Calculate your Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) number and timeline. FIRE is the strategy of saving and investing aggressively so your investment portfolio generates enough passive income to cover all living expenses, allowing you to retire decades before the traditional age. Enter your annual expenses, current portfolio, monthly savings, expected returns, and safe withdrawal rate.
Savings rate: 38% — Good progress toward FIRE.
Your FIRE Number
$1M
4% safe withdrawal rate
Years to FIRE
18 years
At 7% annual return
Monthly Passive Income
$3,333
After FIRE
Current Portfolio
$50,000
5% of FIRE number
FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. It is a lifestyle movement focused on maximizing your savings rate — often 50-70% of income — and investing aggressively to build a portfolio that generates enough passive income to cover all living expenses. The goal is to reach financial independence years or decades before the traditional retirement age of 65.
Your FIRE number is the portfolio size needed to sustain your lifestyle indefinitely. Using the 4% safe withdrawal rate: FIRE Number = Annual Expenses × 25. If you spend $40,000 per year, your FIRE number is $1M. At 3.5% withdrawal, it is $1M. The lower your expenses, the more achievable FIRE becomes.
Lean FIRE targets minimal expenses ($25,000-$40,000/year) for the fastest path. Regular FIRE targets a comfortable middle-class lifestyle ($40,000-$80,000/year). Fat FIRE targets a luxurious lifestyle ($100,000+/year) requiring a much larger portfolio. Coast FIRE means saving enough early that compound growth will fund retirement without additional contributions.
At a 10% savings rate, you need roughly 51 years of work to retire. At 25%, it drops to 32 years. At 50%, about 17 years. At 75%, only about 7 years. The relationship between savings rate and working years is the core insight of the FIRE movement — reducing expenses accelerates financial independence exponentially.
FIRE does not necessarily mean never working again. Many FIRE practitioners pursue passion projects, part-time work, freelancing, or entrepreneurship. The key is that work becomes optional rather than mandatory. Having financial independence gives you the freedom to choose how you spend your time.