FIRE (Retire Early) Calculator

What is "Financial Independence"?

Financial Independence (FI) is the point at which your investments are large enough to cover your living expenses indefinitely, meaning you no longer *need* to work for money. The "Retire Early" (RE) part is optional; many people who reach FI continue to work, but they do so on their own terms. Learn more about managing your portfolio in retirement with our Sequence of Return Risk Visualizer.

How is Your "FIRE Number" Calculated?

Your "FIRE Number" is the amount of money you need to have invested to be considered financially independent. This calculator determines it using the 4% Rule (or the 25x Rule):

Your FIRE Number = Your Desired Annual Expenses × 25

This is based on the "4% Safe Withdrawal Rate" (SWR), a guideline which suggests you can safely withdraw 4% of your initial portfolio value each year (adjusted for inflation). You can model different withdrawal scenarios with our 4% Rule Calculator.

How Your FIRE Date is Found

This calculator finds the exact point in the future where your investment portfolio's value will meet or exceed your FIRE Number. It uses a financial formula called NPER (Number of Periods) to solve for time, based on:

• Your Starting Investments: The head start you have.
• Your Monthly Savings: The new money you add to the pile. Need to save more? Try the Latte Factor Calculator to see where small cuts can help.
• Your "Real" Annual Return: This is a crucial input. It's your *inflation-adjusted* investment return. For example, if you expect your investments to grow by 7% per year but inflation is 2% per year, your "real" return is 5%. Using a real return means your FIRE number (based on today's expenses) and your future investments are being compared in "today's dollars."

The chart visualizes this "race": your investment growth (the green line) racing to meet your FIRE Number target (the gold dashed line).