FREE Semi Retirement Calculator & The 3 Main Semi FIRE Types

The trend towards semi retirement is growing for those seeking FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early). Our FREE Semi Retirement Calculator shows you how it works so you can retire even earlier than you thought possible and enjoy real work-life balance.

Because semi retirement comes down to working less and living more – before full retirement.

In this post, I share with you how to semi retire early using one of the 3 main types of semi retirement and how to run your own numbers using one of the FREE Financial Independence Calculators for each type.

In A Nutshell: Semi-Retirement Meaning and Semi FIRE Definition

Semi retirement means you retire early part-time. Or, to put it another way, you are giving up your current working life and moving to a more self-determined working life where you work on your terms. Mostly, that includes reducing working hours so that you truly retire early part-time.

Semi FIRE (Semi Financial Independence, Retire Early) combines the best of both worlds: semi retirement and FIRE. What does that mean exactly?

I’ve just written a complete blog post on What Is Semi Retirement? (Escape In Your 40s And 50s) so that you know exactly the differences between Semi FIRE vs full FIRE, and what it means to retire early part-time. Also, I explain the origins of that concept: traditional partial retirement.

If you want to dive deeper into the essence of semi-retirement, you can read some previous blog posts such as How Semi Retirement Works vs Early Retirement + 13 Best Resources or Semi Retirement: The Secret How To Semi Retire In 5-10 Years.

Semi-Retirement Income Planning & Healthcare considerations

Part 1: Passive Income

Do you want to start withdrawing money from your investment portfolio and retirement account once you semi retire early? On the one hand, that will help you a lot financially during partial retirement, as you don’t have to earn that money. On the other hand, your portfolio will compound and grow a lot slower, as you constantly take out money from it. I talk about that issue down below under “The 3 Main Types Of Semi Retirement / Semi FIRE & Your Portfolio“ and when looking at each type in detail.

Part 2: Earned Income

With semi retirement, you don’t focus on fully retiring early, but on how to retire early part-time. No matter which of the 3 main types of partial retirement you find most appealing (down below), you’ll have to figure out how to continue working for an income part-time. Typical scenarios of semi retirement careers are working 2–3 days/week after switching careers or jobs, or freelancing.

Healthcare Considerations

The crux with early retirement part-time is that healthcare may not be covered. What truly blew my mind is that in some countries, like the US, part-time employees do not get healthcare coverage through their employers just because they work part-time. This does not exist in Germany, where we live.

In Germany (like in many European countries), every employee gets healthcare coverage through their employers if working at least 10–15 hours per week in a part-time contract. No one has to worry about health insurance restrictions due to reduced working hours.

In the US, most employers do not offer (full) healthcare coverage to their part-time employees. But, you can find good semi retirement jobs with healthcare coverage. Starbucks was one of the first companies offering that. Today, there are some more. But, how do you find those jobs and figure out health insurance in early retirement?

Check out The Best Places To Work For Barista FIRE (in the US) and the table at 6:46 minutes with the top 13–16 employers offering healthcare to their part-time employees in the US. Here you can see that part-time work typically starts at 20 hours a week for those companies, up to 30 hours a week.

The 3 Main Types Of Semi Retirement / Semi FIRE & Your Portfolio

The question with your semi retirement income planning is: How would your investment portfolio change over time if you start withdrawing money from your retirement account during semi retirement versus if you’re not withdrawing?

For your convenience, I share a free Financial Independence Calculator for each of the 3 main types of Semi FIRE / FI. Also, you will find examples with real numbers visualized in charts to give you a reference, how that Financial Independence Calculator or semi retirement calculator works, and how you can run your own numbers and compare the 3 Semi FIRE / FI strategies.

Type 1 of Semi FIRE / Semi Retirement: Barista FIRE

Barista FIRE And Your Portfolio: Start Withdrawing Money

Barista FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early), or Barista FI (Financial Independence), means you invest until your passive income would cover a big part of your living expenses. Then, you stop saving and investing into your retirement account AND start withdrawing money from it. Now, your savings rate could be 0%. 

But, you need to keep in mind that this slows down the growth of your portfolio, as you constantly take out money from it. Our free semi-retirement calculator down below shows you how that looks.

Depending on how your portfolio will perform during your semi-retirement years, it can be that your portfolio never compounds into your FIRE number, or you outlive your retirement savings. This is something you need to be aware of when considering Barista FIRE / FI.

If you want to go really deep on the Barista FIRE /FI approach and see in detail how our respective free semi retirement calculator works, you can read the complete guide on our Free Barista FIRE Calculator To Plan Your Early Partial Retirement.

Barista FIRE And Tax Advantages

I want to point out one thing when it comes to getting a passive income from your retirement account, being a stock market portfolio. That income is taxed with lower income taxes than job income, at least that‘s how it is in Europe/Germany where we live. So, you pay less taxes if getting a passive income like dividend payments from a stock market portfolio than if getting a salary.

The same is true for the salary itself. Part-time jobs you aim for when deciding on Barista FIRE / FI often fall into a lower tax bracket than jobs where you work full time. So, there‘s more money left over, so to say. And more time freedom to raise your family or pursue your passion projects if working part-time instead of full time. But paying less taxes on a passive income can start even earlier if you have access to tax-advantaged retirement accounts supported by the state or an employer.

Semi FIRE / Semi Retirement Calculator 1: FREE Barista FIRE Calculator

The first semi retirement calculator to be featured here is our free Barista FIRE Calculator. After providing some information, like how much income you expect to still earn in semi retirement, you will get your Barista FIRE number and your expected (retirement) age.

Type 2 of Semi FIRE / Semi Retirement: Coast FIRE

Coast FIRE And Your Portfolio: Don’t Start Withdrawing

With Coast FIRE or Coast FI**,** you self-fund your personal retirement account as soon as possible. You save and invest A LOT of your income early on in life**,** up to a specific point in your portfolio‘s value. That is when you have invested enough to achieve financial independence by the time you reach official retirement age. Our next semi-retirement calculator will show you how that looks down below.

Then, you stop saving and investing**,** but don‘t start withdrawing yet. In the back**,** your money grows into your F.I.R.E. number through compound interest. Now, you can “coast” towards retirement.

If you want to go really deep on the Coast FIRE /FI approach and calculate it in detail, you can read the complete guide on How To Calculate Coast FI – Free Coast FIRE Calculator.

Semi FIRE / Semi Retirement Calculator 2: FREE Coast FIRE Calculator

The next semi retirement calculator to be featured here is our free Coast FIRE Calculator. It’s completely for free and you can run your numbers directly online and calculate your Coast FIRE number.

If you want to further explore the Coast FIRE approach for yourself, you can read the whole guide on how to achieve Coast FIRE in the post How To Calculate Coast FI – Free Coast FIRE Calculator. Also, I always like to recommend reading articles from other bloggers like this one: Coast FI Explained [includes Coast FIRE Calculator].

Type 3 of Semi FIRE / Semi Retirement: Flamingo FIRE

Flamingo FIRE And Your Portfolio: Limited Or No Withdrawals

There are different versions of Coast FIRE, like Flamingo FIRE. This semi retirement type was invented by MoneyFlamingo, an Australian blog. With Flamingo FIRE, you aim to have 50% of your FIRE number in your retirement account before you stop investing. By doing so, you will reach Semi FI later. But, you also reduce your semi retirement to 10 years or less so that you will reach traditional FIRE faster.

With Flamingo FIRE you want to (have the option to) become financially independent much earlier, and eventually still retire EARLY. And that’s exactly why I categorized Flamingo FIRE as one of the three main types of Semi Fi. Because that makes it conceptually different compared to the other Semi FI types. But of course, you could argue here. However, we LOVE the Flamingo FIRE approach and can relate to that.

Semi FIRE / Semi Retirement Calculator 3: FREE Flamingo FIRE Calculator

The Australian blog MoneyFlamingo provides a free Semi retirement calculator to run your numbers. But it’s not just for the Flamingo or Barista FI approach. It’s also for another well-known retirement planning concept: the “Die With Zero”/drawdown approach. You can test this yourself using a provided spreadsheet (as a semi retirement calculator) to see how much you can withdraw if you don’t want to pass your portfolio on to the next generation.

Comparing The 3 Main Types Of Semi FIRE / Semi Retirement

The following table summarizes the main steps and features of each strategy:

When you walk away today with at least one new idea to improve your personal financial journey, I’d love to show you some more in the next post. If you haven’t already, you can apply to become a part of the community, to not miss any new release. For that, subscribe to our newsletter in the green footer below.

Now, I’d love to hear from you: Which semi retirement type sounds most appealing to you, and why? Let me know in the comments below!

Title image source: Yasmina H on Unsplash