FIRE calculator
Financial independence weighed like anything else on this counter: what the number is, what it is made of, and the year your savings rate delivers it.
Your FIRE number
$1,250,000
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What the number is made of
target = annual spending ÷ withdrawal rate Everything about financial independence follows from that one line, and the thing worth noticing is which side of your budget it reads. The target is set by your spending. Income only decides how fast you get there. Cut $5,000 a year of spending at a 4% withdrawal rate and the finish line moves $125,000 closer — before you have saved a single extra dollar, because the target itself shrank.
The date comes from compounding what you already have alongside what you add each year, then solving for when the two reach the target:
n = ln((T + PMT÷r) ÷ (P + PMT÷r)) ÷ ln(1+r) Assumptions on the counter
- A real return, net of inflation — so every figure here stays in today’s dollars and your spending input needs no adjusting.
- A constant return, compounded annually, with contributions at year-end. Real markets deliver the average through a sequence, and the sequence matters: a bad first decade is not the same as a bad last one.
- No taxes on the way in or out, no Social Security, no pension, no mortgage paying off mid-retirement. Each of those moves the answer.
- A fixed withdrawal rate forever. Nobody actually spends this way; real retirees adjust when markets fall, which is most of why the rule survives.
Questions people ask
How do I calculate my FIRE number?
Divide your annual spending by your withdrawal rate. At the 4% rule that is spending × 25 — $50,000 a year needs $1,250,000. Note that it keys off what you spend, not what you earn: a raise you save entirely does not move the target at all.
What return should I use?
This calculator wants a real return — growth after inflation. A common assumption for a stock-heavy portfolio is 5%, which is roughly a 7–8% nominal return less 2–3% inflation. Using a nominal return here would overstate your progress, because your spending figure is in today’s dollars and inflation would never be taken back out.
Should the income figure be gross or take-home?
Take-home. A savings rate measured against gross pay counts money you never received, and flatters the answer by whatever you pay in tax. Use the number that lands in your account — the paycheck calculator will produce it if you do not know it.
Does a higher income get me there faster?
Only if you do not spend it. Years to FI depends on the gap between income and spending as a share of income, not on the size of either. Someone saving half of $70,000 and someone saving half of $700,000 arrive in the same number of years.
Is 4% still a safe withdrawal rate?
It is a starting point from a study of historical 30-year US retirements, not a guarantee. Early retirements run longer than 30 years, which argues for a lower rate; the same study’s portfolios usually finished with more than they started, which argues the other way. Try 3.5% and 4.5% and see how much the target moves — the spread is the honest answer.