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FIRE Number Calculator

Find the savings you need to retire early (FIRE) and how many years it will take.

Result

Enter your values and select Calculate to see the result.

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How the FIRE Number Calculator works

FIRE — financial independence, retire early — means having enough invested to live off it. Your FIRE number is your yearly spending divided by a safe withdrawal rate: at the classic 4%, that is 25 times your spending. The calculator also shows how far along you are and grows your savings year by year at the expected return, adding what you invest each year, to find when you reach it.

Formulas

FIRE number

FIRE number = yearly spending ÷ withdrawal rate

Each year

savings = savings × (1 + real return) + yearly investment

Examples

$40,000 a year

$40,000 ÷ 4% = $1,000,000, 25× spending. With $100,000 invested (10% of the way) and $30,000 added a year at a 5% real return, it takes 17 years.

A more careful rate

At 3.5%, the same spending needs about $1,142,857 — the extra margin many people want for retirements longer than 30 years.

Frequently asked questions

What is the 4% rule?

US research found that withdrawing 4% in the first year, then adjusting for inflation, lasted 30 years in almost all historical periods. It isn't a guarantee, and other countries' histories were less kind.

Why a real return?

Real means after inflation, so the result is in today's money and matches spending you enter in today's prices.

What about pensions and taxes?

A pension lowers the spending your investments must cover; taxes on withdrawals raise it. Adjust the yearly spending to include both. This is general information, not financial advice.

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