# Coast FIRE 401(k) Calculator

> Your 401(k) counts toward Coast FIRE. How to enter it and the match, how to allow for taxes on pre-tax money, and when you can take it out.

Source: https://mycoastfire.com/coast-fire-401k-calculator
Last updated: 2026-09-26

Your 401(k) counts toward Coast FIRE. Enter it with everything else, then adjust for the tax a traditional 401(k) still owes.

Yes, your 401(k) counts toward Coast FIRE, and for most people it’s the biggest part of the number. Enter the vested balance of your 401(k) and every other retirement account in “Invested today,” and enter what goes into them each month, your employer’s match included, as your monthly contribution.

That gets you a sound first answer. The one thing it misses is tax: the calculator treats every dollar as spendable, and a traditional 401(k) holds money that hasn’t been taxed yet.

## How do I enter a 401(k) in the calculator?

Take Keisha, who is 32 and earns $90,000. She has $95,000 in a traditional 401(k) and $25,000 in a Roth IRA. She puts 16% of her pay into the 401(k), which is $1,200 a month, and her employer matches dollar for dollar up to 5% of pay, another $375. She also puts $625 a month into the Roth IRA, which comes to the [2026 IRA limit of $7,500](https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/401k-limit-increases-to-24500-for-2026-ira-limit-increases-to-7500). She wants to retire at 65 and spend $55,000 a year in today’s dollars.

She enters $120,000 as invested today, which is both accounts added together. Her monthly contribution is $2,200: her own $1,200, the employer’s $375 and the $625 going into the IRA. With the site’s default 7% return and 3% inflation, her Coast FIRE number today is $391,081, and she’d reach it at 45. From then on, growth alone should carry her to $1,375,000 by 65. If the figure itself is new to you, [how the Coast FIRE number works](https://mycoastfire.com/coast-fire-number) walks through it.

Count only the part of your 401(k) you own. If your statement shows a vested balance below the total, use that. A brokerage account set aside for retirement goes in the same box.

Try Keisha's numbers

Opens the Coast FIRE calculator with her inputs so you can swap in your own.

[Open the calculator with these numbers](https://mycoastfire.com/?age=32&spend=55000&assets=120000&contrib=2200)

## Is a dollar in a traditional 401(k) worth a dollar in retirement?

No. Money in a traditional 401(k) went in before income tax, so what you take out is taxed as ordinary income, federally and in most states, as the [IRS comparison of Roth and pre-tax accounts](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/roth-comparison-chart) sets out. To spend $55,000, Keisha will have to withdraw more than $55,000 from her pre-tax money.

The simplest honest fix is to raise the spending figure until it covers the tax. Divide your spending by one minus an effective tax rate you assume. For Keisha I’ll assume 12%, federal and state combined. That’s an assumption for the example, not a forecast. An effective rate is total tax divided by total income, so it usually sits well below your top bracket, and yours will depend on your state, your filing status, your other income and what the tax code looks like decades from now.

Roth money works differently. A qualified withdrawal from a Roth IRA or Roth 401(k), which generally means one taken after 59½ from an account at least five years old, isn’t taxed at all. You only need to gross up the share of spending that will come from pre-tax accounts. About 79% of Keisha’s savings is pre-tax today, so the middle column adjusts that share and leaves the rest alone.

| Keisha at 32 | No tax allowance | 12% on the pre-tax share | 12% on everything |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Spending entered | $55,000 | $60,938 | $62,500 |
| FIRE number at 65 | $1,375,000 | $1,523,438 | $1,562,500 |
| Coast FIRE number today | $391,081 | $433,300 | $444,410 |
| Coast FIRE at $2,200 a month | Age 45 | Age 47 | Age 48 |

Allowing for tax moves Keisha’s coast age from 45 to 47. That’s a real cost but not one that breaks the plan, and I’d much rather see it at 32 than discover it at 65. Her pre-tax share will creep up, because more of her new money goes into the 401(k) than the Roth, so it’s worth rerunning this once a year.

## Should you keep contributing for the match after you coast?

Coasting means you can stop contributing. The catch is that a match only arrives when you contribute, and for Keisha it’s doing a lot of the work. Without the employer’s $375 a month, and with the tax allowance above, she’d reach Coast FIRE at 52 instead of 47.

I’d keep collecting it. If the job you coast in offers a match, put in at least enough to get all of it. For Keisha that’s 5% of pay, or $375 a month, and her employer adds the same. From her coast age to 65, the employer’s half alone grows to about $108,880 in today’s dollars. With her half it’s about $217,759, roughly 14% of her target. The plan works without it, and that’s the point: it’s a cushion for a weak decade of returns.

Vesting is the one reason to hesitate. Your own contributions are always fully yours, but the match can come with a schedule. The IRS allows two maximum schedules for matching contributions: a [3-year cliff or 6-year graded vesting](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/issue-snapshot-vesting-schedules-for-matching-contributions). Under the cliff you own none of the match until three years of service, then all of it. Plenty of people coast by moving to an easier job, so if you might leave within a few years, read the schedule before you count on the match. What happens to the rest of your paycheck once you stop saving hard is its own question, which [what to do after Coast FIRE](https://mycoastfire.com/blog/what-to-do-after-coast-fire) takes up.

## When can you take the money out?

If you plan to retire at 65, as Keisha does, this barely matters. Withdrawals from a 401(k) before 59½ generally owe a [10% additional tax](https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc558) on top of income tax, and 65 is well past that.

It matters a great deal if you want to stop earlier. Someone aiming to [retire at 50](https://mycoastfire.com/retire-at-50) with most of their money in a 401(k) has nine and a half years to cover before the penalty-free age. The best-known way around it is the rule of 55. If you leave your job in or after the year you turn 55, withdrawals from that employer’s plan skip the 10% tax, and some public safety workers get the same break at 50, according to the [IRS list of exceptions](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-tax-on-early-distributions). It never applies to IRAs, and it covers only the plan of the employer you’re leaving, not a 401(k) from a job you left at 40. Some people roll old 401(k)s into their current plan before they go so that money qualifies too, which only works if the plan accepts roll-ins. The [rule of 55 calculator](https://mycoastfire.com/rule-of-55-calculator) runs the numbers for that route.

Roth IRA contributions are the other common bridge. The amount you put in, as opposed to the earnings, can come out at any time without tax or the 10% penalty under the ordering rules in [IRS Publication 590-B](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590b). A taxable brokerage account has no age rules at all, which is why early retirees usually build one next to the 401(k).

## What do the 2026 limits mean if you’re coasting?

For 2026 you can defer up to [$24,500 into a 401(k), 403(b) or governmental 457 plan](https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/401k-limit-increases-to-24500-for-2026-ira-limit-increases-to-7500). At 50 and older you can add an $8,000 catch-up, and at 60 through 63 the catch-up is $11,250 instead. Starting this year, if your prior-year FICA wages from that employer topped $150,000 and the plan offers Roth, your [catch-up contributions have to go in as Roth](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-catch-up-contributions). Your employer’s match doesn’t count toward the $24,500; it falls under a [separate overall limit](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-401k-and-profit-sharing-plan-contribution-limits) of $72,000.

Nobody has to reach those limits. Keisha puts in $14,400 of her own money a year, and once she coasts she’ll drop to $4,500 to keep the match. Saving more gets you there sooner, and the [savings rate calculator](https://mycoastfire.com/savings-rate-calculator) shows how many years a higher rate takes off. We’ll have next year’s figures on the [2027 401(k) contribution limits](https://mycoastfire.com/401k-contribution-limits-2027) page.

## What about an old 401(k) from a previous job?

Count it. Add its vested balance to “Invested today” along with everything else. [FINRA’s rundown of your options](https://finra.org/investors/insights/understanding-your-choices-401k-rollover) covers the usual three: leave it in the old plan if the plan allows, move it into your new employer’s plan if that plan accepts rollovers, or roll it into an IRA. If you move it, ask for a direct rollover. A check made out to you has [20% withheld for tax](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/rollovers-of-retirement-plan-and-ira-distributions) even if you mean to roll it over.

## What this calculator doesn’t do

It uses one blended return for all your money, so a 401(k) in a stock index fund and a Roth IRA in bonds are treated as if they earned the same. It doesn’t model taxes, which is why the adjustment above happens in the spending box, and it knows nothing about the 10% early withdrawal tax or your plan’s fees. It also holds your contribution and match level in today’s dollars until you coast, though raises usually push both up. If you plan to stop before 59½, work out the bridge separately. The number here only tells you whether the pot will be big enough.

## Questions people ask

### Does Coast FIRE include my 401(k)?

Yes. Coast FIRE counts every account you'll spend from in retirement, and for most people the 401(k) is the largest one. Enter its vested balance in Invested today, and include your employer's match in your monthly contribution.

### Should I count my employer's match?

Count the part you're vested in as money you have, and count the monthly match as part of your contribution. Leave out any unvested balance if there's a real chance you'll leave before it vests, because you give it up when you go.

### Can I stop contributing to my 401(k) once I hit Coast FIRE?

You can, and the plan will still grow on its own. If your employer matches, though, I'd keep contributing at least enough to get the full match. It's money you'd otherwise leave on the table, and it builds a cushion for weak markets.

### Can I use my 401(k) if I retire before 59½?

Yes, but withdrawals before 59½ generally owe a 10% additional tax on top of income tax. The rule of 55 lets you skip it on money in the plan of an employer you leave in or after the year you turn 55. It doesn't apply to IRAs.

## Keep reading

-   [Rule of 55 calculatorReaching your 401(k) early without the 10% tax.](https://mycoastfire.com/rule-of-55-calculator)
-   [401(k) limits for 2027Next year's contribution and catch-up limits.](https://mycoastfire.com/401k-contribution-limits-2027)
-   [What to do after Coast FIREThe money you no longer have to save.](https://mycoastfire.com/blog/what-to-do-after-coast-fire)