FIRE Calculator

FIRE Calculator

FIRE — Financial Independence, Retire Early — means having enough invested that its returns can pay for your life. Enter how much you spend a year, what you have invested, how much you add each year and the return you expect. The calculator shows the amount you need (your FIRE number), how many years it will take, the age you will be, and a year-by-year path.

Runs in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded

Yearly spending in retirement

In today’s money.

Invested savings now

Amount you invest per year

Real return per year (%)

After inflation. Long-run stock and bond mixes have often returned 3–5% above inflation.

Withdrawal rate (%)

4% is the classic rule; 3–3.5% is more cautious for retirements longer than 30 years.

Your age now

Your FIRE number: 1,000,000
Financially independent: in 16.9 years, at about age 47

You are 10% of the way there.

Year 0Year 22

Invested savingsFIRE number

Year-by-year table

Year	Age	Savings	Sustainable yearly spending
0	30	100,000	4,000
1	31	135,000	5,400
2	32	171,750	6,870
3	33	210,338	8,414
4	34	250,854	10,034
5	35	293,397	11,736
6	36	338,067	13,523
7	37	384,970	15,399
8	38	434,219	17,369
9	39	485,930	19,437
10	40	540,226	21,609
11	41	597,238	23,890
12	42	657,099	26,284
13	43	719,954	28,798
14	44	785,952	31,438
15	45	855,250	34,210
16	46	928,012	37,120
17	47	1,004,413	40,177
18	48	1,084,633	43,385
19	49	1,168,865	46,755
20	50	1,257,308	50,292
21	51	1,350,174	54,007
22	52	1,447,683	57,907

All amounts are in today’s money because the return is after inflation. The 4% rule comes from US studies of 30-year retirements (the Trinity study); it is a guideline, not a guarantee. Taxes, pensions and changing spending are not included.

How to use

Enter your yearly spending in retirement, in today’s money.
Enter your invested savings now and the amount you invest per year.
Set the real return (after inflation) and the withdrawal rate — 4% is the classic choice.
Read your FIRE number, the years to get there and the chart; open the Year-by-year table for details.

Options explained

FIRE number: Yearly spending ÷ withdrawal rate. At 4%, that is 25 times your yearly spending.
Real return: The return above inflation. Using it keeps every amount in today’s money.
Withdrawal rate: The share of your savings you take out each year. Lower is safer for longer retirements.

How the years are worked out

Each year the calculator grows your assets by the real return and then adds that year’s savings, using this formula until the total reaches the FIRE number:

assets(next) = assets × (1 + return) + yearly savings
FIRE number  = yearly spending ÷ withdrawal rate

Example: you spend 30,000 a year, have 50,000 invested, save 20,000 a year and expect a 5% real return with a 4% withdrawal rate. Your FIRE number is 750,000. After year 1 you have 50,000 × 1.05 + 20,000 = 72,500, after year 2 about 96,125, and you pass 750,000 after about 19.2 years. The fraction is interpolated within the year in which you cross the target. If the target cannot be reached within 100 years, no result is shown.

Frequently asked questions

What is the 4% rule?

US studies of historical returns (the best known is the Trinity study) found that withdrawing 4% in the first year, then adjusting for inflation, lasted 30 years in most periods. It is a rule of thumb, not a guarantee.

Should I use 4% for an early retirement?

Retiring at 40 can mean 50 years of withdrawals, longer than the studies covered. Many people plan with 3–3.5% for extra safety.

What is not included?

Taxes, state pensions, health costs and spending that changes over time. Treat the result as a planning estimate.

Privacy

This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your files and text are processed on your device and are never uploaded to our servers.