Coast FIRE at 25
Coast FIRE at 25: with $40,000 of planned retirement spending, a 4% withdrawal rate and a 5% real return, you need about $142,046 invested today for compounding alone to reach the $1,000,000 target by 65 — no further contributions required. At 25 you have the longest runway on this page series: 40 years of compounding before a 65 retirement. At a 5% real return every $1 invested now becomes about $7.04 by 65, which is why the Coast FIRE number at 25 is only about 14% of the full target — time does most of the work, and the biggest risk is not market returns but lifestyle inflation quietly raising the expense figure the target is built from.
Coast FIRE at 25 reference last updated · reference source
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What this tool does
Coast FIRE at 25: with $40,000 of planned retirement spending, a 4% withdrawal rate and a 5% real return, you need about $142,046 invested today for compounding alone to reach the $1,000,000 target by 65 — no further contributions required. At 25 you have the longest runway on this page series: 40 years of compounding before a 65 retirement. At a 5% real return every $1 invested now becomes about $7.04 by 65, which is why the Coast FIRE number at 25 is only about 14% of the full target — time does most of the work, and the biggest risk is not market returns but lifestyle inflation quietly raising the expense figure the target is built from.
How to use the Coast FIRE at 25
- Check Current age: 25.
- Review the Coast FIRE at 25 result and its exact-value comparison table.
- Verify assumptions before applying the result.
Formula
retirement target=expenses/(SWR/100); coast target=retirement target/(1+return/100)^(retirement age−current age)
- expenses
- Annual retirement expenses
- swr
- Withdrawal rate (%)
- age
- Current age
- retire
- Retirement age
- return
- Annual real return (%)
Constant assumed return, no live market prices, taxes, inflation or investment fees unless included in your inputs. Use inflation-adjusted expenses and real returns for constant purchasing power.
Worked example
Coast FIRE at 25: Current age = 25. Coast FIRE at 25: with $40,000 of planned retirement spending, a 4% withdrawal rate and a 5% real return, you need about $142,046 invested today for compounding alone to reach the $1,000,000 target by 65 — no further contributions required. At 25 you have the longest runway on this page series: 40 years of compounding before a 65 retirement. At a 5% real return every $1 invested now becomes about $7.04 by 65, which is why the Coast FIRE number at 25 is only about 14% of the full target — time does most of the work, and the biggest risk is not market returns but lifestyle inflation quietly raising the expense figure the target is built from.
Inputs
- Annual retirement expenses40000
- Withdrawal rate (%)4
- Current age25
- Retirement age65
- Annual real return (%)5
Result
- Coast FIRE balance needed now$142,045.68
- Retirement portfolio target$1,000,000.00
- Years for compound growth40
- Growth multiple by age 657.04
- Coast number as a share of the full target14.2%
Coast FIRE numbers at age 25 (4% withdrawal rate, 5% real return, retire at 65)
| Annual retirement spending | Coast FIRE number at 25 | Full target at 65 |
|---|---|---|
| 30000 | 106534 | 750000 |
| 40000 | 142046 | 1000000 |
| 50000 | 177557 | 1250000 |
| 60000 | 213069 | 1500000 |
| 80000 | 284091 | 2000000 |
Results explained
- Coast FIRE balance needed now
- Full retirement target discounted by 40 years of compound growth at the stated real return, for a 25-year-old.
- Retirement portfolio target
- Annual retirement expenses divided by the withdrawal rate (the 25× rule at a 4% rate).
- Growth multiple by age 65
- What $1 invested at this age becomes by retirement at the stated return, before any further contributions.
- Coast number as a share of the full target
- How much of the eventual portfolio must already exist today; the rest is expected from compounding.
Frequently asked questions
About $142,046 under the default assumptions ($40,000 annual retirement spending, 4% withdrawal rate, 5% real return, retirement at 65). The reference table shows the number for other spending levels at exactly this age.
Reaching age 30 before hitting the number raises the required balance from about $142,046 to about $181,290 — roughly $39,245 more — because five years of compounding are gone. The gap is the true price of delay, and it widens with every age step.
Front-load aggressively while expenses are low: capture the full employer match, favour low-cost index funds, and treat raises as coast-number deposits. A 25-year-old who reaches the coast number can later choose work for fit rather than pay without touching retirement.
It means the invested balance, left untouched, is projected to reach the retirement target by 65 under the stated return — it does not cover spending between now and then, and a decade of poor returns or higher retirement spending can un-coast the plan. Most people keep contributing at a lower rate as insurance.
Very: at a 4% real return the required balance at 25 is about $208,289, and at 6% it falls to about $97,222. That spread is why coast plans are usually built on conservative real returns, not best-case ones.
No — money earmarked for a deposit in the next few years will be spent, not left compounding for 40 years, so counting it flatters the coast number. The same applies to an emergency fund. At 25 the clean rule is: only balances you genuinely will not touch until your 60s count, which usually means retirement accounts and any long-term brokerage money.