There’s never been more of an opportunity to reach FIRE status (Financial Independence, Retire Early) than there is today, with all the awesome side hustles, investment opportunities, and financial tools out there.
But to successfully reach financial independence and retire early, you need to know how much to save and how fast.
This calculator helps you determine your financial independence number (also known as your FI or FIRE number), which is the amount of money you need for the rest of your life, and see how long it’ll take you to reach it depending on how much cash you save.
While you can’t control all of the variables (like inflation and investing returns), you can control most of the variables, like how much money you spend and how much money you make. You might need less money than you think.
What’s Your FIRE Number?
You can use this calculator to estimate your own FIRE number. But it’s important to understand that your number will and should change as you change. The key is to calculate an estimate and get comfortable with adjusting your own numbers as you grow and your life changes.
Base Assumptions
One-Time Future Expenses
FIRE Calculator
There is a direct correlation between your savings rate and the time it takes you to reach financial independence.
It’s pretty simple: the more money you save the faster you’ll reach financial independence. Enter your numbers, test different scenarios, and see for yourself!
Your Numbers
Results
At different savings rates, here's how long it'd take you to achieve financial independence:
| Savings Rate | Expenses | Savings/yr | Years to FI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5% | $28,500 | $1,500 | 60.35 |
| 10% | $27,000 | $3,000 | 50.35 |
| 15% | $25,500 | $4,500 | 44.60 |
| 20% | $24,000 | $6,000 | 40.59 |
| 25% | $22,500 | $7,500 | 37.53 |
| 30% | $21,000 | $9,000 | 35.06 |
| 35% | $19,500 | $10,500 | 33.01 |
| 40% | $18,000 | $12,000 | 31.26 |
| 45% | $16,500 | $13,500 | 29.74 |
| 50% | $15,000 | $15,000 | 28.40 |
| 55% | $13,500 | $16,500 | 27.21 |
| 60% | $12,000 | $18,000 | 26.14 |
| 65% | $10,500 | $19,500 | 25.16 |
| 70% | $9,000 | $21,000 | 24.27 |
| 75% | $7,500 | $22,500 | 23.46 |
| 80% | $6,000 | $24,000 | 22.70 |
| 85% | $4,500 | $25,500 | 22.00 |
| 90% | $3,000 | $27,000 | 21.35 |
| 95% | $1,500 | $28,500 | 20.75 |
| 100% | - | $30,000 | 20.18 |
What Is the FIRE Movement?
There are two parts to the FIRE Movement—financial independence and retiring early:
- FI: Financial Independence is essentially not having to stress about money. It’s having enough wealth to live comfortably without having to work.
- RE: Retiring Early looks different for everyone. It could mean stepping away from work altogether in your 30s or kissing your 9 to 5 desk job goodbye at 50.
FIRE is all about putting your time and energy where it counts. It isn’t just focused on getting out of work, but creating enough income to have the option to walk away from your job and live a comfortable life.
Some people continue to work after reaching FIRE but scale back their hours. Others pursue business ventures they’re passionate about but wouldn’t have the time or resources for otherwise. Some people clock out to spend time with their families and travel the world.
Since it took off in the 90s, FIRE has grown into a major movement of people (like myself) dedicated to reaching financial freedom and helping other people to do the same with blogs, courses, and podcasts.
How to Use the Fire Calculator
The first calculator in this guide helps you estimate your FIRE number, or the dollar amount you need to save to reach financial independence and retire early.
To determine this number, enter your:
- Current annual expenses: Factor in costs like food, utilities, housing, clothes, transportation, healthcare, insurance, and entertainment.
- Target withdrawal rate: Also called the safe withdrawal rate, this is the percentage of your investment returns you could safely withdraw each year to live on.
- Any anticipated one-time future expenses: Consider one-time expenses beyond the cost of living, like a wedding, house, or new car.
- Expected investment annual return: Plug in the expected rate of return on your investments.
- Monthly recurring income: Add in consistent revenue from sources like rental income from real estate investment properties and side hustles.
Once you have your FIRE number handy, you can plug it into the interactive FIRE calculator. This calculator will tell you the number of years it will take you to reach FIRE at different annual savings rates.
To reach these figures, the calculator uses your after-tax annual income, FIRE number, current retirement account balance, expected investment return, and your target savings rate.
Based on these numbers, it shows you twenty different options for reaching FIRE, breaking down how much you’d have for expenses, how many years it would take to reach financial independence, and the dollar amount you’d need to save each month in order to get there.
Adjust the numbers as you go to test out different scenarios. Once you have your FIRE number and FIRE age, you can start working on a game plan for reaching your goal of financial independence.
You can also check out our early retirement calculator to see when you can retire based on your current path.
How to Reach Financial Independence and Retire Early
I’ve written a more extensive guide on how to FIRE, but here’s a condensed version to help give you an idea of what it takes:
Decide What Matters
Believe it or not, FIRE isn’t about the money—yes, you read that right. It’s about living a meaningful life, finding peace, and making the most of your time.
Start by thinking of your perfect day, then your perfect life. Write down what makes you happiest in life. There’s the motivation that will guide how you spend and save on your path to financial freedom.
Do the Math
This step is easy, and you can do it right here today. Let the FIRE Calculator crunch the numbers to help you determine how much you need to live financially free.
Reduce Your Spending to Increase Your Saving
Don’t think of saving as a sacrifice. Think of it as the fastest vehicle to financial freedom. Then save and invest as much as you can as quickly as you can.
To do that, you need to take a look at your budget and see where you can cut back on spending. The more you reduce your spending, the more you can bank for your future.
Housing, food, and transportation are three of the biggest living expenses you can cut back on, ones that helped fast-track me to financial independence.
Pay Off Your Debt Wisely
Getting out of debt is another crucial step on the path to financial freedom. There are plenty of strategies for paying off debt. Whether you choose the debt snowball method or the avalanche method, get strategic about paying down your debts.
You can pay off toxic debt like credit card debt with high interest rates to free up the most money each month for your savings.
Make More Money
Whether you ask for a raise at work or level up your professional skills with books or courses, do what you can to earn more at work.
But keep in mind that you aren’t just limited to your day job when it comes to making money.
Side hustles are an awesome way to supplement your income and speed up your FIRE journey.
Check out these side hustle resources and choose a gig that provides flexible income and ideally plays on your interests.
Invest
Savings accounts are great, but putting all your money into a savings account won’t cut it if you want to retire early.
Compound interest is a beautiful thing, and nothing will accelerate your journey to financial freedom like investing.
It’s smart to focus on both a short-term and long-term investment strategy to account for emergency expenses and retirement savings.
Click here to learn more about building an investment strategy.
Once you start investing, stay on top of your investments’ performance and keep track of your net worth.
Here are some of the top investment platforms that can help you get started on your FIRE path:
- Public.com: Public lets you invest in a unique variety of assets, including crypto, fine art, and collectibles. It also offers themed investment portfolios and a ton of community resources for new investors.
- Betterment: Betterment is a top-notch robo-advisor that will redistribute your asset allocation to keep your investments on track with your retirement planning.
- Acorns: Acorns provides an IRA and checking account, making small automated investments through round-ups on your purchases.
- Robinhood: Robinhood is a great pick if you want to invest in the stock market for free with trading tools for beginners and fractional share investing.
- Ally Invest: Ally offers excellent tools and low costs for active traders, with a handful of retirement accounts to choose from.
Keep It Up
Once you’ve taken those steps, it’s all about consistency. Keep your eye on the prize, and remind yourself that every financial decision you make is impacting your future freedom and potentially bringing your retirement age closer.
Think about how every dollar you save is adding up to stay motivated.
Take it one day at a time and break your goals down into bite-sized chunks. You’ll be amazed at what you can achieve when you adjust your perspective and your personal finance habits.
Get Started with the FIRE Calculator Today
Joining the FIRE movement is one of the best decisions you could ever commit to. Use the FIRE calculator above to figure out how much you need to save to reach financial freedom and how long it’ll take you to get there.
Once you have your savings rate and FIRE age down, you can use the step-by-step guide to create a game plan. From there, it’s up to you to follow through and be on your way to financial freedom. Best of luck!
