FIRE Calculator (Financial Independence)
This FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) calculator estimates two things
This FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) calculator estimates two things
How to use FIRE Calculator (Financial Independence)
- Enter your age, current invested savings, annual take-home income, and annual expenses.
- Set your expected investment return, inflation rate, and safe withdrawal rate (4% is common).
- Read your FIRE number, savings rate, and the years until financial independence.
About FIRE Calculator (Financial Independence)
This FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) calculator estimates two things: your FIRE number and how many years it will take to reach it. Your FIRE number is your annual expenses divided by your chosen safe withdrawal rate, so a 4% rate means you need 25 times your yearly spending invested. Enter your age, current invested savings, take-home income, annual expenses, an expected investment return, an inflation rate, and a withdrawal rate, and it projects your portfolio forward year by year.
To keep every figure comparable to today's money, the projection uses a real (inflation-adjusted) return rather than the raw nominal return. Each year your balance grows by that real return and your annual savings (income minus expenses) are added at year end, until the balance reaches your FIRE number. It also shows your savings rate, the amount invested per year, and how much of your final balance came from growth.
The calculator runs entirely in your browser: nothing you type is uploaded or stored, and there is no sign-up. It is a planning estimate only. It assumes a steady return every year and ignores taxes, fees, market volatility, and sequence-of-returns risk, so treat the result as a rough target rather than a guarantee, and it is not financial advice.
Frequently asked questions
- How is my FIRE number calculated?
- It divides your annual expenses by your withdrawal rate. At the common 4% rule that equals 25 times your yearly spending. Lowering the withdrawal rate (say to 3.5%) raises the number because you are being more conservative about how much you draw down each year.
- Why does it use a real return instead of my full investment return?
- So every dollar figure stays in today's money and matches your current expenses. It converts your nominal return and inflation into a real return using (1 + return) / (1 + inflation) - 1, then grows the portfolio by that rate each year. This avoids overstating future wealth.
- How accurate is the years-to-FI estimate?
- It is a smooth projection that assumes the same return every year and steady savings. Real markets are volatile and taxes and fees apply, so use it as a target and a way to compare scenarios, not a precise prediction. Try a lower return to see a more cautious timeline.
- Is my financial information private?
- Yes. All math runs locally in your browser using JavaScript. Nothing you enter is sent to a server, saved, or shared, and there is no account or sign-up required.
- What withdrawal rate should I use?
- Many in the FIRE community use 4%, based on historical studies, while more cautious planners use 3% to 3.5%. The calculator lets you set any rate so you can see how much it changes your target number and timeline.
- What if the calculator says my goal is not reachable?
- That happens when your expenses meet or exceed your income (nothing left to invest) or when inflation outpaces your return so the balance never grows in real terms. Increasing income, cutting expenses, or assuming a higher return will produce a timeline.