Barista FIRE Calculator

About this calculator

Barista FIRE is a variation on the Financial Independence, Retire Early movement where, instead of building a portfolio large enough to cover 100% of annual expenses (the standard 25x-expenses “4% rule” target), you plan to keep working a lower-stress, part-time job — the namesake reference is a barista job partly for the flexible hours and partly for the health insurance many coffee chains offer — that covers a portion of your living costs. The required portfolio size is calculated as (annual expenses minus part-time income) multiplied by 25, applying the same 4% safe withdrawal rate logic to a smaller funding gap.

People pursuing Barista FIRE use this number because it can shrink the target portfolio dramatically compared to full FIRE — reducing a $50,000/year expense gap to $30,000 by working part-time cuts the required nest egg by $500,000 at a 25x multiple — making financial independence reachable years earlier while still allowing meaningful income-generating work.

This calculator takes your annual expenses and expected part-time income and returns the smaller portfolio you actually need to reach Barista FIRE.