FIRE Number Calculator
Find the portfolio that buys your financial independence
Enter what you spend in a year and see the pot you need
Free · No sign-up · Updates as you typeFIRE means Financial Independence, Retire Early. Your FIRE number is the pot big enough that what you safely take out of it each year pays for your life, so working becomes a choice. It is worked out from what you spend, not what you earn.
$
Your yearly costs once you stop working, in today's money, e.g. 40,000.
Type 4 for the well-known 4% rule. Lower is more cautious.
$
What is already invested. Use 0 if you are starting now.
$
What you invest over a full year, e.g. 20,000. Use 0 for none.
e.g. 6. Use 0 to see it with no growth.
Only used to show the age you get there.
The pot you need to live on $40,000 a year
$1,000,000
The portfolio you need to live off withdrawals
In plain terms: you want $40,000 a year, and taking 4.0% a year means a pot of $1,000,000, which is 25.0 times your yearly spending. You have $100,000 invested today, so $900,000 is still to find. Adding $20,000 a year and growing at 6.0% after inflation, your pot first covers the target at the end of year 20, when it reaches $1,056,425. A year earlier it stood at $977,760, still short. That puts you at about age 55.
Years to FIRE
20
Age at FIRE
55
Multiple of Annual Spending
25.0×
Still to save
$900,000
How the rate you take out changes the target
Nobody can promise a rate is safe, so it helps to see the whole range on your own figures. Taking out less each year is more cautious, and it makes the pot you need bigger.
| You take out | Pot you need | Times your spending | Years to get there |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.0% | $1,333,333 | 33.3× | 24 |
| 3.5% | $1,142,857 | 28.6× | 22 |
| 4.0% (yours) | $1,000,000 | 25.0× | 20 |
| 4.5% | $888,889 | 22.2× | 18 |
| 5.0% | $800,000 | 20.0× | 17 |
| Year | Your age | Pot at the end of the year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 36 | $126,000 |
| 2 | 37 | $153,560 |
| 3 | 38 | $182,774 |
| 4 | 39 | $213,740 |
| 5 | 40 | $246,564 |
| 6 | 41 | $281,358 |
| 7 | 42 | $318,240 |
| 8 | 43 | $357,334 |
| 9 | 44 | $398,774 |
| 10 | 45 | $442,701 |
| 11 | 46 | $489,263 |
| 12 | 47 | $538,618 |
| 13 | 48 | $590,936 |
| 14 | 49 | $646,392 |
| 15 | 50 | $705,175 |
| 16 | 51 | $767,486 |
| 17 | 52 | $833,535 |
| 18 | 53 | $903,547 |
| 19 | 54 | $977,760 |
| 20 | 55 | $1,056,425 |
What this number does not cover. The rate you take out is a gross figure. Income tax, capital gains tax and fund fees all come out of it, so what you can actually spend is less than it looks. If your money sits in taxable accounts, either build the tax into the spending figure above or use a slightly lower rate to leave room for it.
This projection also grows your pot by the same amount every year, which no real market does. The order returns arrive in matters enormously once you start withdrawing, and a bad first few years can do lasting damage. Test that with the sequence-of-returns calculator before you trust a single line on a chart.
Insight: Spending less is the only change that works on both halves of this sum at once: it fills the pot faster and shrinks the pot you need. Cut 100 a month for good and you are not just saving 1,200 a year, you have also taken 30,000 off your target at a 4% rate.
FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. Your FIRE number is the portfolio size at which the income from safe withdrawals can cover your living expenses for the rest of your life, so paid work becomes optional. It is the central target of the FIRE movement.
FIRE Number = Annual Spending / (Withdrawal Rate)
Step 1: Pick your currency and enter what a normal year of living costs you, in today's money.
Step 2: Set the share you plan to take out each year. 4% is the classic starting point; try 3% and 3.5% too, and watch the target move in the table.
Step 3: Add what you have invested, what you put in each year, your expected growth after inflation and your age. Everything updates as you type, so there is no button to press.
What Is a FIRE Number?
Your FIRE number is the amount of invested wealth at which you can stop depending on a paycheck. The logic is straightforward: if your portfolio is large enough that a sustainable annual withdrawal covers your living costs, then work becomes a choice rather than a necessity. The number is personal because it is driven entirely by your own spending, not your income or someone else's lifestyle.
Because the target scales with spending, the single most powerful lever in any FIRE plan is the gap between what you earn and what you spend. A lower spending figure shrinks the FIRE number directly, and a higher savings rate shortens the years it takes to get there. This is why FIRE planning is as much about lifestyle design as it is about investment returns.
The FIRE Number Formula and the 25x Rule
FIRE Number = Annual Spending / Withdrawal Rate
The core formula divides your expected annual spending by your chosen safe withdrawal rate. At a 4% withdrawal rate the formula simplifies to a memorable shortcut: because one divided by 0.04 equals 25, your FIRE number is simply 25 times your annual spending. This is the widely cited 25x rule, if you spend 40,000 a year, a 4% plan implies a one-million target.
Choosing a lower withdrawal rate makes the plan more conservative but raises the multiple. A 3.5% rate implies roughly 28.6 times spending, and a 3% rate implies about 33 times. The right rate depends on your time horizon, asset allocation, and tolerance for risk, and on how much flexibility you have to cut spending in a downturn.
The 4% Rule, the Trinity Study, and the Safe Withdrawal Rate Debate
The 4% rule traces back to research by financial planner William Bengen and to the so-called Trinity study by three professors at Trinity University, both published in the 1990s. These studies looked at historical U.S. stock and bond returns and asked what fixed withdrawal rate, adjusted for inflation, a balanced portfolio could have sustained over a 30-year retirement. They found that a starting withdrawal of around 4% survived the historical scenarios they tested in most cases. The findings were framed as a rule of thumb, not a promise.
There is genuine and ongoing debate about how safe 4% really is, especially for early retirees who may need their money to last forty or fifty years rather than thirty. Critics point out that the original research used historical U.S. data that may not repeat, assumed a particular asset mix, and did not fully account for fees, taxes, or low starting yields. Some researchers argue for a more cautious starting rate; others favour flexible spending rules that adjust withdrawals up or down with market performance. The honest takeaway is that there is no single guaranteed rate, your withdrawal rate is an assumption that deserves stress-testing.
Sequence-of-Returns Risk
One of the biggest threats to any FIRE plan is sequence-of-returns risk, the danger that poor market returns arrive early in retirement, while you are withdrawing. Two retirees can experience the same average return over thirty years yet end up with wildly different outcomes simply because of the order in which the good and bad years occurred. A severe downturn in the first few years, combined with withdrawals, can permanently shrink the portfolio so that it never recovers, even if later years are strong.
This is exactly why a fixed-return calculator like the one above is only a starting point: it assumes a smooth, constant return, whereas real markets are volatile. To understand how the timing of returns can change your results, model different orderings with the sequence-of-returns calculator, and consider holding a cash or bond buffer to avoid selling assets during the worst drawdowns.
Related FIRE Calculators
The classic FIRE number assumes you stop contributing and stop working entirely. Many people pursue variations. If you want to stop saving now and let compounding carry you to FIRE by traditional retirement age, the Coast FIRE calculator shows the smaller number that goal requires. If you plan to cover part of your spending with light part-time work, the Barista FIRE calculator adjusts the target accordingly. And to see how your contributions grow over time toward any of these targets, the compound interest calculator makes the power of consistent investing concrete.
Frequently Asked Questions About the FIRE Number Calculator
Your FIRE number is the size of the investment portfolio you need so that withdrawals can cover your living expenses indefinitely. It is calculated by dividing your expected annual spending by your safe withdrawal rate. At a 4% withdrawal rate this is equivalent to 25 times your annual spending, because 1 divided by 0.04 equals 25.
The 4% rule comes from the Trinity study and related research, which examined historical U.S. market returns over 30-year retirements. It was designed as a rule of thumb, not a guarantee. Outcomes depend heavily on the sequence of returns in your early retirement years, your time horizon, asset allocation, fees, taxes, and inflation. Many researchers suggest a more conservative withdrawal rate for very long or early retirements.
This calculator grows your current invested balance year by year at your assumed real return and adds your annual contributions, counting the years until the balance reaches your FIRE number. It assumes a constant real return and constant contributions, so real markets, which are volatile, will differ. Treat the result as a planning estimate, not a prediction.
No. The withdrawal rate is a gross figure: income tax, capital gains tax and investment fees all come out of it, so what you can actually spend is less than the headline withdrawal. If a large part of your pot sits in taxable accounts, work out your spending figure after tax, or use a slightly lower withdrawal rate to leave room for it.
Track Your Progress Toward Financial Independence
Knowing your FIRE number is the first step. With Worthmap, you can track your real-time net worth, monitor investments across currencies, and watch your portfolio close the gap to financial independence.
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