Coast FIRE Number at 50

Retiring at 65 with a 7% return, 3% inflation and a 4% withdrawal rate, in today's dollars.

How fast you get there from $420,000

Starting at 50 with $420,000 invested and planning to spend $60,000 a year, here's when you'd cross the line at different monthly contributions.

At 50, Coast FIRE is still worth checking, but I wouldn’t organize your plan around it. Your balance has 15 years left to grow, which is a lot less than it had at 30, so the question that matters is whether your contributions will close the gap by the time you want to stop.

Why the Coast FIRE frame weakens at 50

Coast FIRE is most useful when growth on your existing balance does the heavy lifting. At 25 or 30, that’s true. At 50, a lot of people’s balances won’t get there on growth alone. Even if you do reach Coast FIRE, it might be at 60 or 62, which buys you a few years without contributions rather than a whole second career.

So at this age I’d run the FIRE calculator alongside this one. Coast FIRE tells you when you could stop saving. The full FIRE number tells you whether you’ll have enough, and at 50 that’s the number to watch.

Catch-up contributions are your best tool

The IRS lets anyone who is 50 or older by the end of the year put extra money into workplace plans and IRAs. For 2026, that means up to $32,500 in a 401(k), 403(b) or governmental 457 plan, and $7,500 plus a $1,100 catch-up in an IRA. Between 60 and 63, the 401(k) catch-up rises to $11,250.

One newer wrinkle: under SECURE 2.0, if your plan has a Roth option and your wages from that employer topped $150,000 the previous year, your catch-up contributions have to be Roth starting in 2026. In most plans it doesn’t change how much you can put in, just when you pay the tax. If your plan has no Roth option, though, high earners can’t make catch-up contributions to it at all.

Rob at 50

Rob earns $180,000, has $310,000 invested and plans to retire at 65 on $70,000 a year. His Social Security estimate is $30,000 a year at 67. Counting that benefit and covering the two years between 65 and 67 before he claims, his portfolio needs about $1,060,000 at 65.

Left alone, his $310,000 grows to about $549,000 in today’s dollars by 65, only 52% of what he needs. Contributions have to do the rest.

If he maxes his 401(k) at the regular $24,500 limit, he doesn't reach Coast FIRE before 65, and he’d have about $1,044,000 at 65, about $16,000 short of his target. Add the $8,000 catch-up, for $32,500 a year, and he reaches Coast FIRE at 60. Because his wages are over $150,000, those extra catch-up dollars go into his Roth 401(k).

What to prioritize in your 50s

Max the catch-up if you possibly can, and keep going through 60 to 63 when the limit is highest, even if the calculator says you could coast. Get a real Social Security estimate from your my Social Security account rather than guessing. And start thinking about your asset mix: a big drop right before you stop contributing hurts more at 58 than it did at 38.

Other ages: 25, 28, 30, 31, 32, 35, 40, 45, 55. Or see every age on one table.