At What Age Should You Stop Contributing to Retirement? (Calculate Yours)

What if you could stop saving for retirement in your 30s—and still retire comfortably at 65?

It sounds like financial heresy. We’re told to save relentlessly until the day we quit working. But math tells a different story.

There’s a specific dollar amount where compound growth alone finishes the job. Once you hit it, you could theoretically never contribute another penny and still reach your retirement goal.

It’s called your Coast FIRE number, and finding it might change how you think about your entire career.

The Coast FIRE Concept

Coast FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) is the point where your invested assets will grow to your retirement target through compound interest alone—without additional contributions.

You still work. You still earn money. But every dollar goes to living your life right now, not funding a retirement decades away.

The freedom this creates is profound. You can:

• Take a lower-paying job you actually enjoy
• Go part-time without financial stress
• Start a business without risking your retirement
• Take a gap year (or three)
• Say no to soul-crushing work

Your retirement is already handled. Everything else is optional.

Find your Coast FIRE number with our Coast FIRE Calculator to see when you could stop contributing.

The Math Behind the Magic

The formula is straightforward:

Coast FIRE Number = Retirement Goal ÷ (1 + r)^n

Where:

• r = expected annual real return (after inflation)
• n = years until retirement

Let’s say you want $1.5 million at 65 and you’re currently 30. Assuming 6% real returns:

Coast FIRE Number = $1,500,000 ÷ (1.06)^35 = $195,142

If you have $195,142 invested at age 30, compound growth handles the rest. You don’t need to save another dollar for retirement.

Coast FIRE Ages by Current Savings

Here’s when you can stop contributing based on different current portfolio sizes (assuming $1.5M goal, 6% real returns, retirement at 65):

Current Age	Current Portfolio	Coast FIRE Age
25	$50,000	37
25	$100,000	31
30	$50,000	42
30	$100,000	36
30	$150,000	32
35	$100,000	41
35	$200,000	36

The earlier you start and the more you save early, the sooner you can coast.

Use our Coast FIRE Calculator to find your exact age based on your current savings and goals.

Why This Changes Everything

Traditional retirement advice creates a hamster wheel. Save more. Earn more. Work harder. Repeat for 40 years.

Coast FIRE offers an off-ramp.

Once you know your number, your career decisions change:

Before Coast FIRE: “I hate this job, but I need the 401(k) match and the high salary to retire someday.”

After Coast FIRE: “I hate this job. My retirement is already funded. What would I actually enjoy doing?”

That mental shift is worth more than money.

The Trade-Offs

Coast FIRE isn’t free retirement. There are real trade-offs:

You still need income. Coast FIRE means you stop saving for retirement—not that you stop working entirely. You need money for current expenses.

Less margin for error. If markets underperform or you retire earlier than planned, you might come up short.

You’ll have less than maximum. Someone who keeps contributing will retire richer. Coasting trades maximum wealth for current freedom.

Healthcare remains a challenge. If you downshift careers, you may lose employer-sponsored health insurance.

These aren’t deal-breakers. They’re trade-offs. Whether they’re worth it depends on how much you value flexibility versus maximum accumulation.

Beyond Coast: What Keeps Contributing Gets You

Let’s be clear about what you’re giving up by coasting.

Someone with $200,000 at age 35 who coasts (stops contributing) vs. continues adding $1,000/month until 65:

Coast scenario: $200,000 grows to $1,149,000 at 65

Keep contributing: $200,000 + $1,000/month grows to $2,157,000 at 65

Continuing contributions nearly doubles the final amount. That’s a real difference in retirement lifestyle.

But here’s the question: is 30 more years of aggressive saving worth an extra million in your 60s?

For some people, yes. For others, that flexibility in their 30s, 40s, and 50s is worth more than additional wealth they may never spend.

Finding Your Personal Coast FIRE Age

Your Coast FIRE age depends on four factors:

1. Current portfolio value - What you’ve already saved
2. Monthly contributions - How fast you’re adding to it
3. Retirement goal - How much you’ll need
4. Expected returns - Conservative is 5-6% real

Plug your numbers into our Coast FIRE Calculator to see:

• Your Coast FIRE number
• When you’ll hit it at current savings rates
• How different scenarios change the timeline

A Middle Path: Barista FIRE

If full coasting feels too aggressive, consider Barista FIRE—a hybrid approach.

After hitting your Coast FIRE number, you take a lower-stress job that covers current expenses plus provides health insurance. Think part-time work, barista jobs (hence the name), or freelancing.

You’re not fully retired. But you’re not grinding either. Your retirement grows on autopilot while you work enough to live comfortably now.

This eliminates the healthcare problem while preserving most of the freedom.

Your Action Plan

Step 1: Calculate your Coast FIRE number using our Coast FIRE Calculator.

Step 2: Determine how many years until you hit it at your current savings rate.

Step 3: Decide if you want to accelerate (save more now, coast sooner) or maintain pace.

Step 4: When you hit the number, reassess. Do you want to coast, continue, or find a middle path?

You don’t have to decide today what you’ll do when you hit Coast FIRE. Just knowing the number exists—and when you’ll reach it—changes how you view every career decision between now and then.

The retirement treadmill has an exit. Calculate when you can take it.