Calculate part-time income needed after partial FIRE to cover expenses while investments grow to full financial independence.
Barista FIRE splits retirement into two paychecks: the portfolio covers most of your living costs, and a part-time job covers the remainder until the portfolio reaches the full-FI target. This calculator takes annual expenses, current portfolio value, a withdrawal rate, and an expected real return, then returns the annual part-time income gap and the number of years until the portfolio alone covers everything. The mistake people make is treating the barista job as if it must cover all expenses. It only covers the gap - and that gap is after-tax income, while the hourly wage you enter is before tax.
A concrete input and expected output from the current implementation.
Input
Annual expenses: $50,000. Current portfolio: $800,000. Withdrawal rate: 4%. Expected real return: 5%.
Expected output
Part-time income needed: $18,000 per year ($1,500 per month). At $15/hour that is roughly 23 hours per week. Years to full FI: about 9, at which point the portfolio reaches $1,250,000 and the job is no longer needed.
The portfolio produces 4% of $800,000 = $32,000 a year, leaving a $50,000 - $32,000 = $18,000 gap for wages. Funded by work instead of withdrawals, the portfolio compounds at 5% real until it hits 25 x $50,000 = $1,250,000, which takes about 9.1 years.
Annual expenses minus the safe-withdrawal income of the portfolio equals the part-time income the job must produce: gap = expenses - (withdrawal rate x portfolio). An hourly wage converts the gap into hours per week, letting you test whether a realistic part-time schedule actually covers it, and a gap at or below zero means you are already at full FI.
Because wages cover the gap, the portfolio compounds mostly untouched while you work part-time. The calculator solves the compound-growth equation portfolio x (1 + return)^years = 25 x expenses, the full-FI target, and reports the number of years until quitting is safe. Larger gaps and more conservative return assumptions both stretch that year count noticeably.
No. It covers only the gap between expenses and what the portfolio produces at the withdrawal rate. With $50,000 of expenses and an $800,000 portfolio at 4%, the job must produce about $18,000 a year, not $50,000. In the US, build health insurance premiums into the gap, since they often determine whether the plan is realistic.
You can stop working. Full FI is reached when the portfolio alone, at the withdrawal rate, covers every expense - 25 times annual spending at 4%. The year count the calculator returns is an estimate built on the return you entered; extra contributions shorten it and disappointing returns lengthen it, so treat it as a planning range rather than a date you can mark on a calendar.
The example and behavioral notes were checked against the browser implementation. Standards and primary references below define the relevant format, formula, or platform behavior.
Calculate gross, operating, and net profit margins from cost and revenue with breakeven analysis.
Convert between annual salary and hourly rate with adjustments for work hours, overtime, and benefits.
Calculate sales tax amounts, tax-inclusive and tax-exclusive prices for any tax rate or jurisdiction.
Calculate return on investment from initial cost and final value with annualized ROI and comparison tables.
Convert between markup and margin percentages, calculate selling price, and compare pricing strategies.
Convert numeric amounts to written words for invoices, checks, and legal documents in multiple currencies.