Barista FIRE Calculator
Retire early, work a little
Barista FIRE is semi-retirement: a little part-time income covers part of your spending, so the pot you need to save is far smaller. See how much smaller yours is.
How this is worked out
Your full FIRE number is yearly spending divided by the withdrawal rate. Subtract your part-time income from spending first, and that smaller gap divided by the same rate is your Barista FIRE number, the pot your portfolio actually has to cover.
It assumes your part-time net income is steady and covers the rest of your spending, works in real terms, and ignores tax and benefit nuance and the bridge before you start drawing the pot. Not tax advice.
What Barista FIRE means
Barista FIRE is semi-retirement. You leave the full-time career but keep some part-time or lower-stress work, and that income covers part of your yearly spending. Because your job is no longer to fund everything, the pot you need to save is far smaller than a full retirement number. The name comes from the kind of part-time role, a barista shift being the classic example, that people take for the steady income, and sometimes the benefits, rather than the career. It's one of the types of FIRE, and often the fastest to reach.
Why part-time income shrinks the pot so much
Here's the leverage. Under the 4% rule, every unit of yearly spending your portfolio has to cover needs about 25 times that invested behind it. So each unit of spending your part-time work covers instead saves you roughly 25 in the pot. A modest part-time income can therefore knock a startling amount off the number. Subtract your part-time income from your spending, and it's only that remaining gap, divided by your withdrawal rate, that your investments must fund, not the whole FIRE number this shrinks from.
Barista FIRE vs Coast FIRE
They both let you downshift, but they lean on different things. Barista FIRE is about income: you keep part-time work so the pot only has to cover the gap, and you start drawing on it now. Coast FIRE is about the pot: you've already invested enough that it will grow into your full number on its own, so you stop saving and leave it untouched. You can even be both at once. The Coast FIRE calculator finds the age you can stop saving, and the Barista FIRE guide walks through the trade-offs of semi-retiring.
See your real Barista FIRE number
Runway builds your Barista FIRE number from your real figures, applies your country's tax and pension rules, and shows how part-time income reshapes the pot and the age you reach it. It launches on the App Store on 25 August 2026, and the beta is open now.
Runway builds your Barista FIRE number from your real figures, applies your country's tax and pension rules, and shows how part-time income reshapes the pot and the age you reach it. Your freedom age is free, forever.
Try the beta on TestFlight Download free on the App StoreFrequently asked
What is Barista FIRE?
Barista FIRE is semi-retirement: you leave the full-time career but keep some part-time or lower-stress work. That income covers part of your yearly spending, so your invested pot only has to fund the remaining gap. It's named after part-time roles, like a barista shift, that people take for the income, and sometimes the benefits, not the career.
How much do I need for Barista FIRE?
Take your yearly spending, subtract your part-time income after tax, and divide the remaining gap by your withdrawal rate, usually 4%. That's the pot your portfolio has to cover. Because part-time income shrinks what your investments must fund, the Barista number is much smaller than a full FIRE number.
Barista FIRE vs Coast FIRE?
Barista FIRE is about income: you keep part-time work so the pot only covers the gap, and you draw on it now. Coast FIRE is about the pot: you've invested enough that it grows into your full number on its own, so you stop saving and leave it to compound. You can be both at once.
Does part-time income have to cover everything?
No, just the gap. Part-time income only needs to cover the difference between your spending and what your portfolio safely provides; your pot covers the rest at your withdrawal rate. If it happens to cover all of your spending you needn't draw the pot yet, but Barista FIRE works fine covering only part of the gap.
Built by Dylan, maker of Runway
Italian, in Norway about eight years, building the cross-border FIRE planner that didn't exist for someone like me. This calculator is an educational tool, not financial or tax advice.
Related: Coast FIRE calculator, FIRE calculator, and the Barista FIRE guide.