FIRE Calculator
Calculate Financial Independence Retire Early timelines for Traditional, Lean, Fat, and Coast FIRE with safe withdrawal rates. Your work stays on this device whenever possible.
How to use FIRE Calculator
- Enter 'Current Age' and 'Traditional Age', then 'Annual Living Expenses ($/yr)', plus the pre-65 health insurance and pension boxes.
- Fill 'Current Invested Net Worth ($)' and 'Annual Savings Contribution ($/yr)'.
- Set 'Real Return (%)', meaning growth after inflation, and drag the 'SWR (%)' slider between 3.0 and 4.5.
- Read the four targets (traditional, lean, fat and coast) plus the age each one is reached.
- Check the 'Accelerated Savings Matrix' to see how extra monthly savings shift the age, then press 'Copy Personal FIRE Roadmap'.
Worked example
Age 30, traditional age 65, expenses 40,000, invested 100,000, savings 20,000, return 5%, SWR 4.0%, health insurance 450 a month, pension 16,000 a year. Traditional is (40,000 - 16,000) ÷ 0.04 = 600,000; lean is (40,000 + 5,400) × 0.75 ÷ 0.04 = 851,250 and fat is 1,532,250. Coast is 600,000 ÷ 1.05^35 ≈ 108,774. The balance first passes 600,000 at age 45.
When to use this tool
- Estimating how many years of saving separate you from a 25-times-expenses target.
- Seeing how adding 500 a month moves the traditional age in the matrix.
Important limitations
FIRE projections are based on constant real return assumptions and fixed safe withdrawal rates. Projections do not account for major life emergencies, extreme sequence of returns risk, or evolving federal pension and tax legislation.
Comparing alternatives
Other options for fire calculator include Engaging Data FIRE Calculator, WalletBurst Coast FIRE, Playing With FIRE Calculator, FireCalc.
ToolkitPoint is not affiliated with those services.
Frequently asked questions
How is the traditional target derived?
Annual expenses minus the pension or Social Security figure, divided by the safe withdrawal rate. With 40,000 of expenses and 16,000 of pension at 4.0%, that is 24,000 ÷ 0.04 = 600,000. Lean and fat use 75 and 135 percent of expenses plus 12 months of health insurance.
What is the coast figure?
The traditional target discounted back by your real return over the years until the traditional age. If you have that much now, growth alone could reach the target without further saving.
Do the health insurance and pension boxes change the results?
Yes. Monthly health insurance times 12 is added to the spending behind the Lean and Fat targets, because those describe retiring before Medicare. The yearly pension or Social Security amount is subtracted from the spending behind the Traditional and Coast targets. Set either box to 0 to ignore it.
How are ages projected?
Each year the balance grows by the real return and then the yearly savings are added. It scans up to 60 years and shows 'Age 80+' if a target is not reached.
Is this a forecast?
No. The projection assumes a constant real return, constant yearly savings and no taxes or market swings. Treat the ages as one scenario built from your inputs, not as a prediction of what will happen.