You will be able to compare the extra years of full-time work needed for full independence against the alternatives.
Ask people chasing financial independence why they want the full number, with no work income at all, and many cannot quite say. It was the goal they started with. Coast and barista FI sound like settling for less. But the full number has a price, paid in years of full-time work at the end of the journey, and you can see that price in your own model.
Lessons 5.1 and 5.2 gave you two earlier versions. This lesson puts all three side by side, so that you can see what the last stretch costs and decide whether you want to pay it.
Each version has its own target. Coast FI needs the smallest balance, because growth over many years does most of the work. Barista FI needs more, because the portfolio has to carry part of your spending straight away. Full FI needs the most, because the portfolio carries everything.
The extra between a barista number and a full number is a large sum. In Priya's made-up example from lesson 5.2, it was S$270,000, the value of fifteen years of part-time income. Somebody has to earn that money, and the only way to earn it is more years of full-time work.
How many years depends heavily on your savings rate. Someone saving a large share of a good income can close the gap quickly, because both contributions and growth are large by then. Someone saving 20% has a much longer road. In the simple model from lesson 4.2, starting from zero at an assumed 4% real return and a 20% savings rate, reaching full FI at 25 times spending takes about 42 years. If part-time work could cover 30% of spending, the barista target would be reached in about 35 years. The last stretch would be seven years of full-time work.
Priya, 34, ran her model from lesson 4.4 for all three versions at her central assumption of a 4% real return and her current savings rate. All figures are made up.
She reaches coast FI at 38. From then on, if she stopped investing and kept working until 60, her balance would grow to her number for a stop at 60.
She reaches barista FI at 48, with part-time work bringing in S$18,000 a year until her payout age. For this, she measured the bridge from 48, the age she would switch, which made it seventeen years long.
She reaches full FI at 50.
The gaps tell her a lot. From coast to full is twelve years. From barista to full is only two, because her savings rate is high and her balance by then is growing fast. For her, the last stretch is short, and full FI may well be worth it. Jun, from lesson 4.3, with a lower savings rate, would face a much longer last stretch and might decide differently.
Some people reach full FI and keep working anyway. That is not a contradiction. What they have bought is the freedom to say no: to a bad manager, a project they dislike, a transfer overseas, a promotion with longer hours. Work becomes something they choose rather than something they need.
If that freedom matters more to you than an early stopping date, aiming for the full number makes sense even if you never intend to stop. You would simply carry on, and every extra year of work adds margin.
Others find the opposite. Once they see that barista FI arrives years earlier, they decide the extra margin is not worth those years. They would rather have time now, while they are healthy, and accept that part-time income is part of the plan.
The choice comes down to how you value two things. Full FI gives you the most certainty: no dependence on finding work, more margin for bad markets and surprise costs. Coast and barista FI give you time sooner, but with less margin and more dependence on things outside your control.
Neither is right in general. A single person with no dependants and a job they hate might weigh time heavily. Someone supporting ageing parents, or with a partner whose work is uncertain, might weigh certainty more. Health, family history and how much you enjoy your work all shift the balance.
What helps is seeing the actual years. A vague sense that the full number is "a few more years" is easy to accept or dismiss. Three specific ages, and the gaps between them, make the trade-off concrete.
For the activity, open your model with the coast column from lesson 5.1 and the barista figure from lesson 5.2. Use your central return assumption for all three, so the dates can be compared fairly.
From your model, write the year you reach coast FI, barista FI and full FI, and the gap in years between them.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).