FIRE Calculator

Your FIRE number is the amount you need invested to cover your yearly spending from your portfolio, so work becomes optional. It equals your yearly spending divided by your withdrawal rate. At the common 4% rate, that is 25 times what you spend in a year.

FIRE stands for financial independence, retire early. The goal is to invest enough that your portfolio can pay for your life, so work becomes optional, often long before 65. A traditional retirement calculator usually assumes you stop working at a fixed age. A FIRE calculator works the other way: it finds your FIRE number first, then shows the age your investments could reach it.

This FIRE number calculator does the math for you, but the formula is simple. Start with what you spend in a year now, adjusted for what will change after you stop working. Count only spending, not what you save or invest. Subtract any income you will still have, and divide by your withdrawal rate. For example, if you spend $50,000 a year and save another $24,000, only the $50,000 counts: $50,000 divided by 4% is $1,250,000. With a 3.5% rate, the same spending needs about $1,430,000.

It depends mostly on how much you invest each month and how much you spend. Investing more shortens the path from both sides: you add more, and you get used to living on less. The calculator grows what you have invested today, plus your monthly additions, at your expected return minus inflation. The age where that line crosses your FIRE number is when you could reach financial independence on those assumptions. Markets don't move in a straight line, so treat it as a rough guide and check again every year.

The 4% rule comes from William Bengen's 1994 study, which tested 30-year retirements using historical U.S. market data. Early retirees may need their money to last 40 to 50 years, so many FIRE planners use a lower rate, often 3.25% to 3.5%, which raises the FIRE number. You can change the rate under Assumptions. For the bigger picture, read our guides to how to achieve FIRE and how much you actually need to retire.

It depends on what you spend, not on your age. Someone spending $60,000 a year needs about $1.5 million at a 4% withdrawal rate, or about $1.71 million at 3.5%. Retiring at 40 mostly changes how fast you have to get there, which the calculator shows as the age you reach your number.

Not in "Income you'll still have" if you plan to stop working early. Social Security can start at 62 at the earliest, and full benefits start at 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later. If you retire before then, your portfolio has to cover those years on its own. Later benefits can act as an extra cushion.

They are versions of the same idea with different budgets or timelines. Lean FIRE targets a small budget, Fat FIRE a large one. Coast FIRE means you have invested enough that growth alone could reach your number by a traditional retirement age. Barista FIRE means part-time income covers some of your spending, so you need less invested.

No. Results are before taxes and investment fees. Enter your spending including the taxes you expect to pay on withdrawals, and consider a lower expected return to allow for fees.

So you can compare them with what you spend now. The calculator subtracts inflation from your expected return, so a FIRE number of $1.25 million here means $1.25 million of today's buying power.