FIRE Calculator
Calculate your Financial Independence Retire Early number and timeline to freedom.
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Source: Trinity Study (2026)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the FIRE number?
Your FIRE number is the amount you need invested to retire permanently: Annual Expenses / Withdrawal Rate. At the 4% rule it is 25x annual expenses. To spend $50,000/year in retirement you need $1,250,000 invested. This is based on the Trinity Study showing a 4% withdrawal rate historically sustained a 30-year retirement in 95%+ of scenarios with a diversified stock/bond portfolio.
What are the different types of FIRE?
Lean FIRE: live on $25,000-$40,000/year in retirement, very frugal lifestyle, FIRE number $625,000-$1M. Standard FIRE: $40,000-$80,000/year, FIRE number $1M-$2M. Fat FIRE: $80,000-$200,000+/year in retirement, FIRE number $2M-$5M+. Barista FIRE: partially retire, work part-time to cover expenses and let investments grow. Coast FIRE: save enough early that investments will reach FIRE number by traditional retirement age.
What savings rate do I need to retire early?
The higher your savings rate, the faster you reach FIRE. Saving 10% takes about 43 years. Saving 25% takes about 32 years. Saving 50% takes about 17 years. Saving 70% takes about 8.5 years. The math works because a high savings rate both accelerates portfolio growth and signals lower lifestyle expenses — reducing your FIRE number at the same time as increasing your contributions.
Years to financial independence by savings rate
Financial independence means investments large enough to fund living expenses indefinitely, usually set at 25 times annual spending (the 4% rule). The savings rate decides the timeline almost by itself, because a higher rate both builds the portfolio faster and lowers the target. The table assumes a 5% real return (after inflation) and spending that stays constant.
| Savings rate | Years to 25x spending | What it means at $60,000 of income |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | 52 | Save $6,000, spend $54,000, need $1.35 million |
| 20% | 37 | Save $12,000, spend $48,000, need $1.2 million |
| 30% | 28 | Save $18,000, spend $42,000, need $1.05 million |
| 40% | 22 | Save $24,000, spend $36,000, need $900,000 |
| 50% | 17 | Save $30,000, spend $30,000, need $750,000 |
| 60% | 13 | Save $36,000, spend $24,000, need $600,000 |
| 70% | 9 | Save $42,000, spend $18,000, need $450,000 |
Starting from zero. Existing savings shorten the timeline; a 7% real return instead of 5% cuts 2 to 5 years from the middle rows.
Worked example
A household earning $100,000 after tax and spending $60,000 saves 40%, $40,000 a year. The target is 25 x 60,000 = $1.5 million. At a 5% real return the portfolio reaches it in year 22. Cut spending to $50,000 (a 50% rate) and two things happen: $50,000 a year goes in, and the target drops to $1.25 million. It is reached in year 17. The $10,000 of annual spending cost five years of work, which is the trade the calculator above lets you test with your own figures.
Lean, regular and fat
Lean FIRE targets spending of about $25,000 to $40,000 a year ($625,000 to $1 million), often outside high cost cities. Regular FIRE sits around $40,000 to $80,000 of spending ($1 million to $2 million). Fat FIRE is $100,000 and up ($2.5 million plus). Coast FIRE is a different idea: saving enough early that growth alone reaches the target by a normal retirement age, after which contributions can stop and work only needs to cover current spending.
The 4% rule and its limits
The rule comes from US historical data: a portfolio of 50% to 75% stocks, withdrawing 4% of the starting balance adjusted for inflation each year, lasted 30 years in every historical period tested. For a 50 year retirement the safe rate is closer to 3.25% to 3.5%, which raises the target to 29 to 31 times spending. Health insurance before Medicare at 65 ($8,000 to $20,000 a year for a couple on the exchange without subsidies), taxes on withdrawals, and sequence risk in the first decade are the three things that break early retirement plans most often.
What a realistic plan looks like
Max the tax advantaged accounts first (401(k), IRA, HSA), hold low cost index funds, keep a year of spending in cash near the finish line, and plan the withdrawal order: taxable account first, Roth conversions in low income years, retirement accounts after 59.5. Most people who reach FI keep working in some form, and the calculator's part-time income field shows how far $20,000 a year of work moves the finish line: at $60,000 of spending it cuts the target by a third.