π₯ FIRE Calculator
Your FIRE number, years to independence, and the Coast and Barista shortcuts.
Projected Financial Independence Age
Estimates for planning only, not financial advice.
How to Use This Calculator
Enter your current invested savings, how much you save per year, what you expect to spend per year once financially independent, your expected annual return, and your current age. The calculator finds your FIRE number, simulates year-by-year growth to find when your portfolio crosses it, and reports your projected FI age along with Coast FIRE and Barista FIRE figures.
Enter your Current Savings (invested assets only, not home equity) and your Annual Savings, including employer retirement matches.
Enter your Annual Expenses in Retirement. Base this on your real spending, adjusted for a paid-off mortgage or added healthcare costs.
Set the Expected Annual Return conservatively. Seven percent nominal is a common planning figure for stock-heavy portfolios.
Enter your Current Age to get your projected FI age, then compare the full FIRE path against the Coast and Barista alternatives below your results.
The FIRE Movement and the 4% Rule
FIRE began with a simple provocation from "Your Money or Your Life" (1992): every dollar you spend costs you hours of your life, so spending less buys freedom directly. The movement's engine room is the 4% rule, from financial planner William Bengen's 1994 research and the 1998 Trinity study. They found that withdrawing 4 percent of a stock-and-bond portfolio in year one, then adjusting for inflation, survived every 30-year period in the historical data. Flip the fraction and you get the 25x rule: save 25 times your annual expenses and work becomes optional.
The rule is a compass, not a contract. It assumes a 30-year horizon, a roughly 50/50 to 75/25 stock/bond mix, and US market history. Longer retirements, higher valuations, or lower bond yields argue for 3.5 percent (a 28.6x multiple). Flexible spending, earning a little in early retirement, or keeping cash reserves all make the plan more robust than the headline number suggests.
Coast FIRE and Barista FIRE: The Shortcuts
Full FIRE is not the only flavor. Coast FIRE asks a gentler question: how much do I need today so that compounding alone reaches my FIRE number by age 60? A 30-year-old targeting a $1,000,000 FIRE number at 7 percent needs only about $131,000 saved now to coast, because 30 years of doubling does the rest. Once you hit that number, you can stop saving aggressively and just cover current expenses. Barista FIRE takes a different shortcut: cover half your expenses with enjoyable part-time work and your target halves too. A $40,000 spender needs $1,000,000 for full FIRE but only $500,000 if a $20,000-a-year side gig covers the rest, which can cut a decade off the timeline and solves the pre-Medicare health insurance problem in the US.
Why Savings Rate Beats Everything Else
Most people obsess over returns, but savings rate dominates the timeline. At 5 percent real returns, the math is stark: a 10 percent savings rate means about 51 years to independence, 30 percent means 28 years, 50 percent means 17 years, and 70 percent means under 9 years. High savings rates work twice: they build the portfolio faster and shrink the target, because living on less means needing less. This is why the movement preaches expense control over income chasing. A raise helps, but only if the raise goes to savings instead of lifestyle.
Worked Example
Age 30, $50,000 saved, $30,000 saved per year, $40,000 of annual retirement expenses, 7 percent return. FIRE number = 40000 x 25 = $1,000,000. Year-by-year growth: after 1 year about $83,500, after 5 years about $252,000, after 10 years about $491,000, after 15 years about $828,000, crossing $1,000,000 in year 18 at roughly $1,075,000. Projected FI age: 48. Coast FIRE number = 1000000 / (1.07)^30 = about $131,367: already having more than that saved at 30 means the 60-year-old self is funded with zero further contributions. Barista FIRE with $20,000 a year of part-time income: target = 20000 x 25 = $500,000, reached around age 40. The full path takes 18 years; the shortcuts reframe what those 18 years have to look like.
Estimates for planning only, not financial advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the FIRE movement?
FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. The movement grew from Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez's 1992 book "Your Money or Your Life" and exploded online through bloggers like Mr. Money Mustache. The core idea: save and invest an unusually high share of your income, often 40 to 70 percent, so your investments can cover your expenses decades before traditional retirement age. "Retire" usually means work becomes optional, not that you stop doing anything.
What is the 4% rule and the 25x rule?
The 4% rule comes from William Bengen's 1994 research and the follow-up Trinity study: a portfolio of stocks and bonds has historically survived 30-year retirements with a first-year withdrawal of 4 percent of the balance, adjusted for inflation after. The 25x rule is the same math flipped around: multiply your annual expenses by 25 to get your FIRE number, because 4 percent of that number equals your expenses. Both are planning rules of thumb, not guarantees.
What is Coast FIRE?
Coast FIRE means you have saved enough that, with no further contributions, compounding alone will grow it to your full FIRE number by a traditional retirement age like 60. Once you hit your Coast number, you can stop aggressive saving and "coast": work only to cover current expenses while time does the heavy lifting. The calculator above shows your Coast FIRE number assuming growth to age 60.
What is Barista FIRE?
Barista FIRE is a hybrid: you save enough to cover part of your expenses from investments, and cover the rest with enjoyable part-time or freelance work. The name comes from the stereotype of the early retiree working a low-stress coffee shop job, often for the health insurance. If part-time work covers half your spending, your target drops to roughly half the full FIRE number, which can shave a decade off the timeline.
Is the 4% rule still safe?
It is debated. Bengen himself later suggested higher rates can work with the right asset mix, while critics note that low bond yields and high stock valuations could make 4 percent optimistic for some retirees. Common adjustments: use 3.5 percent (a 28.6x multiple) for extra-long retirements, plan flexible spending that drops in market downturns, or keep a few years of expenses in cash so you never sell stocks in a crash. Treat the rule as a starting target, then stress-test it.
What return should I assume in the calculator?
Use a real return (after inflation), typically 5 to 7 percent for a stock-heavy portfolio, or enter the nominal return you expect. The default here is 7 percent nominal, which is roughly 4 to 5 percent after inflation, close to long-run US stock market history. Be conservative rather than optimistic: assuming 10 percent because recent years were good is how plans fail. Every extra assumed point shaves years off the projection on paper only.
How does savings rate control the timeline?
Savings rate is the dominant variable, more powerful than returns or income. At a 10 percent savings rate, financial independence takes about 51 years; at 50 percent, about 17 years; at 70 percent, under 9 years, assuming 5 percent real returns. This is because a high savings rate does double duty: it grows the portfolio faster and it means you need a smaller portfolio, since you live on less. Cutting expenses beats chasing income for exactly this reason.