FIRE Calculator
Financial Independence, Retire Early in two numbers: how much you need invested, and how many years until you get there. Enter everything in today's dollars (use a real, after-inflation return) and the tool does the rest — entirely in your browser.
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Year-by-year projection
| Year | Age | Portfolio |
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What your savings rate buys you
| Savings rate | Invest / yr | Spend / yr | FIRE number | Years to FI |
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Your FIRE number: the 25× rule
The target is simple. Take your expected annual spending in retirement and divide by your withdrawal rate. At the classic 4% rate, that's 25× your annual expenses — spend $40,000/year, aim for $1,000,000 invested. Spend less, and the finish line moves dramatically closer: every $1,000 you cut from annual spending lowers your FIRE number by $25,000.
That's the under-appreciated lever of FIRE. Increasing income helps, but cutting recurring expenses helps twice — it frees up money to invest and it shrinks the number you're investing toward.
Coast FIRE: the quieter milestone
Long before full FI there's a meaningful checkpoint: the point where your existing portfolio, left alone, would compound to your FIRE number by a traditional retirement age. That's Coast FIRE. Hit it and contributions become optional — you only need work to cover current expenses, which opens the door to lower-paid but more enjoyable work, part-time schedules, or career breaks. The calculator shows your Coast number for any traditional retirement age and flags the moment you've crossed it.
The savings rate is the master lever
The savings-rate table answers a sharper question than "when am I FI?" — it shows what each rate buys. Holding your total capacity (spending + investing) constant, each step up in savings rate simultaneously raises what you invest and shrinks the portfolio you ultimately need. The years-to-FI column collapses accordingly, and the highlighted row marks where you sit today. It's the cleanest illustration of the core FIRE insight: your savings rate, not your income or your fund picks, sets the date.
Work in real (after-inflation) dollars
The cleanest way to model decades is to ignore inflation entirely by using a real return — your nominal expected return minus inflation. A globally diversified stock portfolio has historically delivered roughly 5% real. Do it this way and the FIRE number you see is in today's purchasing power: you don't have to guess what $1,000,000 will buy in 25 years, because it's already in money you understand.
The honest caveats
This is a projection, not a guarantee. Three things it deliberately doesn't model:
- Sequence-of-returns risk — a market crash in your first few retirement years is far more damaging than the average return implies. A lower withdrawal rate is your buffer.
- Taxes and healthcare — withdrawals can be taxed, and pre-Medicare US healthcare is a real line item. Budget for them in your expenses figure.
- Life — returns aren't smooth, spending isn't constant, and plans change. Re-run this every year.
Related
- Personal finance hub — all our money calculators and guides
- Compound interest calculator — the engine behind FIRE
- Savings goal calculator — for nearer-term targets
- Debt payoff calculator — clear high-interest debt before investing
FAQ
Is anything I enter sent to a server?
No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser — open DevTools → Network and confirm. Your age, savings, and income never leave the tab.
What is the 4% rule and the withdrawal rate?
The "4% rule" comes from research (the Trinity study and successors) suggesting that withdrawing about 4% of a diversified portfolio in the first year of retirement, then adjusting for inflation, has historically lasted 30+ years in most cases. Working backward, 4% means you need 25× your annual spending invested. A lower withdrawal rate (3.25–3.5%) is safer for very long or early retirements; a higher one is riskier. This tool defaults to 4% — lower it if you want more cushion.
Should I enter a real or nominal return?
Use a real return — your expected return minus inflation. Then every dollar in the result is in today's purchasing power and the FIRE number doesn't need a separate inflation adjustment. A stock-heavy portfolio has historically returned roughly 5% real over long periods; a conservative mix is lower. If you instead enter a nominal return (say 8%), your FIRE number and timeline will look better than they really are.
Why do the early years feel so slow?
Early on, your portfolio is small, so growth contributes little and almost all the progress comes from your contributions. As the balance grows, compounding takes over — eventually your portfolio earns more in a year than you contribute. The year-by-year table makes this crossover visible.
What's Coast FIRE and Barista FIRE?
Coast FIRE means you've invested enough that, even if you stop contributing, normal growth will carry you to your FIRE number by traditional retirement age — so you only need to cover current expenses. The calculator computes it directly: Coast number = FIRE number ÷ (1+return)^(years until your traditional retirement age), and shows how far along you are. Barista FIRE means a part-time job (often for the health insurance) covers part of your spending while your portfolio covers the rest. Both are milestones on the way to full FI.
Why does the savings rate matter more than the return?
Because it works both ends at once. Take a fixed income capacity (what you spend plus what you invest). Raising your savings rate increases what you invest and lowers the spending your portfolio must eventually support — so the FIRE number falls while you approach it faster. That's why the savings-rate table shows years to FI collapsing as the rate climbs: at typical real returns, going from a 10% to a 50% savings rate cuts the timeline from several decades to roughly 15 years, regardless of income level.
Why are current spending and retirement spending separate inputs?
Your FIRE number depends only on what you'll spend in retirement — many people retire to a cheaper life (paid-off house, no commute, lower-cost area) or an intentionally pricier one (travel). Current spending matters for a different reason: together with your contributions it defines your savings rate and the trade-offs in the savings-rate table. Setting them separately keeps both calculations honest.
Does this account for taxes, healthcare, or market crashes?
No — it's a clean projection, not a retirement plan. Real life adds taxes on withdrawals, healthcare costs (especially pre-Medicare in the US), and sequence-of-returns risk (a crash early in retirement hurts far more than the average return suggests). Treat the number as a target to aim at, then pressure-test it with a lower withdrawal rate and a financial professional before quitting your job.