Barista FIRE Number
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Needed invested today
Full FIRE Number
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Projected at Retirement
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Portfolio Path to Full FIRE
My Barista FIRE Plan — Financial Depth
financialdepth.com/barista-fire
Quick Summary (TL;DR)
- Barista FIRE = leave your career, work part-time to cover part of expenses.
- You only fund the gap, so you need far less than full FIRE.
- Handles all three cases correctly: withdraw the gap / coast / keep adding.
- In the US, part-time healthcare benefits are a key motivation.
How Barista FIRE Actually Works
Barista FIRE is the hybrid: you’ve saved enough to leave your demanding career, but you take an easier part-time job — the classic example being a barista role that offers health benefits — to cover part of your spending. Because your portfolio only has to fund the gap between expenses and part-time income, you need far less than full FIRE, so you can step off the treadmill years earlier.
The math trips up a lot of online calculators because there are three cases. If your part-time income is less than expenses, you withdraw the gap each year. If it equals expenses, you don’t touch the portfolio (effectively Coast FIRE). If it exceeds expenses, you actually keep adding. This tool handles all three, working backward from your full FIRE number to the amount you need invested today.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Barista FIRE?+
It is semi-retirement: you leave your career but work part-time to cover some expenses, while your portfolio funds the rest. You need less saved than full FIRE because part-time income shrinks the gap.
How is the Barista FIRE number calculated?+
It works backward from your full FIRE number to the amount needed today, accounting for the annual gap (or surplus) between part-time income and expenses growing at your real return until full retirement.
How is Barista FIRE different from Coast FIRE?+
With Coast FIRE you stop saving but don’t touch the portfolio. With Barista FIRE your part-time income only partially covers expenses, so you typically withdraw the gap during the semi-retired phase.
Key Considerations
- Healthcare is the whole game (in the US). Many pursue Barista FIRE specifically for employer health benefits. If you rely on ACA subsidies instead, model the cost carefully — enhanced subsidies are subject to change.
- Part-time income can vanish. Hours get cut, jobs end, burnout happens. Keep a cash buffer and don’t assume the part-time phase lasts uninterrupted.
- Sequence risk still applies. A market drop early in the barista phase hurts — but part-time income is a natural hedge, since you can work a bit more and withdraw a bit less in bad years.