FIRE / Financial Independence Calculator

Estimate how much you may need to reach financial independence, how long it could take based on your savings rate and portfolio growth, and how different withdrawal-rate assumptions change your FIRE number.

Burrow Tip: FIRE is not really about one magic number. It is about the relationship between annual spending, savings rate, expected return, and withdrawal risk.

Run at least one conservative case with lower returns and a lower withdrawal rate before trusting an early-retirement timeline.

FIRE assumptions

Solve for time to FIRE Solve for required savings rate

Current invested portfolio

Include assets you expect to use for financial independence, such as taxable investments and retirement assets you consider part of the plan.

Annual spending in retirement dollars

Use the annual spending level you expect to support once financially independent. This should be a realistic post-work spending target, not just your current income.

Current annual after-tax income

Used to infer savings rate and annual investing amount if you are not entering a separate annual contribution target.

Annual invested contribution

How much you are investing per year toward FIRE. If you leave this at 0, the calculator will estimate it from income minus spending.

Safe withdrawal rate (%)

Used to estimate your FIRE number. Common planning assumptions are 3% to 4%, but lower rates are generally more conservative.

Expected annual portfolio return (%)

Inflation assumption (%)

Annual income / contribution growth (%)

Start month

Advanced assumptions

Manual FIRE multiple override

Optional. Leave blank to use 1 / withdrawal rate. Enter a custom multiple if you prefer a direct target like 30× annual spending.

Projection years

Use real return for FIRE target comparison

Checked means the calculator compares progress using inflation-adjusted portfolio growth.

Comparison scenario (optional)

Enable comparison scenario

Compare a different return assumption or withdrawal rate.

Comparison annual return (%)

Comparison withdrawal rate (%)

Results

FIRE number

$—

Portfolio target implied by your annual spending and withdrawal assumption

Current savings rate

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Estimated from annual income and annual invested contribution

Estimated years to FIRE

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Time needed to reach the FIRE target under current assumptions

Required annual contribution

$—

Shown when solving for the savings needed to reach FIRE by the selected horizon

Projected portfolio at horizon

$—

Portfolio value at the end of the projection or at FIRE achievement

Gap to FIRE

$—

How much remains between your current projected portfolio and target

Portfolio path toward FIRE

Compares projected portfolio growth against the FIRE target over time.

FIRE target breakdown

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Comparison results

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FIRE projection table

The table below shows the first 20 years by default. Use “Show full table” to expand the full FIRE path.

Year	Date	Contribution	Growth	Ending portfolio	Real portfolio	FIRE target	Gap to FIRE	FIRE reached?

Scenario timeline (Mermaid code)

If your site supports Mermaid elsewhere, you can paste this snippet into a Mermaid block. This tool does not load Mermaid.

How to use these results

FIRE planning is basically a capital-versus-spending equation. The key question is not just “How much do I have invested?” but “How much annual spending am I trying to permanently support?”

Start with spending: your FIRE number is only as good as your retirement spending estimate.
Use conservative withdrawal rates: lower withdrawal assumptions raise the target but reduce fragility.
Run real-return scenarios: nominal returns can make progress look better than it really is.
Check savings rate honestly: high FIRE ambition with weak savings behavior usually means the timeline is fantasy.

This tool is best for long-range planning. It does not model sequence-of-returns risk, taxes in detail, pensions, Social Security timing, or part-time income strategies.

Estimates only: This calculator is for educational use and does not constitute tax, legal, investment, or retirement advice.

Assumptions: Results assume simplified constant returns, constant spending targets, and a fixed withdrawal-rate framework. Real-world outcomes vary significantly.

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