Calculator · FIRE

Today's dollars · real returns · 4% rule by default

When could you stop working?

FIRE stands for financial independence, retire early. The idea is simple: once your investments cover your spending, work becomes optional. What decides how soon that happens is not your salary or your stock picks. It's the share of your take-home pay you keep.

25×The rule

Save 25 times what you spend in a year and you can stop. That is your FIRE number.

4%The withdrawal

Taking 4% of the pot each year has historically lasted 30 years or more. You can set 3% to 5% below.

%What matters

Your savings rate. Change it below and watch the years move far more than they do for return.

About you

Your age now28

1865

Saved and invested so far

Everything already put away for later: 401(k), IRAs, brokerage, savings you won't touch.

Cash flow

Take-home pay per year

After tax, not gross. What actually lands in your account over a year.

Spending per year

Everything that goes out. The gap between this and your pay is what you save.

You're saving $25,000 a year, a 38% savings rate.

Assumptions

Real return7%

3%12%

After inflation. US stocks have averaged close to 7% real over the long run.

Withdrawal rate4%

3%5%

The share of the pot you take out each year once you stop. 4% is the classic rule.

Where you stand across the FIRE tiersNot yet at Coast

Coast

Stop saving now, still retire at 65

Barista

Part-time work covers the gap

Lean

A frugal retirement

FIRE

Your current lifestyle, for good

Fat

Room to spend more

How your portfolio grows, in today's dollarsWhat you'd haveWhat you put inFIRE number

Your biggest lever

How this is worked out

Everything is in today's dollars, so the return you set should be a real one, after inflation, and spending is held flat. Each year the balance grows by the return and then your annual savings are added. Your FIRE number is spending divided by the withdrawal rate, so 4% means 25 times spending. The tiers assume steady returns and don't model bad early years or health insurance before 65. For a run against real market history, try FIRECalc or cFIREsim. Nothing you type leaves this page.

The math behind FIRE

Your savings rate is your retirement date.

Not your salary, not your investment picks, not luck. The one number that decides when you can stop working is the share of your take-home pay you keep. Here is what that looks like, starting from zero.

Years of work needed, by savings rateStarting from zero · 5% real return · 4% withdrawal

Kinds of FIRE

Coast FIRE

Save hard in your 20s and 30s until compound growth alone will get you to a traditional retirement at 65, with nothing more added. From there you can take a lower-stress job or live on one income.FIRE number ÷ (1 + return)^(65 − age)

Barista FIRE

Your portfolio covers most of your expenses. A part-time job, often taken for the health insurance, picks up the rest. It also protects you if the market has a bad run early in retirement.About 50 to 75% of the full FIRE number

Lean FIRE

Retire on a smaller number by keeping spending low, often $30k to $50k a year. It suits people who genuinely like a simple life: small towns, van life, homesteading.25 × lean annual spending

Regular FIRE

The classic goal: 25 times your current annual spending. Withdraw 4% a year and the portfolio has historically lasted 30 years or more, recessions included.25 × current annual spending

Fat FIRE

Retire with room for travel, gifts, a nicer home and the occasional splurge. Usually a target of $2.5M to $5M or more, which tends to take a high income and a high savings rate for 15 to 20 years.About 1.5 × the full FIRE number, or $100k+ a year of spending

None of it is required

FIRE isn't about quitting at 35. It's about having the option. Once your portfolio covers your bills, work becomes a choice: keep going because you like it, downshift to something that matters to you, or walk away.

The rule behind the 25×

Where the 4% comes from

In 1994 a financial planner named William Bengen tested every 30-year retirement in US market history and found that people who withdrew 4% of their starting portfolio each year, adjusted for inflation, never ran out of money. Not even those who retired in 1929 or 1966. Turn that around and you get the FIRE equation: whatever you spend in a year, you need 25 times that invested.

Later research puts 3.5 to 4% as a sensible starting range for early retirees, who have longer to cover than someone retiring at 65. Adjusting withdrawals in good and bad years can stretch it further.