FIRE Calculator (Financial Independence, Retire Early)
Find your FIRE number, how much you still need to invest, and how many years until work becomes optional — based on your spending, savings, and expected returns.
What one year of your life will cost
Retirement + brokerage balances
What you invest each month
A real return of ~5% is a common assumption
The 4% rule → a 25× target
To estimate your FI age
Your FIRE number
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Enter your annual spending
Still to invest
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Time to independence
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How the FIRE number works
Financial independence has a target you can calculate today: about 25× your annual spending. That multiple is the flip side of the 4% rule — if you withdraw 4% of your portfolio a year, you need 25 times your spending to sustain it (1 ÷ 0.04 = 25). Change the withdrawal rate in the calculator and the multiple moves with it. The full logic is in your FIRE number and the 4% rule.
Why the timeline is mostly about your savings rate
Once you know the target, how fast you reach it depends far more on the share of income you invest than on your salary. Raising your savings rate from 15% to 30% can cut more than a decade off the wait. See how a steady monthly contribution compounds over the years with the compound interest calculator, and set the exact monthly amount for a nearer goal with the savings goal calculator.
Want to get there sooner? Look at Coast FIRE
You don't always have to hit the full number to gain freedom. Coast FIRE is the point where your invested assets will grow into your FIRE number on their own — so you can stop saving for retirement and simply cover today's costs. Front-loading contributions while you're young is what makes it arrive early.
Start from an honest number
Every projection is only as good as your starting balance. Total up what you actually have with the net worth calculator, then use that as your "invested assets today" here. And before you optimize for early retirement, make sure the basics are handled — an emergency fund and no high-interest debt come first, as laid out in the 7 steps to financial freedom.
This calculator runs entirely in your browser — nothing you enter is sent anywhere. It uses a real (inflation-adjusted) return, so results are in today's dollars, and assumes contributions are added monthly.
Frequently asked questions
What is a FIRE number?
Your FIRE number is the amount of invested assets that lets your portfolio cover your living costs indefinitely — the point of financial independence. It's roughly 25 times your annual spending, which comes from the 4% rule (withdraw 4% a year, so you need 25×). Spend $60,000 a year and your FIRE number is about $1.5 million.
Why does the calculator use spending instead of income?
Because financial independence is funded by what your life costs, not what you earn. Two people on the same salary can have FIRE numbers a decade apart if one spends far less. Lowering your spending shrinks the target and raises how much you invest at the same time — which is why it's the fastest lever.
What return and withdrawal rate should I use?
The defaults are a ~5% real return (after inflation) and a 4% safe withdrawal rate, both common planning anchors based on long-run U.S. market history. If you're retiring very early — funding 50+ years — many planners use a more conservative 3.25%–3.5% withdrawal rate, which raises your target.
Is the 4% rule guaranteed?
No — it's a historical guideline, not a promise. It assumes a diversified, mostly-stock portfolio and a roughly 30-year horizon, and it's sensitive to a bad market early in retirement (sequence-of-returns risk). Staying flexible — trimming spending in down years — is what has kept it reliable.
What's the difference between this and Coast FIRE?
This calculator finds when you'll reach full financial independence. Coast FIRE is the earlier milestone where your existing investments will grow into your FIRE number on their own, even if you stop contributing — so you only need to earn enough to cover today's bills. It's a popular way to downshift years before full FI.
Want this to update itself?
Stoia connects your real accounts and keeps the full picture current — net worth, budgets, and goals. Launching in 2026.