Barista FIRE is a semi-retirement path: you leave full-time work earlier, and part-time or low-stress income covers part of your expenses while your portfolio covers the rest. Enter your spending and expected part-time income to see the smaller portfolio you need and how much sooner you can get there.
Barista FIRE Number
$735,294 dollars
Covers net expenses of $25,000 dollars a year
Full FIRE Number
$1,176,471 dollars
$441,176 dollars more than the Barista number
Barista FIRE Age
48.2
18.2 yrs
Years Earlier Than Full FIRE
5.9 yrs
Full FIRE age: 54.1
A Barista FIRE number only has to fund the gap between your annual expenses and your part-time income. Every unit of expenses covered by work is a unit your portfolio no longer has to produce, which at a 4% withdrawal rate means you need about 25 times that amount less in savings.
The chart shows your path to the Barista number with a dashed line for the full FIRE path, so you can see the years saved. Many people also choose part-time work for benefits such as health insurance, which is worth pricing separately.
Barista number = (annual expenses − part-time income) ÷ (1 − tax rate) ÷ withdrawal rate.
It suits people who would rather work fewer or more enjoyable hours than reach full retirement as fast as possible, and who are confident they can find steady part-time income.
Part-time income is never guaranteed, health insurance can be a large cost in some countries, and the portfolio still has to survive market downturns. Treat the part-time income as a range, not a certainty.