FIRE & Retire · Barista

Barista FIRE Calculator — Half out, half in.

Barista FIRE means your portfolio covers most of your costs while light part-time work tops up the gap.

What you enter

  • Annual expenses
  • Part-time income
  • Current investments
  • You invest each year
  • Expected return
  • Withdrawal rate

How this is calculated

Part-time income covers part of your annual expenses; your portfolio only needs to fund the remainder. The Barista FIRE number is that remaining gap divided by your withdrawal rate — always smaller than full FIRE — and we simulate when your investing reaches it.

Common questions

Why is the number so much smaller than full FIRE?

Every dollar of part-time income removes $25 from the target (at a 4% withdrawal rate). Earning $25,000 part-time cuts the required portfolio by $625,000 — modest work has enormous leverage on the timeline.

What are the risks of the barista plan?

It assumes you can and want to earn that part-time income for years — health, job markets and enthusiasm all change. Many barista-FIRE plans keep a path back to full-time work open, or set the part-time income assumption conservatively.

Where does the name come from?

The US notion of working part-time at a café for the employer health insurance. Australia's Medicare removes that specific driver, but the maths of partial income covering partial expenses works identically here.

How does it rank?

Once you have your result, see how your number compares against your demographic with our full money rank — by age, sex, state and household composition.

Methodology & data

INDICATIVE · 4% RULE. Australian context, FY 2026–27 tax brackets by default (15% lowest marginal rate from 1 July 2026) with a financial-year selector on tax calculators. Calculations are indicative and based on simplified public models — not personal financial, tax or legal advice. See the full disclaimer.

Primary data sources

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