FIRE Calculator
Find the portfolio that would cover your spending for life, and the age you would reach it at your current savings rate.
Financial Independence, Retire Early
Two numbers decide everything: what you spend each year, and what share of your income you invest. Enter both and see the date they point to.
Understanding FIRE
What the FIRE number really measures
It is not a lifestyle target, it is a spending multiple. Divide annual spending by the withdrawal rate and you get the portfolio that historically survived a long retirement. At 4 percent that is 25 times spending; at 3.5 percent, 28.6 times. Because the target is a multiple of spending, cutting 1,000 a year off your costs removes 25,000 from the number you have to build.
Why the savings rate dominates
- Saving more adds to the portfolio and shrinks the target at the same time
- That double effect is why timelines depend on the percentage saved, not the salary
- At a 5 percent real return, roughly: 20 percent saved takes about 37 years, 50 percent about 17, 70 percent under 9
- A raise only helps if the extra money is invested rather than absorbed by lifestyle
Choosing a withdrawal rate
The 4 percent guideline came from the Trinity study, which tested 30-year retirements against historical US market data with a stock-heavy portfolio. A 45-year early retirement is a harder test, so many planners use 3.25 to 3.5 percent, and some add flexibility instead: spend less in bad years. A poor run of returns in the first decade does most of the damage, which is why the starting rate matters more than the average return.
The flavours of FIRE
- Lean FIRE: a deliberately small spending base, often under 30,000 a year
- Coast FIRE: enough invested that growth alone reaches the target by normal retirement age
- Barista FIRE: part-time work covers the gap while the portfolio keeps compounding
- Fat FIRE: the full target funds an unchanged or larger lifestyle