FIRE Calculator

FIRE - Financial Independence, Retire Early - reduces to one question: when will your investments cover your living costs forever? Your FIRE number is your annual spending divided by a safe withdrawal rate. This calculator computes that target and simulates month by month how long your current savings and ongoing contributions need to reach it.

Your numbers

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Your FIRE number — invested assets needed
Time to financial independence—
Projected FI date—
Progress so far—
Progress toward FIRE number

Results update as you type and are estimates for education only — they don't account for taxes, fees or your personal situation, and nothing here is financial advice. Your inputs stay on this device.

How it works

  1. Enter your annual living expenses - the lifestyle your portfolio must fund. Lean FIRE budgets are frugal; Fat FIRE budgets are generous.
  2. Choose a safe withdrawal rate (4% is standard; 3-3.5% is more conservative for very early retirees with 40+ year horizons).
  3. Enter current invested assets and your monthly investment contribution.
  4. Set an expected annual return and read your FIRE number, the projected date you cross it, and your progress today.

The formula

FIRE number = annual expenses / withdrawal rate (4% => expenses x 25). Years to FIRE is found by compounding current assets plus monthly contributions forward until the balance first reaches that number.

Frequently asked questions

Why is the FIRE number 25x annual expenses?
25x is simply the inverse of a 4% withdrawal rate: if you draw 4% of a portfolio each year, the portfolio must be 25 times the draw. A more cautious 3.33% rate implies 30x expenses; the multiplier is a direct consequence of the rate you trust.
Which matters more - income or savings rate?
Savings rate dominates the timeline because it works twice: saving more accelerates portfolio growth AND proves you live on less, which shrinks the target itself. A 50% savings rate reaches FI in roughly 15-17 years from zero under typical return assumptions, almost regardless of income level.
Should the return assumption be nominal or real?
For the cleanest result, enter a real (after-inflation) return - about 5-7% historically for equity-heavy portfolios - and state expenses in today's money. Your FIRE number and timeline then automatically hold their purchasing power.
Keep planning

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