Barista FIRE Calculator
Barista FIRE means part-time or low-stress work covers part of your expenses, so your portfolio only has to fund the rest. Enter your expenses and expected part-time income to see your Barista number next to your full FIRE number.
Barista FIRE number at other part-time income levels
Same expenses and withdrawal rate — only the part-time income changes.
How this is calculated
The core idea: at your chosen withdrawal rate, a portfolio only has to be large enough to sustainably fund the part of your expenses that ISN'T already covered by part-time income. So the Barista FIRE number is (annual expenses − part-time income) ÷ withdrawal rate, instead of the full annual expenses ÷ withdrawal rate used for a standard FIRE number — the gap between the two is covered by continuing to earn, not by the portfolio.
Both numbers are shown together deliberately: the Barista number alone doesn't communicate much without the full-FIRE number next to it, since what matters for the decision is how much smaller a portfolio — and how much sooner a timeline — part-time work actually buys you, not just the number in isolation.
Time to reach each number runs the same month-by-month compounding simulation as the FIRE number and Coast FIRE calculators on this site — monthly contributions invested at your chosen return rate, compounding until the portfolio reaches the target — so the two timelines shown here are directly comparable, not approximated differently.
The part-time income figure should be realistic net income from the work you'd actually do, not a round guess — the reference table below shows how sensitive the Barista number is to that one input, since a higher assumed part-time income claims a larger share of expenses and shrinks the required portfolio further.
Frequently asked questions
How is the Barista FIRE number different from a regular FIRE number?
A standard FIRE number assumes the portfolio alone covers 100% of expenses. The Barista FIRE number subtracts expected part-time income from expenses first, so the portfolio only needs to cover the remainder — which is why it's always smaller than (or equal to) the full FIRE number.
Where does the name 'Barista FIRE' come from?
It originated in the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) community as a reference to taking a lower-stress part-time job — the example used early on was a coffee-shop barista role — to cover part of living costs after leaving a full-time career, rather than relying entirely on portfolio withdrawals.
What if my part-time income is more than my expenses?
Then your Barista FIRE number is effectively zero — part-time income alone covers everything, no portfolio withdrawal needed. The calculator caps the income credited at your total expenses rather than showing a negative number, since a portfolio can't need less than nothing.
Does this account for benefits like health insurance?
No — it only models the income-vs-expenses math. In some countries, part-time work is specifically chosen because it comes with benefits a portfolio withdrawal doesn't replace; if that applies to you, treat the expense side as including whatever you'd otherwise pay out of pocket for those benefits.
Sources
- ChooseFI — 'Barista FIRE: What It Is, How to Calculate & Reach It' (formula and terminology)
- Trinity Study (1998) and related safe-withdrawal-rate research — basis for the withdrawal-rate convention used here
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Related reading
Disclaimer
This tool provides an estimate for informational purposes based on the figures you enter and isn't financial advice. It doesn't account for the cost of benefits (e.g. health coverage) that full-time employment may currently provide and part-time work may not replace — factor that in separately if it applies to your situation. Actual investment returns vary and aren't guaranteed.
Published 2026-11-11.