FIRE Calculator

Work out how much you need to retire early and the age your savings rate gets you there, with Coast and Barista FIRE.

Take-home pay

A year, after tax

Spending

A year

Currency

Spend differently in retirement

Withdrawal rate

Invested now

Your age

Real return (% a year)

After inflation

FIRE number

$ 1,250,000

$ 50,000 a year ÷ 4%

Years to FI

20 years

At age 50

Savings rate

37.5%

$ 30,000 a year of take-home pay

Progress

You have 8% of your FIRE number

45 years from 50 to 95: at 4%, Bengen's worst past start lasted 33.

In today's money. Savings added at the end of each year.

Coast FIRE

Plan to coast

Barista FIRE

Plan part-time work

Portfolio by age ($)FIRE number ($)

0500K1M1.5M

304050

Years to FI by savings rate

From $ 100,000 invested at a 5% real return and a 4% withdrawal rate. Each row spends the rest of your take-home pay, in work and in retirement.

Rate	FIRE number	Years to FI	Age
10%	$ 1,800,000	42 years	72
20%	$ 1,600,000	32 years	62
30%	$ 1,400,000	25 years	55
40%	$ 1,200,000	19 years	49
50%	$ 1,000,000	15 years	45
60%	$ 800,000	11 years	41
70%	$ 600,000	8 years	38
80%	$ 400,000	5 years	35
90%	$ 200,000	2 years	32

Works out your FIRE number, the portfolio whose withdrawals would pay for a year of retirement spending, and how many years your savings rate takes to reach it. It also gives the Coast FIRE number, the portfolio that grows to your FIRE number by a later age with nothing more added, and the Barista FIRE number, the smaller portfolio you need when part-time work pays for part of your spending. Every figure is in today's money.

How it works

The FIRE number is retirement spending divided by the withdrawal rate: 25.0 times spending at 4%, 28.6 times spending at 3.5%, 33.3 times spending at 3%. Your savings are take-home pay less spending, and your savings rate is that share of take-home pay. Each year the portfolio grows at the real return and the year's savings are added at its end; the first year it reaches the number is your years to financial independence.

Coast FIRE discounts the number back to today at the real return: the portfolio that grows to it by the coast age on its own. The tool also finds the first age at which the portfolio, left to grow with nothing more added, reaches the number by the coast age. Barista FIRE takes the part-time income off retirement spending before dividing by the withdrawal rate.

Lean FIRE and Fat FIRE are names for spending choices: a lean plan spends little in retirement, a fat one spends more. Use Spend differently in retirement for either; the tool sets no bands for them, since none is defined by any standard.

FIRE number = retirement spending ÷ withdrawal rate

Portfolio next year = portfolio × (1 + real return) + savings

Coast number = FIRE number ÷ (1 + real return)^(coast age − age)

Barista number = (retirement spending − part-time income) ÷ withdrawal rate

Examples

Spending 40,000 a year

Take-home pay of $ 80,000, $ 40,000 of spending and $ 100,000 invested at 30, at a 5% real return and a 4% withdrawal rate: the FIRE number is $ 1,000,000, and saving $ 40,000 a year (50% of pay) reaches it in 15 years, at 45. Spending the default $ 50,000 instead takes 20 years.

Coasting from 32

With Coast FIRE switched on, at 32 with $ 250,000 invested and the default $ 50,000 of spending, the Coast number for 60 is $ 318,867: what grows to $ 1,250,000 by 60 at 5% real. Saving $ 30,000 a year until 35 is enough; after that the portfolio gets there on its own.

Barista FIRE with 20,000 of part-time income

With Barista FIRE switched on and the defaults, part-time income of $ 20,000 leaves $ 30,000 a year for the portfolio, so the Barista number is $ 750,000 against a full $ 1,250,000. It is reached in 14 years instead of 20 years.

Years to financial independence by savings rate

Starting from nothing, at a 5% real return and a 4% withdrawal rate, spending the rest of take-home pay

Savings rate	FIRE number (× pay)	Years to FI
10%	22.5	52 years
20%	20.0	37 years
30%	17.5	28 years
40%	15.0	22 years
50%	12.5	17 years
60%	10.0	13 years
70%	7.5	9 years
80%	5.0	6 years
90%	2.5	3 years

Rules and sources

The 4% rule comes from William Bengen's 1994 study of US returns since 1926, with half the portfolio in shares and half in intermediate-term Treasuries. A first-year withdrawal of 4%, raised each year with inflation, lasted at least 33 years from every historical start, and 3.5% or less lasted at least 50 years in every period. He took 30 years as the least a portfolio must last. When the years from your FI age to 95 are more than 33 and the withdrawal rate is above 3.5%, the tool says so.

Sources

Determining Withdrawal Rates Using Historical Data (Journal of Financial Planning, October 1994) — Financial Planning Association

Reviewed 22 October 2026

Frequently asked questions

History says not always. In Bengen's study, 4% from the worst historical start lasted 33 years, while 3.5% or less lasted at least 50 years from every start. A retirement at 40 can run past 50, so 3.5% or 3%, both offered, gives it the margin history supports. A custom rate takes 2% to 6%.

The FIRE number is in today's money, and so is your spending, so the portfolio must grow in today's money too: the return after inflation. A nominal return of 7% with 2% inflation is 4.90% real, by Fisher's relation. Entering a nominal return here would overstate growth and make the number seem closer than it is.