does the order you draw accounts in, because Roth conversions done in the low income years between retiring and claiming Social Security can be worth six figures in lifetime tax. Those are the levers with force left at this age.

If returns disappoint

The return assumption moves this number more than anything else you can control. At $5,000 a month of spending, here is the same calculation at 55 across a realistic range.

Real return	Coast FIRE at 55
5 percent	$920,870
6 percent	$837,592
7 percent	$762,524
8 percent	$694,790

Run it on your own numbers

Your spending, your retirement age, your return assumption, and what you already have invested.

Open the Coast FIRE calculator

Common questions

Is there any point running this number at 55?

As a sanity check, yes. If you are at or above the coast number you know that continuing to work is buying you a better retirement rather than a possible one, and that reframing is worth something. As a plan, no. The decisions that move your outcome from here are about tax and timing, not compounding.

What is the rule of 55?

If you leave your employer in or after the calendar year you turn 55, you can take penalty free distributions from that employer's 401k, without waiting for 59 and a half. It only applies to the plan at the job you just left, not to IRAs and not to old 401ks from previous employers, which is the detail people miss.

Coast FIRE at other ages

Figures assume a 4 percent withdrawal rate, 7 percent real returns and retirement at 65, with spending expressed in today's money. This is general information, not financial advice.