What does Barista FIRE mean?

Barista FIRE describes semi-retirement where your portfolio covers most of your expenses, but you keep a part-time or lower-stress job to fill the gap — often for the benefits as much as the money. The name comes from the idea of a part-time role (like a coffee-shop barista) that offers health insurance, which solves one of early retirement's biggest problems: paying for coverage before Medicare at 65. With Barista FIRE you might withdraw 2–3% from investments and earn the rest, which dramatically reduces sequence-of-returns risk because you're drawing down less in the early years. It's a middle path between grinding to a full FIRE number and quitting cold. The trade-off is you're still tied to a job and a schedule. If subsidized health coverage is your main reason, compare it against marketplace plans before committing.