What is Flamingo FI? Flamingo FI is an FI strategy where you aggressively save to reach half of your full FI Number, then stop contributing entirely and let compounding alone carry you to the finish, standing on one financial leg, like a flamingo. It is a variant of Coast FIRE with a higher intermediate target and a shorter coast phase.
Worked example: target FI Number of $1,000,000 by age 45 with a 7% real return. The Flamingo target is $500,000, which, left alone for 10 years, grows to ~$983,576 (roughly the full target). So if you hit $500,000 by age 35, you can stop contributing and coast to full FI at 45. Compare with Coast FIRE, which might target only ~$250,000 at age 35 for an age-65 finish line. Flamingo is more aggressive than Coast, more flexible than full FIRE.
Flamingo FI is particularly appealing to mid-career professionals who want to front-load the grind, then downshift to meaningful but lower-paying work a decade before full FI. The math is brutal in the first half and gloriously passive in the second.