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 type
FIRE 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.
What you want once you stop working
$
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 you have, and what it earns
$
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.
You need $1,000,000, and your plan gets you there in 20 years, at about age 55
You have $100,000 of it today. With $20,000 added each year and growth of 6.0% a year after inflation, your pot reaches $1,000,000 at the end of year 20.
The numbers behind that
Your target: the pot you need
$40,000 a year divided by the 4.0% you take out each year. That is 25.0 times your yearly spending.
$1,000,000
What you have invested today
10% of your target. The other $900,000 does not all have to come from your pocket: growth does part of it, as the next line shows.
$100,000
When your plan reaches your target
At the end of year 20 your pot stands at $1,056,425. A year earlier it was $977,760, still short. By then you have paid in $400,000 and growth has added $556,425. You would be about 55.
20 years
How to get there sooner
Click an option to jump to the field you would change.
- Put in about $32,667 a year instead of $20,000 and you get there in 15 years, at about age 50.
- Or put in $123,021 more today, bringing what you have invested to $223,021, and you get there in 15 years, at about age 50.
- Or plan to live on about $28,207 a year instead of $40,000: your target drops to $705,175 and you get there in 15 years, at about age 50.
Every figure here is in today's money, so the yearly growth you type has to be growth after inflation.
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 |
Your yearly saving is added at the end of each year, so it earns nothing in the year you pay it in. That is the cautious way round, and it is why the year shown is the first full year the pot closes at or above the target.
This target is before tax and fees, and it assumes the same growth every year.
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 percentage 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 rely on one smooth projection.
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 = yearly spending / share you take out each year
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 = yearly spending / share you take out each year
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.
How safe 4% really is remains an open question, especially for early retirees who may need their money to last forty or fifty years rather than thirty. The original research used historical U.S. data that may not repeat, assumed a particular asset mix, and left out fees and taxes. A more cautious starting rate is one answer; flexible spending rules that adjust withdrawals up or down with market performance are another. 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. For a very long or early retirement, a lower rate is the more cautious choice.
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 target is the first step. With a free Worthmap account you can record what you own in each currency, see your net worth in one base currency you pick, and follow it on a chart over time. The free plan is in beta.
Create free accountBuilt & maintained by Worthmap · Last updated October 6, 2026
Educational use only. This tool provides estimates for informational purposes and does not constitute financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Results are based on inputs you provide and mathematical models, they do not guarantee future performance. Always consult a qualified financial adviser before making investment decisions.