FIRE Calculator (Financial Independence)
Enter your annual spending, what you've invested, and what you add monthly. You'll get your FIRE number, your progress, and the year work could become optional.
What a year of your life costs, in today's dollars
Brokerage, retirement accounts, other investments
After inflation. 5% is a common long-run stock assumption
4% is the classic rule; 3–3.5% is more conservative
Your FIRE number
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Enter your annual spending
Years to financial independence
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Progress today
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The whole idea in one line
Financial independence is when 25–30 times your annual spending sits in investments, because at that point a conservative withdrawal rate covers your life without touching the principal in most historical scenarios. Everything else in the FIRE world (savings rates, frugality debates, side income) is just strategy for getting to that multiple faster. The background and the movement's variants are covered in our FIRE explainer.
Spending is the lever, twice
Cutting $500/month of permanent spending does double duty: it frees $500 to invest and shrinks your number by $150,000 (at 4%). That's why the calculator starts from spending, not income. If you haven't measured what a year of your life costs, a quick pass through the budget calculator gets you a defensible estimate.
What moves the date
Play with the inputs and you'll notice the pattern: the monthly investment amount moves the date far more than the return assumption, especially in the first decade. Returns compound late; contributions compound the whole time. The compound interest calculator shows the same curve from another angle. And because the number is a multiple of spending, tracking your real spending (the job Stoia was built for) is the difference between a plan and a hope.
Frequently asked questions
What is a FIRE number?
The portfolio size at which investment returns can cover your living costs indefinitely. The classic shortcut: annual spending divided by a safe withdrawal rate. At the traditional 4% rate, that's 25 times your annual spending; $50,000 a year of spending means a $1.25M number.
Is the 4% rule still safe?
It's a planning benchmark, not a guarantee. It came from studies of historical U.S. market returns over 30-year retirements. Many planners now suggest 3.5% or lower for very early retirees with 40+ year horizons, which is why the withdrawal rate is adjustable here.
Why does the calculator ask for after-inflation returns?
Because your spending is in today's dollars, the math stays honest if growth is too. Stocks have returned roughly 9–10% per year over the long run before inflation; a common after-inflation planning number is 5–7%. Using the lower, real figure means the result reads directly in today's purchasing power.
Does FIRE mean never working again?
Not necessarily. Many people target a partial version: Coast FIRE (enough invested that growth alone reaches the number by traditional retirement age) or Barista FIRE (part-time work covers some spending). Reaching any of them is easier to plan when your net worth and spending are tracked in one place.
What counts as 'invested' for this calculator?
Assets you expect to grow and eventually spend from: brokerage accounts, 401(k)s, IRAs, and similar. Most people exclude their primary home since it doesn't pay the bills unless sold.
Does this calculator save my numbers?
No. Everything runs in your browser and disappears when you leave. Nothing is uploaded or stored.
Want this to update itself?
Stoia connects your real accounts and keeps the full picture current: net worth, budgets, and goals. Launching in 2026.