FIRE Calculator

FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. It is a lifestyle movement focused on extreme savings and investment to accumulate enough wealth to cover living expenses through passive income, allowing retirement decades before the traditional age of 65.

Your FIRE number is your annual expenses divided by your safe withdrawal rate (typically 4%). For example, if you spend $50,000/year, your FIRE number is $50,000 / 0.04 = $1,250,000. Once your investments reach this amount, you can theoretically live off the returns indefinitely.

Coast FIRE means you have saved enough that compound growth alone will grow your portfolio to your full FIRE number by traditional retirement age (65), without any additional contributions. Once you hit Coast FIRE, you only need to earn enough to cover current expenses.

A 50% savings rate is a common FIRE target and can lead to financial independence in roughly 17 years. A 25% rate takes about 32 years, while a 75% rate takes only about 7 years. The higher your savings rate, the faster you reach FIRE — and the lower your FIRE number since you are used to living on less.

The 4% rule, based on the Trinity Study, suggests a 95% success rate over 30 years. For early retirees (40+ year horizons), many experts recommend a 3.5% withdrawal rate for extra safety. The rule assumes a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds.