There’s more than one exit.
“FIRE” isn’t one door. Coast, barista, lean, full, fat: each is a different amount of freedom at a different price. Here’s what each one means, and your own number and date for each.
Explain it like I’m five
“Enough” isn’t one size. Some pots pay for a small, simple life; some for a plush one. One needs part-time work to help out. One just grows up on its own while you keep working. This page puts your own numbers on all five sizes.
New to all of it? Start from zero: ten short lessons that assume nothing.
What Kind of FIRE?
The five exits
Coast FIRE
Enough invested that, adding nothing more, it grows to your full number by traditional retirement age. You still work, but only to cover today, not to save for tomorrow.
today it’d take €148k; then let it ride to 65
Barista FIRE
A pot big enough that a little part-time income covers the gap. Half-out: the job is optional-ish, not gone.
with €12k/yr part-time
Lean FIRE
Full independence on a deliberately small life: freedom bought cheap, with less margin for error.
on €21k/yr
Full FIRE
Your actual life, fully funded. The number the Exit Calculator points at.
on €30k/yr, your actual life
Fat FIRE
Full independence with room to spare: a bigger life and a thicker cushion, at a bigger price.
on €48k/yr
The same steady-return maths as the Exit Calculator, in today’s money. Definitions vary a little across the FIRE world. These are the common ones. Not advice.
The link carries these exact numbers. Anyone with it can read them, and opening it sends the address to the host.
These five are finish lines, which pot buys which kind of exit. The Six Roads prices the travelling: what a break, four days or covering work does to your date. The Six Roads
Common questions
- What do Coast, Barista, Lean, Full and Fat actually mean?
- Five versions of “enough”. Full covers your normal life forever; Lean is a leaner version, Fat a plusher one. Coast means you’ve saved enough to stop adding and let it grow into Full by 65. Barista means a smaller pot plus a bit of part-time work covers the gap. Same maths, different finish lines.
- Coast needs the least. Can I retire on that now?
- No. Coast is the pot that, left completely alone, grows into your Full number by traditional retirement age. Until then you still work to pay today’s bills; you’ve just stopped saving. It’s the earliest you can ease off, not the day you’re free.
- Why is the Barista pot so small?
- Because it quietly assumes part-time work keeps covering part of your spending — indefinitely. It’s a real option, but the number only holds while that income does. Take the job away and the pot has to be bigger.
- Are Lean and Fat fixed amounts?
- No. They’re just a leaner or plusher slice of your own spending (you set the sliders), not universal tiers. My “Lean” and yours will be different numbers. There’s no official line where Lean ends and Fat begins.
Nothing here is financial, investment, medical or retirement advice: it’s arithmetic and education. The calculators use the numbers you enter, The Exit Rehearsal compares your own Plan and Reality without interpreting either, and The Spare Key prices the fallback you enter without recommending one. Some tools remember work in the browser, some can place a scenario in the page address, and the Rehearsal and the Spare Key stay in this browser unless you print them, download them, or keep them in your account. Each tool tells you what it keeps and where. Decisions about your money are yours, ideally with a licensed adviser. I’m happily not one.
Bring me a challenge.
The Exit Audit, then ninety minutes: a straight verdict, real alternatives with their pros and cons, and your first move. If you want someone to nod along, I’m the wrong person to pay.