Freedom number

FIRE Calculator

How much do you need to stop depending on a salary — and when could you get there? Find your FIRE number and the years between you and it.

$
In today's money — what you'd need each year to live.
$
$
%
%
Safe withdrawal rate
How much you'd draw from the portfolio each year. Lower is safer.
Subtract fund feesVWRA TER 0.14% a year
Currency

Your FIRE number

4% withdrawal · 4.3% real return
$1,000,000

$40,000 a year ÷ 4% — in today's money.

Time to get there
26 yrs 2 mo
Financially independent at
Age 56

You're 5% of the way there today.

With a different withdrawal rate

3% · $1,333,333
31 yrs 3 mo
3.5% · $1,142,857
28 yrs 6 mo
4% · $1,000,000
26 yrs 2 mo
4.5% · $888,889
24 yrs 3 mo

Path to independence

In today's money · hover or tap for any year
Portfolio balanceYour contributions
$0$300k$600k$900k$1.2MNowYr 2Yr 4Yr 6Yr 8Yr 10Yr 12Yr 14Yr 16Yr 18Yr 20Yr 22Yr 24Yr 27Goal $1.0M

Uses a real return of 4.3% (6.86% after fees, minus 2.5% inflation). Savings are assumed to rise with inflation.

What saving more does

Same goal and return · extra saved each month
Saving monthlyTime to FIREAgeSooner by
$1,500 (now)26 yrs 2 mo56—
$1,750 (+$250)24 yrs542 yrs 2 mo
$2,000 (+$500)22 yrs 3 mo523 yrs 11 mo
$2,500 (+$1,000)19 yrs 4 mo496 yrs 10 mo
$3,500 (+$2,000)15 yrs 5 mo4510 yrs 9 mo

How it works

Your FIRE number is the portfolio that could fund your yearly spending at a chosen withdrawal rate. The calculator then grows what you have today, plus your monthly saving, at a real return (after fees and inflation) until it reaches that number.

FIRE number = yearly spending ÷ withdrawal rate
real return = (1 + return − fee) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1

An example

Spending $40,000 a year at a 4% withdrawal rate gives a FIRE number of $1,000,000. Starting with $50,000 invested and saving $1,500 a month at 7% with 2.5% inflation, you'd get there in about 25.8 years.

Getting there sooner

  • Spend less. Every $1,000 cut from yearly spending lowers the target by $25,000 at 4%.
  • Save more. The table above shows how much each extra monthly amount brings the date forward.
  • Keep costs low. Fees come straight out of your real return — see the ETF Fee Calculator.
  • Start now. Time in the market does a large share of the work — see How Much to Invest Monthly.

Frequently asked questions

What is FIRE?

Financial Independence, Retire Early. The idea is to save and invest enough that your portfolio can cover your living costs indefinitely, so work becomes optional.

How is the FIRE number calculated?

Divide your yearly spending by your safe withdrawal rate. At 4%, that's your spending × 25: $40,000 a year needs about $1,000,000. At 3.5%, it's roughly × 28.6.

What is the 4% rule?

A rule of thumb from US research in the 1990s: historically, withdrawing 4% of a portfolio in the first year, then adjusting for inflation, lasted at least 30 years in most periods tested. Early retirees planning for 40–50 years often use 3–3.5% for a bigger safety margin.

Why does the calculator use today's money?

Your spending will rise with inflation, so the target does too. Working in today's money — using a real return of investment return minus inflation — keeps every number comparable to prices now.

What doesn't this include?

Taxes on withdrawals, pensions or state benefits, part-time income, and market ups and downs. A real plan should account for those; this shows the core maths.