# Lean FIRE

Lean FIRE is financial independence on a modest budget. The math is the same as any FIRE number; the risk is a budget with no slack.

Lean FIRE means the spending you are willing to lock in is modest, so the portfolio that covers it is smaller and usually arrives sooner. The appeal is time. The risk is a plan with nothing left to cut when insurance, rent, or a parent’s needs jump.

## Keep a margin in the budget

A lean number that assumes no car repairs and no dental work is not a plan. Write the annual spending you can defend in a dull year, then add a line for the irregular bills. If you cannot name that line, the withdrawal rate is doing work it cannot do.

Housing decides most lean plans. A paid-off home, a shared home, or a cheap region changes the spending more than the investment return does. The calculator does not know your rent. You have to type the spending after housing, not before.

## Lean is not the same as Coast

Lean FIRE still means the portfolio pays the bills now. Coast FIRE means you could stop contributing and let growth reach a full number later, often while you keep working. Barista FIRE means part-time income covers some of the bills. Those are different dates. The Coast calculator can show side income and a partial withdrawal. The FIRE calculator assumes you keep contributing until the full number.

> A smaller target is not a safer target if the spending has no slack or if healthcare is missing from it.

## Questions

### What spending counts as Lean FIRE?

Again, there is no official line. Illustrations often use something near or below typical household spending, sometimes around $40,000 a year for a household that has already cut housing. At a 4% withdrawal rate that is a $1 million portfolio. Your city and your household size can make $40,000 either comfortable or impossible.

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