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If you’ve ever wondered what is a safe withdrawal rate in retirement and how much you can spend from your investment portfolio without running out of money, you’re not alone. We asked ourselves the same question when planning for semi-retirement and began rethinking the traditional 4% rule.

In this post, I’ll explain what a safe withdrawal rate in retirement really means, how the 4% rule works for different ages, what experts like William P. Bengen (known as Bill Bengen), Michael Kitces, Dr. Wade Pfau, and Prof. Scott Cederburg recommend, and how to find your own personalized number.

At the end, you’ll find all research papers and studies we reviewed to make this guide as accurate and practical as possible.

💡 Before we start. Try It Yourself – Retirement Withdrawal Strategy Calculator
Before diving into the research behind the 4% rule, expert guidelines, and international comparisons, try the math on your own portfolio. Enter your portfolio size, expected retirement horizon, and spending needs — and instantly see how different withdrawal rates perform across historical market conditions.
👉 Launch the Calculator or checkout our hands-on step-by-step guide.

What Is a Safe Withdrawal Rate in Retirement? (Definition)

So, what is a safe withdrawal rate in retirement, exactly?
Or put another way: What is the maximum income you can withdraw from your retirement savings — invested in the stock market — without running out of money before you run out of life?

A safe withdrawal rate (SWR) is the percentage of your investment portfolio you can withdraw each year in retirement without depleting your savings too soon — giving your portfolio the best chance to last your entire lifetime.

A safe withdrawal rate is always a guideline, not a guarantee — because no one can foresee how markets will evolve.

The 4% Rule Explained — the Classic Safe Withdrawal Rate

The most widely known benchmark for a safe withdrawal rate is the 4% rule, first introduced by Bill Bengen in 1994 and later confirmed by the Trinity Study in 1998 (more below).

Even today, the 4% rule remains the most common answer to the question: “What is a safe withdrawal rate in retirement?”

It assumes that retirees can withdraw 4% in the first year of retirement and then increase that amount each year by inflation to maintain spending power, and expect their savings to last roughly 30 years.

The 4% rule became famous through the prominent blog post The 4% Rule: The Easy Answer to “How Much Do I Need for Retirement?”, and it remains the foundation for most retirement planning strategies today.

Where Did the 4% Rule Come From? (Bengen and the Trinity Study)

Bengen’s Research

William P. Bengen, known as Bill Bengen, is a financial planner. In the early 1990s, he set out to answer a question that few could clearly define at the time: What is a safe withdrawal rate in retirement for my investment portfolio? With little expert guidance available, he began running his own calculations, analyzing historical returns of U.S. stocks and bonds across multiple 30-year retirement periods.

He based his analysis on data from Ibbotson Associates’ Stocks, Bonds, Bills, and Inflation (SBBI) dataset, which provides detailed historical returns for U.S. stocks, bonds, short-term treasury bills, and inflation.

Bengen discovered that a 4.15% withdrawal rate was the highest historically sustainable spending rate for 30-year retirements, based on a 50/50 mix of U.S. stocks and U.S. bonds, annual rebalancing to maintain that ratio, and funds held in a tax-advantaged account ending with a zero balance — ensuring retirees wouldn’t outlive their money.

In 1994, he published his findings in the Journal of Financial Planning (see reference at the end), concluding: “Assuming a minimum requirement of 30 years of portfolio longevity, a first-year withdrawal of 4 percent, followed by inflation-adjusted withdrawals in subsequent years, should be safe.”

The Trinity Study

The prominent Trinity Study is a 1998 research paper by Philip L. Cooley, Carl M. Hubbard, and Daniel T. Walz, all professors at Trinity University in Texas. It validated Bill Bengen’s findings on sustainable withdrawal rates (see reference at the end).

The Trinity Study also referred exclusively to the U.S. market, analyzing historical stock and bond returns based on American market data.

Although no one originally coined the term “4% rule,” it became the perfect marketing phrase to make the concept easy to remember and share.

It’s important to note that in the study, a portfolio was considered successful if it completed the entire payout period with a terminal value greater than zero — even if that meant ending with just a single dime. In general, more bonds seemed to reduce growth potential but increase stability, while more stocks raise volatility but improve long-term returns.

Many in the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) community still rely on the 4% rule because it provides a simple, time-tested framework with a high probability of long-term success.

What Is a Safe Withdrawal Rate in Retirement by Age? (Expert Guidelines)

Answering what is a safe withdrawal rate in retirement depends largely on your retirement age.
Financial planners such as Michael Kitces and professors like Dr. Wade Pfau refine the classic 4% rule among others based on both retirement length and country-specific factors.
(You can find links to their original research papers and many more at the end of this post.)

The Expert Guidelines

How Fees Can Screw Up the 4% Rule — and Lower Your Safe Withdrawal Rate

“The 50-50 portfolio over 30 years with 4% withdrawals had a 96% success rate without fees, 84% success rate with 1% fees, and 65% success rate with 2% fees. This, in and of itself, is a reason to be cautious about using 4%.”, as Dr. Wade Pfau explained in his research. Pfau is a US professor currently teaching in Tokyo, Japan, who holds a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University.

We’ve also discussed how taxes and investment fees can impact your Semi-FIRE journey inside our free Flamingo FIRE Calculator among others.

How Inflation Affects the 4% Rule & the 4.7% “SAFEMAX” — Bengen’s Findings

What is a safe withdrawal rate in retirement under today’s economic conditions?

William Bengen, often called “the inventor of the 4% rule”, considers inflation the greatest enemy of retirees. He developed his original rule during a period of mostly low and stable inflation.

Bengen points out that high inflation early in retirement or a bear market — when stocks drop more than 20% — can seriously shorten the life of a retirement portfolio.

So, what is a safe withdrawal rate in retirement when inflation runs high or markets tumble?

In Bengen’s 2025 book A Richer Retirement: Supercharging the 4% Rule to Spend More and Enjoy More, he introduces the 4.7% “SAFEMAX” — a historically safe withdrawal rate that held up even during long stretches of elevated inflation across a 30-year retirement. His book provides data-driven guidance on when, why, and how to adjust withdrawals to ensure your savings truly last a lifetime.

If you’d like a quick overview, I recommend reading the Investor’s Business Daily article on the updated 4% rule — where you’ll also find the ideal portfolio allocation (spoiler: it’s 55% in stocks, with only 11% international exposure) — and listening to the podcast featuring Bengen himself.

What if My Portfolio Is International?

In short: diversifying your portfolio internationally — by holding stocks and bonds from markets outside the U.S. — lowers your safe withdrawal rate, since the U.S. market has historically delivered unusually strong returns compared to others. (Remember, the original 4% rule is based solely on U.S. market data.)

We start with Scott Cederburg’s findings and then take a closer look at Wade Pfau’s research — both of which are among the widely recognized studies on this topic.

If you want to look up a sample of global SWRs, you may want to look at these portfolio charts, that use long-term real return data covering multiple developed markets and portfolio types.

Scott Cederburg’s Research (& Ben Felix Suggestions)

The 2022 study was conducted by four U.S. university professors, including Scott Cederburg, a respected expert in withdrawal-rate research. The study analyzed 38 developed countries including markets which underperformed or failed. Retirement periods were modeled flexibly, typically ranging at around 25-30 years, based on mortality tables. It compiles monthly real returns for domestic stocks, international stocks, bonds and bills across those 38 countries dating back to 1890 — domestic refers to one of 38 developed markets. Constant‑percentage withdrawal strategies were simulated.

Their simulations show that, for a 60%/40% domestic stock/bond portfolio, the safe withdrawal rate (that limits the chance of running out of money during retirement to 5%) is just 2.26% per year on average (the median across all 38 developed markets). When the 4% rule was tested, it carried about a 17% risk of depleting assets, meaning about one in six retirements would have exhausted the portfolio too soon.

Note that the 2.26% SWR on average does not refer to an international portfolio. It is the median SWR across domestic 60/40 stock/bond portfolios of 38 developed countries — not to any globally diversified or international allocation!

The SWR varies by asset mix on average: it’s about 1 % for an all‑bond portfolio, 1.64% for a 20/80 domestic stock‑bond split, 2.06% for an 40/60 domestic stock‑bond mix, 2.26% for the 60/40 domestic stock‑bond split, 2.21 % for an 80/20 domestic stock‑bond mix, and 1.85 % for an all‑stock portfolio.

Internationally diversified portfolios (domestic + international stocks and/or bonds) show modestly lower ruin risk. However, the resulting SWR uplift was typically less than 0.2–0.3%, insufficient to approach a SWR of 3%, let alone 4%.

Although not reported in the paper, adding a specific international diversification to the portfolio improves these outcomes, as respected financial planner Benjamin Felix suggests in this article. When 40% of the total portfolio is allocated to international stocks, the safe withdrawal rate increases to 2.85%. Expanding that share to 90% international stocks raises the SWR further to 3.02%.

Here’s the link to the full study for reference:
Scott Cederburg et al. (2022) –”The Safe Withdrawal Rate: Evidence from a Broad Sample of Developed Markets”

Wade Pfau’s Findings

In his 2010 study, Pfau analyzed annual stock, bond, bill, and inflation data from 1900 to 2008 for 17 developed countries. He evaluated each 30-year retirement window and explored various portfolio mixes to determine the maximum sustainable withdrawal rate, known as SAFEMAX. Strategies with a constant percentage withdrawal amount were also simulated here.

His results showed that the median “SAFEMAX” was 3.36 %, and the average SWR across all 17 countries was 3.22 % (median means the middle value in a sorted list of numbers — half the values are higher, and half are lower). Only a small minority of developed markets support the 4 % guideline (see below).

A simple 50/50 stock–bond portfolio failed in all countries, and the optimal portfolio mix involved higher stock exposure. The exact ideal allocation for each country can be found in the study, linked below.

For instance, here are the SWRs: Canada (4.42 %), Sweden (4.23 %), Denmark (4.08 %), the United States (4.02 %), South Africa (3.84 %), the United Kingdom (3.77 %), Australia (3.68 %), Switzerland (3.59 %), the Netherlands (3.36 %), Ireland (3.28 %), Norway (3.13 %), Spain (2.56 %), Italy (1.56 %), Belgium (1.46 %), France (1.25 %), Germany (1.14 %) and Japan (0.47 %).

Note that we are not talking about internationally diversified portfolios. No cross-border diversification was allowed (no “global portfolio”). Each of the 17 countries was analyzed individually, with retirees investing only in their own domestic stock, bond, and bill markets — for example, U.S. retirees invested purely in U.S. assets; Germans in German assets; and so on.

Pfau also noted that when realistic costs (e.g., 1% annual fees) are included, the SAFEMAX decreases by roughly the same amount, for example from about 3.59 % to 2.59 %.

Here’s the link to the full study for reference:
Wade Pfau’s 2010 paper “An International Perspective on Safe Withdrawal Rates from Retirement Savings: The Demise of the 4 Percent Rule?” (Journal of Financial Planning 23, 12 (December): 52-61)

What if My Portfolio Is 100% Stocks? — Cederburg’s Controversial Findings

Equally important when determining your safe withdrawal rate is finding the right balance between stocks and bonds.

In worst-case market scenarios, portfolios that hold more bonds than a 50/50 ratio and use an initial 4% withdrawal rate (adjusted for inflation) could deplete too early — because the more bonds you hold, the lower your growth potential and the slower your recovery after downturns.

In 2025, three U.S. university professors, including Scott Cederburg, published a controversial paper on the ideal lifetime portfolio allocation.
According to the study’s findings, the optimal allocation over an entire lifetime — including retirement — is 100% stocks, divided as follows: 67% international stocks and 33% domestic stocks.
(See the referenced paper by Cederburg et al. at the end for full details.)

If you’d like a more detailed walkthrough of the study’s results, I highly recommend watching Ben Felix’s video on the paper — as mentioned above, he’s a respected financial planner from Canada who explains the findings clearly and concisely.

Key Risks That Can Reduce Your Safe Withdrawal Rate

Longevity Risk

Plan to live 5–10 years longer than you expect. Your portfolio should outlast you, not the other way around.

Sequence of Returns Risk

The sequence of returns risk means that the order of returns matters more than the average return. If markets fall early in retirement — especially during your first 10 years — you could deplete your portfolio too soon, even if long-term averages look good.

To prevent that, Michael Kitces suggests starting with a 3–3.5% withdrawal rate for the first decade and maintaining cash reserves covering 6–24 months of expenses. This buffer helps you avoid selling stocks during market downturns.
Kitces is a highly respected financial planner, best known for his in-depth analysis of retirement planning and safe withdrawal rates. He also runs the popular blog Nerd’s Eye View, where he shares data-driven insights on retirement income strategies.

So, when times are bad, withdraw less and sell only bonds, bills, or gold so you don’t reduce the stock portion of your portfolio even further.
If possible, pause withdrawals and use your cash reserves instead — and consider buying stocks at lower prices to strengthen your long-term recovery.

Lack of Diversification

Diversification plays a key role in protecting your portfolio. We already talked about a controversial paper. A more common guideline is to hold around 75% stocks and 25% bonds, while adding gold, silver, or cash reserves for extra stability.
However, Bengen stated in his original 1994 paper that having too few stocks in a portfolio can shorten its minimum lifespan. He advised investors to maintain a stock allocation close to 75%, and never below 50%.

We’ve also seen that it’s also smart to diversify internationally — for example, through broad global funds like the MSCI World Index. (more down below)

If you’d like to explore which funds offer the best balance between safety and growth, check out our detailed guide on the Safest Index Funds for Financial Independence.

How to Adjust the Safe Withdrawal Rate in Retirement

Even the 4% rule — the classic answer to what is a safe withdrawal rate in retirement — can be made smarter with a few flexible strategies.

During bull markets:
Consider a one-time withdrawal of 5–10% to top up your cash reserves while portfolio values are high.

During downturns:
Cut discretionary spending or pause inflation adjustments to preserve capital.

How to Calculate Your Own Safe Withdrawal Rate (FREE Withdrawal Calculator)

Use our free, ultimate Retirement Withdrawal Calculator to test your own scenarios and find out what a safe withdrawal rate in retirement is for your situation.

You can stress-test your numbers with historical market data and explore multiple proven withdrawal strategies to find the optimal approach for your financial goals in retirement — and discover what is a safe withdrawal rate in retirement that truly fits your plan.

Run your numbers today using the free Retirement Withdrawal Calculator and see how long your savings could last.

Common Myths about the Safe Withdrawal Rate

Myth 1: The 4% rule only works in the US.

Reality: Global research shows that safe withdrawal rates typically range between 2.3-4.5%, depending on the local market and inflation conditions.

Myth 2: You can’t change your withdrawal rate during retirement.

Reality: Flexibility is key and frequently applied. Cutting or pausing withdrawals in bad market years can dramatically extend your portfolio’s life and improve long-term sustainability.

Myth 3: The 4% rule guarantees success.

Reality: It’s a useful guideline, not a guarantee. Market returns, inflation trends, and your individual fees (as mentioned above) all influence what a safe withdrawal rate in retirement is for you.

FAQs About Safe Withdrawal Rates

Final Thoughts

Historical U.S. returns were extraordinary compared to most markets and countries — but relying on them to determine your personal safe withdrawal rate, especially if your portfolio is internationally diversified, doesn’t reflect what the next few decades may bring.

The nature of safe withdrawal rates is straightforward: they’re built to survive the worst-case scenarios, not the easy ones. They won’t adapt to the world you’ll actually retire in — but you can adjust your rate.

Test flexible withdrawal strategies with our free Retirement Withdrawal Calculator today and see how your plan holds up.

Further Resources to Answer: What Is a Safe Withdrawal Rate in Retirement?

To help you dig deeper and answer this post’s question “What Is a Safe Withdrawal Rate in Retirement?”, here are the most credible research papers, expert analyses, and FIRE community insights that shaped this guide:

• William Bengen’s original 1994 article “Determining Withdrawal Rates Using Historical Data” (Journal of Financial Planning 7, 4 (October): 171-180)
• Bengen’s 2004 paper
• Bengen’s 2020 article
• Bengen’s 2025 book A Richer Retirement: Supercharging the 4% Rule to Spend More and Enjoy More,” he introduces the 4.7% “SAFEMAX
• “The Trinity Study”: Philip Cooley, Carl Hubbard, Daniel Walz 1998 article “Retirement Savings: Choosing a Withdrawal Rate That Is Sustainable” AAII Journal. 10 (3): 16–21.
• Trinity study update discussions
• Michael Kitces papers
• Wade Pfau’s 2010 paper “An International Perspective on Safe Withdrawal Rates from Retirement Savings: The Demise of the 4 Percent Rule?” (Journal of Financial Planning 23, 12 (December): 52-61)
• Pfau’s 2011 paper “Retirement Withdrawal Rates and Portfolio Success Rates: What Can the Historical Record Teach Us?”
• Stanford University 2008 paper
• Scott Cederburg et al. (2022) –”The Safe Withdrawal Rate: Evidence from a Broad Sample of Developed Markets”
• Scott Cederburg et al. (2025) –”Beyond the Status Quo: A Critical Assessment of Lifecycle Investment Advice”
• Benjamin Felix–”The 2.7% Rule: Rethinking Safe Retirement Spending”
• Todd Tresidder’s article “Are Safe Withdrawal Rates Really Safe?”
  

Your path to financial independence starts with one number — your safe withdrawal rate. Start your journey to financial freedom with our free Retirement Withdrawal Strategy Calculator today.

If today’s post gave you a new idea for your financial journey, stay connected by subscribing to our newsletter below, and share your thoughts in the comments — I’d love to hear from you!

What is Coast FI really about? — it’s the point where financial freedom starts to feel real. Imagine front-loading your investments so your retirement account is already funded early. From that moment on, you could stop contributing, work less, and simply coast toward financial independence with a job you truly enjoy — one that gives you real work-life balance.

My husband and I are just months away from reaching our own Coast FI milestone. No matter what happens next, I know our retirement is secure.

And that feeling? It’s incredible. It gives me the freedom to make career and life decisions based on what truly matters — without financial fear — and the peace of mind that our future is taken care of.

You can experience that same freedom too. Let’s see how.

Before We Start – Try It Yourself – Coast FIRE Calculator

Ready to see when you can stop saving and simply let your money grow? Use our FREE Coast FIRE Calculator to find out exactly when your investments can coast toward full financial independence—no extra contributions required.

👉 LAUNCH THE CALCULATOR and discover how close you are to your Coast FI milestone.

The FIRE movement and Coast FI / Coast FIRE

I like to think of Coast FI as one of the most important milestones for anyone pursuing financial independence. But also for everyone who wants to retire at all. Because once you’re there, you will be okay in retirement — financially secure and future-ready. You already took care of closing your personal retirement gap.

If you want to calculate your personal retirement gap, get a copy of our Retirement Gap Calculator to properly run your numbers and avoid overlooking a hole in your retirement plan.

Learning what Coast FI is, early in your journey helps you set realistic expectations for how much you need to save before letting your investments grow on their own.

What Is Coast FI?

So, what is Coast FI really about? It’s the fastest way to a semi-retired lifestyle — but the longest path to full financial independence and retirement (typically at the official retirement age in your 60s). 

Coast FI It highlights the FI part (Financial Independence) while downplaying the RE (Retire Early) aspect of FIRE. Rather than aiming to stop working entirely in your 30s or 40s, you choose to “coast” toward retirement with a fulfilling, low-stress job that supports real work-life balance.

If you understand what is Coast FI, you can better decide whether to focus on early retirement or long-term financial stability.

If you want to learn more about how the semi-retired concept works in general, you can read the post about semi retirement and the secret how to semi retire fast.

How Coast FI Works

Phase 1 – Building Your Coast FI Foundation

In the first phase of your Coast FI journey, the focus is on earning more, saving more, and investing a large share of your income quickly. Yes — this will require some sacrifices. You’ll need to cut back on certain expenses, but only for a few years.

The goal? Reach the point where you have enough in your retirement accounts so that, if left untouched, your investments can grow on their own through compound interest until you hit full financial independence — typically around your 60s.

Truly understanding what Coast FI is really about helps you recognize this first important milestone on your financial independence journey: when your portfolio can coast without additional contributions.

Our free Coast FIRE Calculator (below) shows you exactly when you’ll reach this “enough” point based on your numbers.

Phase 2 – Letting Compound Interest Do the Work

Once you’ve reached your Coast FI number, you don’t start withdrawing from your investments yet. Instead, your portfolio continues to grow in the background — compounding steadily toward your full FIRE number.

I explain more about how to calculate this in the post on the fastest way to retire early with kids.

At this stage, you can truly “coast” into retirement: stop saving, work fewer hours, or switch to a part-time job you enjoy. The pressure to earn more is gone, and you can design a work-life balance that fits your family.

If you’ve been wondering what Coast FI is, this phase is where you’ll start experiencing it — financial freedom without complete retirement.

Benefits Of Coasting To FI

You need to hustle, work full-time (or even two jobs), and pare down only for a couple of years. Then you’ve already self-funded your retirement account and can afford to “coast” toward traditional retirement.

Afterward, the lifestyle benefits are huge. As your savings rate can drop to 0%, you can afford to earn less while maintaining your financial security. You can change your work life without risking your future. From that point on, you only need to earn money to cover living expenses or work toward other financial goals such as paying off debt faster.

As most FIRE followers save 50% or more of their income, they already live on half their earnings — which allows them to “retire” from high-pressure jobs and switch careers earlier. That’s the power of Coast FI — and the freedom that comes with front-loading your savings.

When people understand what Coast FI is, they realize it’s not just about money — it’s about designing a calmer, more intentional lifestyle fast.

Downsides Of Coasting To FI

The biggest risk with Coast FI is that the stock market doesn’t always behave as expected. If returns or inflation differ from your assumptions, your plan might fall behind. That’s why it’s important to check your progress often and adjust your savings when markets change.

You also won’t retire early — work won’t become fully optional. You’ll never reach the same level of time freedom as someone who pursues full FIRE. But that’s not necessarily bad. If you can choose meaningful, low-stress work that fits your life, that’s a privilege in itself.

I took a two-year parental leave and realized how much I missed working, even part-time. Personally, I can’t imagine stopping work entirely in my 40s — at least not now. Understanding what Coast FI is, helped me make peace with this balance.

What Is Coast FI Type 1? (Coast-to-Target FI)

Coast-to-Target FI is a version of Coast FI where you set a specific retirement age, like 55 or 60, instead of waiting for your traditional retirement age. For Coast-to-Target FI, your portfolio needs to be larger to support an earlier retirement date. So you’ll have to save and invest more aggressively upfront and a bit longer — usually for 5–10 years — before you can start coasting to your goal.

When comparing Coast FI to Coast-to-Target FI, the main difference is timing: Coast FI aims for flexibility early on, while Coast-to-Target FI aims for an exact and earlier retirement date.

There’s also Barista-Coast FIRE, which combines Coast FI with the Barista FIRE approach. You can read more in the post about the 13 types of financial independence.

What Is Coast FI Type 2? (Flamingo FIRE)

With Flamingo FIRE, you aim to accumulate 50% of your FIRE number before stopping new investments. You’ll reach semi-FI later than with Coast-to-Target FI, but it shortens your semi-retirement phase to 10 years or less.

After hitting 50% of your goal, you let your portfolio compound until it doubles into your full FIRE number — assuming an average return rate between 7–10%.

We modeled how Flamingo FI could work for us in this blog post, in the section “Semi-FI through Coast FIRE / Flamingo FIRE”. To learn more about its origins, check out the Flamingo FI post written by its creator, Money Flamingo.

Understanding what Coast FI is also helps you see where Flamingo FIRE fits in as another version of coasting that trades a bit more work now for more freedom later.

Is Coast FI The Right (Early) Retirement Strategy For You?

Figuring out if Coast FI is right for you comes down to one simple question: do you want to take the stress out of work as soon as possible without worrying about your financial future? If your answer is yes, Coast FI might be exactly what you need.

If you’d like to explore more after reading this post on what is Coast FI, check out the following content:

• How to Calculate Your Coast FIRE Number (+ Free Coast FI Calculator)
• General FAQs (about semi-retirement)
• How Early Retirement Works vs Semi Retirement
• Semi Retirement: How To Semi Retire In 5-10 Years

Final Thoughts on What Is Coast FI & Why It Matters

Learning what Coast FI is completely changed how I feel about our financial independence journey. It’s not about retiring tomorrow — it’s about creating the freedom to slow down today, knowing my family’s future is already in motion.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that peace of mind doesn’t come from constant hustle, but from building a plan that works for you — and letting your money do the heavy lifting.

If today’s post gave you a new idea for your financial journey, stay connected by subscribing to our newsletter below.

What do you find most appealing about Coast FI? Share your thoughts in the comments — I’d love to hear from you!

I don’t just want financial independence someday — I want freedom now. Flamingo FIRE is the turning point that makes it possible. It’s a lifestyle shift that helps our family work less today, enjoy semi-retirement soon, and still stay on track toward full financial independence with only a small delay eventually.

I came to that realization recently using our brand-new Flamingo FIRE Calculator, which Marc just released. Less hustle and more time as a family and for ourselves is exactly what I’m striving for after welcoming our third baby girl a couple of weeks ago.

Here’s how Flamingo FIRE changed everything for us — and how it might change your journey too.

💡 Try It Yourself – Flamingo FIRE Calculator
Before we dive in: are you ready to find out how close you are to reaching 50% of your FIRE goal?
Run your numbers in our FREE Flamingo FIRE Calculator to see when your portfolio can double on its own and carry you to full financial independence.

👉 LAUNCH THE CALCULATOR and visualize your path to Flamingo FIRE.

What Is Flamingo FIRE?

What is Flamingo FIRE in a nutshell?

Flamingo FIRE is a simple FIRE approach that focuses on balancing freedom today with security tomorrow.

What is the meaning behind Flamingo FIRE?

Many wonder where the unique name comes from. Its inventor, MoneyFlamingo, called it Flamingo FIRE because it’s like FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) standing on one leg — stable (because the goal is to achieve full FIRE) yet relaxed (because you don’t need to hustle toward it). 🦩

I highly recommend checking out her post on Flamingo FI if this topic or my content here resonates with you.

How is it different from traditional FIRE?

In our opinion, Flamingo FIRE combines the best aspects of semi-retirement and early retirement. It’s designed for people looking for an easier FIRE path that still leads to complete financial independence later. These are people, like us, who want more flexibility long before reaching their full FIRE number.

How Flamingo FIRE Works

50 % of FIRE Number

Flamingo FIRE explained (in simple terms): It’s a variation of Coast FIRE and a semi-retirement strategy that lets you enjoy more freedom long before full FIRE. I cover all 13 types of Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) in a full guide on the blog.

Flamingo FIRE encourages you to save 50 % of your FIRE number, then let compounding do the rest. It’s that simple — you work less, live more, and coast to full FIRE within about 5–15 years. The higher your investment returns, the faster you’ll get there. The 5–15 year time frame feels so much more attractive than waiting until age 65+ to eventually achieve full FI.

The Rule of 72 (to Double Your Investments)

This plan follows a simple rule of thumb — the Rule of 72. It shows how long it takes for your investments to double: just divide 72 by your annual return rate.

At a 7% return, that’s about 10 years (72/7 = 10.28 years). So, our investments double in 10 years if the average return is around 7%, and in 5 years if it’s 15% (72/15 = 4.8 years) or in over 14 years if it’s a more conservative 5% rate of return.

If you’d like to explore more variations, check out the post The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Flamingo FI.

The 4 Flamingo FIRE Phases (& Our Family’s Example)

Here’s Flamingo FIRE explained step-by-step, sharing our family’s example as a simple financial independence roadmap.

Accumulation Phase (Inflation-Adjusted)

Save and invest until you’ve reached 50 % of your FIRE number — roughly 12.5× your annual expenses, following the 4 % rule. I talk more about the 4 % Rule (behind your FIRE number) in this post.

👉 Our example: We expect our yearly expenses to be around 48,000 once we achieve full FIRE, inflation-adjusted. That means our Flamingo FIRE point is 600,000, which we hope to reach between age 45–50 (depending on stock market performance). We’ll re-evaluate our numbers as we get closer to reaching our Flamingo FIRE goal.

👉 Inflation-adjusted expenses: Our current 40,000-a-year lifestyle (excluding mortgage payments) is expected to rise to about 48,000 a year by the time we reach full FIRE, based on projected inflation.

Semi-Retirement Phase

Stop saving for investments and start working less while your portfolio continues to grow. We plan to reduce our workload after hitting 50 % of our FIRE number around age 45–50. Meanwhile, our nest egg will hopefully keep compounding quietly in the background while we cover daily costs through part-time income or passion projects or both. In short, we get the freedom to take more risks with our careers.

For us, the full FIRE number is about 1,200,000, meaning we need 600,000 (our Flamingo FIRE number) before we can stop investing based on our expected yearly expenses of 48,000 in FIRE. With a 15 % average return, those investments could double in around 5 years (see above the Rule of 72).

I’m sharing our semi-retirement plan here — one we’ll happily adjust if it ever stops serving our family. But for now, this is where we stand on our journey. (So far, our returns have averaged 20–30 % with these safest index funds.)

Financial Independence

When investments have doubled naturally, we’ll reach financial independence — around age 50 at the earliest (with a 15 % average return and a nest egg of 600,000 at age 45) or age 60 at the latest (with a 5 % average return and/or a smaller nest egg at age 45). In other words, about 5–15 years after we semi-retire, we expect to reach full FIRE.

At that point (age 50-60), work becomes optional. We could start living off our portfolio using one of the Top 4 Early Retirement Withdrawal Strategies, or we could let our investments grow further and continue working.

Traditional Retirement

Once officially retired, it’s possible to enjoy a higher withdrawal rate and greater passive income for comfort if we haven’t started withdrawing yet. Flamingo FIRE gives us the freedom to choose.

FREE Flamingo FIRE Calculator

How to Calculate Your Flamingo FIRE Number

Here’s the basic formula to calculate your Flamingo FIRE number:
FIRE number ÷ 2

If you want to know exactly how to calculate Flamingo FIRE for your family, we offer a free FIRE Calculator (to find your full FIRE number) and a free Flamingo FIRE Calculator (to determine your Flamingo FIRE number, inflation-adjusted, and map out your freedom journey).

Both numbers — your FIRE number and Flamingo FIRE number — depend heavily on your chosen withdrawal rate and the inflation rate.
If you’d like to explore different scenarios and test various withdrawal rate strategies, try our free Retirement Withdrawal Strategy Calculator.

Using Inflation-Adjusted Returns

Instead of using inflation-adjusted expenses, you can also apply inflation-adjusted returns for a quick overview of your numbers. Assuming an average 7 % return after inflation (based on 10 % annual returns and 3 % inflation) gives you roughly the same result.

In simple terms, your FI number is a moving target. Whether you plan with inflation-adjusted returns or expenses, always track your real results in nominal terms.

The Benefits of Flamingo FIRE: A Lifestyle of Freedom and Balance

Earlier Freedom

Reaching semi-retirement once you’ve hit 50 % of your FIRE number means you can stop aggressive saving and investing years earlier compared to traditional FIRE, which requires reaching 100 % of your FIRE number.

Early Retirement Still Possible

By letting your investments compound into your full FIRE number within 5–15 years, you can still enjoy early retirement — depending on your age, savings rate, and overall market performance.

Full Financial Independence

Since Flamingo FIRE is a variation of Coast FIRE, the end goal of both semi-retirement strategies is the same: to achieve full financial independence one day. That’s incredibly important to me, and I believe many others on the FIRE journey feel the same way.

Smooth Transition

You’re not jumping from 100 % work to 0 %. Flamingo FIRE gives you time to adjust. Many early retirees keep working or earning some income — yet almost no one actually plans for it. With Flamingo FIRE and its semi-retirement phase, you do.

Reasonable Savings Rate

Saving around 50 % of your income can help you reach your Flamingo FIRE number in roughly a decade — a far more achievable target for many families than traditional FIRE’s steep requirements.

Our Flamingo FIRE Story

The Freedom to Choose

Flamingo FIRE is a simple FIRE strategy that fits my ideal: achieving full financial independence one day (unlike Barista FIRE, where it’s not the primary goal) but not as late as with Coast FIRE, which targets traditional retirement age.

I don’t want to be semi-retired (working part-time) for decades, as with Coast FIRE, and I don’t feel comfortable withdrawing from my portfolio early, as in Barista FIRE. Also, when you hit Coast FI — as we did — and realize how much smaller that number is compared to your full FI number, it can feel scary to stop saving and investing. Flamingo FIRE just feels a bit more secure when it comes to achieving full FI.

Still, I sense that something is missing in the Flamingo FIRE approach — I can’t quite define what it is yet, but it feels like there’s a missing piece. We’ll see. However, Flamingo FIRE comes very close to what I was searching for.

Before learning about Flamingo FIRE, I was already convinced that I wanted to stop saving and investing once we hit 50 % of our FIRE number — I just didn’t know it was a thing. I assumed both of us would need to work full-time again to achieve it. But we never did, even after starting our financial freedom journey.

And with three little kids at home now, I don’t want full-time work (and daycare) to be part of our early retirement story. It wasn’t until I used Marc’s free Flamingo FIRE Calculator that I realized: part-time work until we reach 50 % of our FIRE number is enough.

What a relief — that insight changed everything. It showed us that we can live the daily life we want, spend more time as a family, and still become a financial freedom family while always working part-time. Marc’s Flamingo FIRE Calculator truly gave us choice, time, and peace.

Our Financial Situation

We’re a couple turned 40 with three little bundles of joy and a home mortgage of just over 400,000. Over the past five years of our family FIRE journey, we’ve paid off more than 160,000 of that mortgage and built a stock portfolio worth over 150,000 — all while working part-time, taking parental leave, and making memories as a family.

That was possible because we’ve managed to always save 40–60 % of our income, depending on the season of life. Our semi-retirement strategy is to continue working part-time until age 45–50, reaching 50 % of our full FIRE number by then, becoming debt-free and entering semi-retirement. What will we do then? We have plenty of ideas — but we’ll see when we get there.

Realizing that we only need to work part-time to save half of our FIRE number has made financial freedom feel much closer, and we’re grateful to enjoy more time with our kids while building the life we want today.

Why Flamingo FIRE Works (for Families)

Flamingo FIRE is a simple FIRE plan that works especially well for families who value time together over chasing higher income.

It’s about creating family financial independence step by step — balancing flexibility and financial stability. This semi-retirement family approach allows parents to spend more time with their kids, reduce stress, and still build long-term wealth.

By working part-time and letting investments grow in the background, you gain freedom now and the security of full independence later — without the burnout.

Flamingo FIRE taught us that financial freedom is about choosing how to spend your time. It doesn’t have to wait until retirement — it can start right now. By living intentionally and letting investments grow in the background, we found more balance and joy along the way.

👉Discover how our free Flamingo FIRE Calculator can help you find your own Flamingo FIRE number and ideal path so your family can enjoy a balanced, semi-retired life sooner.

🚀 Now it’s your turn: What would your life look like if you reached Flamingo FIRE? Drop it in the comments to inspire others!

👉 Subscribe if you’ve found inspiration and don’t want to miss any more resources, or content we’re about to share. Join the community via the green footer below.

Title image source: Vicko Mozara on Unsplash

What is a good savings rate for early retirement or semi-retirement? It’s not always “the higher, the better”—but there are specific strategies that can help you increase it, if that’s your goal. In this post, I’ll share the exact ones we’ve used to reach a 60 % savings rate—while raising three little kids.

I’m writing this post for those of you who want to save more money—whatever the reason, and whatever savings rate you’re aiming for. Because I truly believe increasing your savings rate opens up so many amazing options—and helps you build a flexible future on your own terms. At least, that’s what it did for us. Here’s how.

How Do I Calculate My Savings Rate?

Your savings rate is one of the most powerful tools you have. Understanding what is a good savings rate starts with knowing exactly how to calculate it. Your savings rate shows what portion of your income you’re actually keeping.

Savings Rate Formula

So, how do you calculate your savings rate? It’s simple. Use this formula:

Let’s say you earn on average 8,800 and spend around 3,500 (like we do) per month—your savings rate would be 60% (like ours). That means you’re keeping 60% of what you make instead of consuming it. In this example that would be 5,300.

For comparison: the average savings rate in the U.S. typically hovers around 4–7%. In Germany (where we live) and other Western European countries, it’s closer to 10–18% depending on income level.

Our Actual Savings Rate

Right now, we’re on parental leave after welcoming our third daughter. Our income dropped temporarily since both Marc and I are staying home alternately while receiving parental allowance during her first year, and until she’s adjusted to daycare. Naturally, that affected our savings rate—it dropped from 60 % to 57 %.

Here’s our current breakdown:
Income: 7,650
Expenses: 3,280

Our expenses do not include our 1,800 mortgage, which we treat as an investment since we plan to rent out our home near one of the most expensive cities in Germany. But even if we added that mortgage to our expenses, we’d still achieve a savings rate of almost 34 % right now—and later on, when we’re both out of parental leave, we’d be at around 42 % or higher.

Even with three kids and a reduced income, we still maintain a solid savings rate—regardless of how our mortgage is treated in the calculation.

Free Tool to Calculate Your Savings Rate

Want to know what your savings rate is—without doing any math? Try our free Simple Bare Bones Budget Calculator. Just enter your income and expenses, and the tool will automatically calculate your savings rate as a percentage. It also shows you exactly how your money is distributed in a pie chart—plus, you can set savings goals and more.

What Is a Good Savings Rate?

Your savings rate is the single biggest factor in how soon you can stop working full-time. But what is a good savings rate if you’re aiming for true early retirement, a.k.a. FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early), or a more flexible path like semi retirement or Semi FIRE / FI (Semi Financial Independence), like we do?

What Is a Good Savings Rate for Early Retirement and Semi Retirement?

The short answer: the more you save, the sooner you can retire. While the average savings rate in many developed countries is between 4–18 %, that won’t get you to early or semi retirement anytime soon. For those pursuing financial independence, a savings rate of 30–50 % is often recommended. If you’re serious about early semi retirement in your 30s or 40s, many families aim for 50–60 % or more.

Here’s a general breakdown:

• 10 % = Basic financial stability
• 10-20 %+ = A good savings rate for traditional retirement
• 30-40 %+ = A solid target for semi-retirement within 10+ years (more or less)
• 50-70 %+ = The sweet spot for early retirement or semi retirement in your 30s or 40s

This is exactly what Peter Adeney, the Mr. Money Mustache blogger, showed in his legendary post The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement. His famous chart shows how a higher savings rate slashes the number of years you need to work.

Why You May Not Need 60% Savings

A 60 % savings rate is amazing—but you don’t need to hit that number to make semi retirement work. In fact, most people aiming for semi retirement maintain a monthly savings rate between 30 and 40 %. That’s already powerful enough to give you flexibility.

Jess and Corey from The Fioneers teach that you can reach financial independence without a 50 % savings rate—and still live well along the way.

Why Your Savings Rate Is Not Everything

When people ask what is a good savings rate, they often focus only on the number. But while your savings rate is incredibly important, it’s not everything.

What truly matters is what you do with those savings that brings you closer to semi retirement—not just how much you set aside. We’ve found that our net worth tracking—using our Net Worth Calculator—and seeing how we build up assets over time, has been just as important as cutting costs.

When my husband Marc and I started our journey towards financial independence over five years ago, we were a family of three, consistently saving 50–60 % and more. Today, as a family of five, we’ve worked hard to maintain that savings rate, but we haven’t always hit it perfectly. Life changes. Budgets shift. And that’s okay. But we always focused on investing for passive income.

One of the biggest things we’ve learned? You Don’t Need To ALWAYS Save And Invest 50% For FIRE or semi retirement. What matters more is where and how you invest, and how consistent you are over time.

Our Family-Proven Steps to Hit a 60% Savings Rate With Ease

Hitting a 60% savings rate, especially as a family with kids, needs many intentional choices—without feeling like we’re constantly sacrificing. Here are the family savings tips that helped us most:

Dual Income Household

If you can, aim to bring in two incomes—at least outside of maternity or parental leave periods. Even part-time work or seasonal and freelance income can help significantly increase your monthly savings rate. Having two earners gives you more flexibility to save, invest, or even switch to one income later.

Free Up One Entire Income

In short: we live entirely on one income (also covering our mortgage payments) and save the other income. This one move helped us save thousands and reach semi retirement faster than we imagined.

We’ve detailed this in two posts— Living On One Income (In A Two-Income Household) and How To Become A One-Income Family (When You Earn A Second Income)

Keep Increasing Income

One of the best ways to save more money is to grow what’s coming in. Marc and I both pursued promotions, sold unused stuff, and are building our side hustle. Every bit of extra income was funneled straight into savings and investments.

Be a One-Car Household

Yes, it’s less convenient—but not as much as you’d think. We’ve always lived with just one small car, bought with cash (no car payments!). As a family of four, we’ve traveled, done errands, and managed everyday life with a single small vehicle. For our next car, we’ve set a clear price limit. That’s a frugal family tip that can save thousands.

Cut Unused or Unnecessary Fixed Costs

Unused subscriptions, unnecessary insurances, and “just-in-case” expenses add up fast. We reviewed all of our recurring expenses and found several we weren’t even using or needing—especially outdated insurance plans. What could you cancel without missing it?

Track Your Expenses

I can’t emphasize it enough: nothing is more important than tracking your expenses. If you don’t know where your money is going, you can’t control your savings rate. We track every little expense and review it regularly as a couple. This one habit keeps us aligned with our goals and helps prevent overspending.

Create a Budget

Once you know where your money is going you can start to map out a plan for your money and create a simple budget. If you’re new to budgeting, check out our post What Is a Line-by-Line Budget? Our Family’s €5,000/Month Plan or browse our budgeting post collection. A clear, realistic budget is your savings rate’s best friend—especially when you’re raising kids.

Keep Fixed Expenses at 50% or Less

Our fixed expenses are currently around 1,200 or just 16 % of our income (excluding the mortgage). Including our mortgage, we’re at 4,000 or 52 %. The key: keeping fixed costs like utilities, subscriptions, daycare, and insurances among others low. We cover this in depth in the post FREE Fixed And Variable Expenses Worksheet For Budgeting where you can find our free Simple Bare Bones Budget Calculator.

Limit Kids’ Expenses Without Limiting Them

Our experience is when it comes to kids, often less is more which we share in our blog post collection about our family life where we embrace frugality like Why We’re Living Without a TV—and Loving It.

We keep kids’ expenses low with secondhand clothes and toys or books, hand-me-downs, and frugal fun like free outdoor activities, libraries, and cooking together or tackling a DIY project at home. We also go out to eat as a family and to a park or zoo, but not every weekend. Also, each child has one hobby they truly enjoy, which helps reduce pressure during the week and spending while keeping their lives full.

Want Even More Frugal Family Tips?

Check out The Strategies We Use to Save Money in EVERY Budget Category, explore Travel Hacking For European Families: How To Travel For FREE, or browse our growing collection of happy frugal living blog posts for inspiration that’s practical and fun.

What Is a Good Savings Rate for You & Your Income?

So far, we’ve talked about averages and ideal numbers—but what is a good savings rate for you and your household? The answer depends on several factors: your income level, life stage, number of kids, fixed expenses, and how soon you want to reach early or semi retirement. Instead of chasing a perfect savings rate number, try creating your own personalized savings goal.

📌 Tip: Read The Average Saving Rate By Income to compare where you stand. It’s a helpful benchmark—just remember it’s not one-size-fits-all.

Mistakes to Avoid When Setting a Savings Rate

Many families struggle with saving more money—not because they don’t try, but because they fall into some common savings mistakes, just like us at the beginning. If you want to hit your goals, avoid bad financial habits, and watch out for following pitfalls:

• Setting unrealistic goals
  Aiming for a 60 % savings rate sounds inspiring—but if it’s not sustainable, it’ll burn you out fast. Here are our 7 Actionable Tips To Start Making “The Right Sacrifices” for saving money.
• Ignoring lifestyle creep
  As income rises, so do expenses—unless you stay intentional. We experienced that firsthand – you can read more about us here. Left unchecked, lifestyle upgrades silently eat into your savings rate.
• Not adjusting for inflation
  Inflation reduces your real savings power over time. That almost happened to us during the Corona pandemic when inflation was high. Reassess your numbers yearly to make sure your plan still works.
• Relying on budgeting alone
  A detailed simple budget is helpful—but without clear savings goals, strategies and reviewing your numbers, it won’t help much. Here are The Strategies We Use to Save Money in EVERY Budget Category.
• Comparing yourself too much
  Your personalized savings goal should reflect your life—not someone else’s timeline or income level.

Bonus: FAQ Section

What if I Have Debt?

Debt doesn’t mean you can’t save—it just means you need a balanced strategy. While high-interest debt (like credit cards) should be a priority, you can still start building savings.

We still have a mortgage—around 400,000—with a super low interest rate. While we could focus only on that, we’re also saving more to invest for passive income so we can be in a stronger financial position if we prioritize both at once.

Can I Save More Money With Kids Without “Limiting Them”?

Absolutely. In fact, some of the best frugal family tips we’ve learned are all about enrichment without overspending. We’ve shared our favorite Budget-Friendly Outdoor Play Activity Ideas My Toddlers Love Doing, Free Outdoor Toys Ideas My Toddlers Play With For Endless Hours, and shared the 7 Life-Changing Wins From Living On A Frugal Budget (As A Family) —because kids truly need less than we think to be happy and fulfilled. Mindset > money.

What Is a Good Savings Rate by Age?

Wondering what a good savings rate by age looks like? Read about Retirement Savings Goals by Age as a percentage of your annual income and as a savings checkpoint by age or use this rule of thumb:

• By age 30 → Aim to have saved 1x your annual income
• By age 40 → 3x your annual income
• By age 50 → 6x
• By age 60 → 8-10x

These retirement savings checkpoints help keep you on track—whether you’re working toward early or traditional retirement.

What Is a Good Savings Rate if Living Off One Income?

If you’re living on one income—especially with kids—any savings rate is a good savings rate. Even 5–10 % makes a difference. What matters most is that you’re making room to save something, while covering your family’s needs. We share more about our journey in How I Spend My Money On What Matters Most & Skip The Rest.

Can I Reach Semi Retirement With a 20% or 30% Savings Rate?

Yes! You may not reach semi retirement in 10 years more or less, but with a consistent savings rate of 20–30 %, you can absolutely build your investments toward financial freedom. In fact, most semi retirement strategies are well within reach with a savings rate like that.

Now that you have the answer to “what is a good savings rate”, you know what it looks like—and how we made 60% work with 3 kids—it’s your turn. Start small, take it one step at a time, stay consistent, and you’ll be surprised how quickly your savings add up. Even saving just 10% (more) can change your entire trajectory. You’ve got this!

👉Discover how our free Simple Bare Bones Budget Calculator can help you boost your savings rate and reach your goals faster.

🚀 Now it’s your turn: What’s one small change you’ve made (or want to make) to boost your savings rate? Drop it in the comments to inspire others!

👉 Subscribe if you’ve found inspiration and don’t want to miss any more resources, or content we’re about to share. Join the community via the green footer below.

Title image source: Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Barista FIRE can lead you to an early-retired lifestyle in just a few years. But then comes the big question: how do you find the best semi retirement jobs, especially as a high-income earner—the kind of flexible, part-time work that still offers purpose, good pay, and even healthcare to help you reach partial financial independence so you can semi-retire?

That’s exactly what this post explores—along with our personal story, the struggles we faced, and the choices we made for our semi-retirement plan.

💡 Try It Yourself – Barista FIRE Calculator
Before we dive in, see how the numbers work for your own portfolio. Enter your portfolio size, age, planned retirement age, spending needs and income during barista FIRE — and instantly get a forecast of your potential barista FIRE journey with our free and interactive Barista FIRE Calculator.

What Is Barista FIRE? (In a Nutshell)

Barista FIRE is gaining traction within the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) community—and for good reason.

It’s one of the quickest paths to a semi-retired lifestyle. You get to enjoy many of the benefits of financial independence—like time freedom and flexibility—before fully reaching FIRE. That’s why many call it Barista FI rather than Barista FIRE: you’re aiming for partial financial independence and flexible semi-retirement, rather than fully exiting the workforce early on. Still, many use Barista FIRE as a stepping stone to full FIRE later in life.

So, how does Barista FIRE work? You continue saving and investing for passive income—just like in traditional FIRE—but you don’t wait until your portfolio covers all expenses. You semi-retire once your passive income covers part of your costs. The rest comes from part-time work that fits your lifestyle.

Which leads to the big question: What are the best semi retirement jobs that offer purpose, solid pay, and maybe even healthcare—especially if you’re a high earner? That’s where things get tricky—and we speak from experience.

Our Plan for (Not) Retiring (Yet)—Using Barista FIRE

Before we dive deeper into the details, I want to be completely honest with you. We don’t plan to go full Barista FIRE the moment we semi-retire—nor jump straight into one of those best semi retirement jobs right away. At least not at first.

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you already know—I’m just not comfortable with the idea of withdrawing money from our portfolio yet. Our plan is to cover our living costs through part-time work and available state benefits for the first few years of semi retirement. No withdrawals.

Later on, we’re open to drawing from our investments if it becomes financially necessary—but only while continuing to do meaningful part-time work that pays well. That’s the balance we’re aiming for. But these kinds of best semi retirement jobs are really hard to find. Here’s why.

Redefining Success During Barista FIRE as a High Earner

Let’s start with a simple question: what makes someone a high earner? Typically, it’s anyone whose income is above average for their profession and location—assuming full-time work. That applies to both my husband Marc and me (if we would work full-time).

However, the truth is, we both enjoy what we do. I love writing and genuinely enjoy working in marketing communications. Marc is a total tech nerd—detail-driven and passionate about all things IT. When we semi-retire, we don’t plan to leave our professions behind. We’re not planning to switch to the typical best semi-retirement jobs—like becoming baristas at Starbucks, for example. We’re looking for something more aligned with who we already are.

And yet, many articles about the best semi retirement jobs suggest low-stress, part-time work like being a barista. While that may work for some, these roles don’t offer the same income or career trajectory that high earners are used to.

So the question becomes: how do we redefine success? Because, if you’re a high-income earner, chances are you got here through ambition and drive. And that may not disappear when you semi retire. But for some of us, the daily grind slowly wore us down. The career path we once felt excited about, and the picture of the life we imagined started to crumble.

Now we’re asking: how do we redirect that same ambition into a more meaningful and flexible version of work—one that actually fits that semi-retired Barista FIRE lifestyle?

Why We Struggle to Find the Best Semi Retirement Jobs

Marc and I both know we want to leave the corporate world behind eventually. What we’re really after is highly flexible work that still allows us to earn a solid income. We want to stay challenged, do work that matters, and get paid well—even if it’s just part-time—while keeping our healthcare.

In short: “just any job” won’t cut it. And that makes it tough to step down without feeling like we’re stepping back. But, I feel like we have one small advantage on our road to semi retirement.

We’re in a slightly unusual position: we are familiar with working part-time—and have already done that for years. In Europe, that’s not so rare, especially since universal healthcare still covers the whole family. I’ve worked anywhere between 15 and 30 hours a week; Marc between 25 and 33. We’ve also run our own small business on the side.

Still, switching to one of the more traditional best semi-retirement jobs—like working as a barista—would slash our income by half or even more. That’s simply not sustainable for us. But staying in our current corporate roles long-term doesn’t feel right either.

The real challenge for high earners like us is this: how do you find one of the best semi-retirement jobs within your own profession? The kind that lets you scale back without losing all the autonomy, respect, and income you’ve worked hard for? Those jobs are rare—and we’ve learned that firsthand.

What the Best Semi Retirement Jobs Look Like for Us

We see two potential paths to find the best semi retirement jobs for our lifestyle even before entering Barista FIRE—and we may even combine both.

First, we’re considering a part-time role in our current fields—one that aligns with our values and lets us focus on meaningful work, while still earning well and receiving full healthcare coverage. We already have a few smaller companies in mind that might be a better cultural and lifestyle match than the blue-chip employers we work for today—but that depends on the actual roles and responsibilities we’ll have in the future.

Second, we’re actively working on growing our own small business. It’s something we’ve poured our energy into for quite some time—even without earning real money. And we’ve realized: this is what we want to keep doing. It gives us purpose, flexibility, and the kind of creative fulfillment we’re aiming for.

What Makes a Great Semi Retirement Job for Barista FIRE?

✅ Flexible hours that fit your life, eventually in part-time roles
✅ Low-stress work that protects your mental energy but still being intellectually stimulating
✅ Fair pay that respects your skills, knowledge, and experience
✅ Purpose-driven work that feels genuinely rewarding
✅ Optional remote setup so you can work from anywhere
✅ Healthcare coverage—especially important in semi retirement

The Best Semi Retirement Jobs for High Earners

When we talk about the best semi retirement jobs for high-income earners pursuing Barista FIRE, we’re not talking about just any job. The following roles allow you to downshift without stepping back—offering flexible hours, lower stress, and work that still respects your skills, experience, and income expectations.

Including Healthcare — Intellectually Stimulating & Low-Stress

If you want to work in a respected environment, and keep your healthcare benefits, these roles offer the ideal balance. You can work fixed days or hours, stay mentally engaged, and still enjoy the flexibility that makes Barista FIRE so appealing.

1. University Lecturer – Ideal for those with a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD who want to teach occasionally in a structured setting
2. Teacher at a business school or adult education center – Great for experienced professionals like economists, creatives, or career changers who want to share real-world knowledge
3. Continue in your current role part-time – Negotiate a flexible or remote work setup with your existing employer to retain income, healthcare, and professional identity (or search for a new employer offering that)

Without Healthcare — Remote-Friendly & Location-Independent

If healthcare isn’t a deal-breaker, because you have access to free full healthcare coverage, these remote-friendly roles give you full control over your schedule, income, and location—making them a great fit for Barista FIRE. I’ve met several people who built up a solid client base before leaving their full-time careers—once that trust is built, the transition gets much easier.

1. Freelance, project-based work – Offer your skills on platforms like Upwork, Freelance, Fiverr, We Work Remotely, Remote, FlexJobs, Jobgether – and work only on projects that match your availability
2. Seasonal work as a tax specialist – Prepare tax returns during peak seasons for individuals or small businesses; ideal for financial pros who are passionate about taxes (like my husband Marc)
3. Consulting in your field – Help smaller businesses or individuals solve specific challenges; perfect for professionals in IT, marketing, law, architecture, healthcare, design, etc.
4. Financial coaching – Ideal for former finance pros or anyone with solid financial literacy who wants to guide others through budgeting, investing, or debt management
5. Startup coaching – Use your leadership experience to help new founders grow and scale; especially suited to former executives or senior managers
6. High-level part-time roles (by invitation only) – Opportunities like speaking engagements, board advisory roles, or expert panels—typically well-paid for those with a strong reputation
7. Online teaching or tutoring – Share your skills through platforms like VIPKid, iTalki, or Teachable; perfect for language experts or anyone with niche knowledge

Starting Over

Sometimes, Barista FIRE isn’t just about working less—it’s about starting over. After years in corporate life, you might crave something more hands-on, more creative, or – just different. Maybe it’s time to explore a long-standing passion, change careers, or build something entirely new from scratch. Still, income matters. The key is finding a role that allows you to pivot and pay the bills.

Here are some helpful resources for discovering the best semi retirement jobs if you’re ready for a fresh start. (Spoiler: some are repetitive or resemble classic barista-type roles—but others may surprise you.)

1. Judd Albring shares 11 High-Paying, Flexible Part-Time Remote Jobs you’ve probably never heard of
2. Shane Hummus explores 7 Remote Jobs That Are Always Hiring
3. On Cash Flow — a well-known voice in the FIRE community, especially among those seeking semi retirement — reveals The Best Places To Work For Barista FIRE (U.S.-based)

How to Transition Into a Barista FIRE Job

Wondering how to actually transition into the best semi retirement jobs for your Barista FIRE lifestyle? The best way is simple: test them while you’re still employed. Try out the part-time or freelance work you think is your ideal fit—before fully stepping away from your career. That’s the only way to know if it actually delivers the freedom and purpose you’re looking for.

That might mean tapping into your network, gradually shifting into a part-time role, or starting a side business—just like we’ve done.

Bonus: FREE Barista FIRE Calculator to Plan Your Journey

Ready to crunch the numbers and start mapping out your personal Barista FIRE strategy? I walk you through the process in my post Free Barista FIRE Calculator to Reach Semi-Retirement Sooner.

Just plug in your current portfolio value, your target withdrawal rate, and a few other basics—the free Barista FIRE Calculator will show you how close you already are to living life on your own terms. It’s a simple but powerful way to explore your options—like what the best semi retirement jobs might look like—and see how soon you could semi-retire.

Start exploring your options. Lean into your strengths. And don’t be afraid to step down in title—if one of those best semi retirement jobs means stepping up in purpose, peace, and life satisfaction. Barista FIRE is your opportunity to redesign your life on your own terms.

👉Use our free Barista FIRE Calculator to run your numbers and find the job that fits your new life—not your old title.

🚀 Now it’s your turn: What job would give you purpose and peace in this next chapter? Share in the comments and help others take the first step.

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