FIRE Calculator
See how many years until you reach financial independence. Enter what you have, what you save and what you'll spend - and watch your assets climb to your FIRE number.
Your numbers
FIRE number
$1,000,000
Years to FI
20
FIRE age
50
How this FIRE calculator works
Your FIRE number is the nest egg that lets you live off withdrawals indefinitely: annual retirement spending divided by your safe withdrawal rate (spending $40,000 at 4% means a $1,000,000 target). This calculator starts from your current invested assets and adds your contributions year by year, compounding at your expected real return, until the balance crosses that target. The year it crosses is your FIRE age - the point you could stop working. Unlike Coast FIRE, which asks how much you need today to coast with no further saving, this models the full accumulation journey.
FIRE number vs Coast FIRE number
These two numbers answer different questions. Your FIRE number is the full nest egg you retire on - annual spending divided by your withdrawal rate. Your Coast FIRE number is smaller: the amount you'd need invested today so that, with zero further contributions, compounding alone grows it to the FIRE number by your retirement age. This page finds the years until you hit the full FIRE number while you keep saving. If you want to know when you could stop contributing instead, use the Coast FIRE calculator. Most people pass their Coast FIRE milestone years before full FIRE - the moment saving becomes optional rather than mandatory.
What drives your years to FI
The single biggest lever on your timeline is your savings rate - the share of income you invest - not your income itself. Someone saving 50% of their pay reaches FI far sooner than someone earning twice as much but saving 10%, because a high savings rate both builds the pot faster and lowers the spending the pot must support. After savings rate, your assumed real return matters most: the gap between a 4% and a 7% real return can move your FIRE age by a decade. Spending is the third lever, and it cuts twice - lower spending means more saved now and a smaller FIRE number to reach.
Why we use real returns
This calculator works in real (after-inflation) terms, so every figure is in today's dollars. That is why you enter a real return - roughly 5% is a conservative long-run assumption for a stock-heavy portfolio, versus the ~7% real the S&P 500 has averaged historically - rather than a nominal return plus a separate inflation input. Working in real terms means the FIRE number you see is what you'd actually need in today's purchasing power, and you don't have to mentally discount a big future figure. It keeps the answer honest and easy to act on.
From FIRE to Coast FIRE: the milestones on the way
Full FIRE is the finish line, but there are useful milestones before it. Coast FIRE is the point where your existing investments will grow to your FIRE number on their own - once you pass it, contributing is optional. Barista FIRE is when part-time income covers the gap, so you need a smaller portfolio. Many people aim for Coast FIRE first because it unlocks flexibility years earlier: you can downshift to lower-stress work, take a sabbatical, or simply stop stressing about saving. Use this calculator for your full timeline, then check your Coast FIRE number to see how much sooner you could ease off.
Sources & methodology
- Trinity Study (1998) — evidence base for the 4% safe withdrawal rate
- Bengen (1994) — original research behind the 4% rule
- S&P 500 historical returns — basis for the long-run ~7% real return assumption