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Printed August 25, 2026 · https://trycleartally.com/fire-calculator
Estimates for educational purposes only — not financial advice. See https://trycleartally.com/disclaimer.
FIRE Calculator
What you expect to spend each year.
The 4% rule is the common default.
Your FIRE number
$40,000 ÷ 4% withdrawal rate
Financially independent at
In about 16 years
Growth to your FIRE number
How your contributions and their investment growth stack up to $1,000,000 by age 46.
The FIRE number assumes your portfolio can sustain the withdrawal rate you choose; the 4% rule comes from historical US market data and is debated, not guaranteed. This holds a constant return and level savings, and ignores taxes, Social Security, and inflation in the expense figure — so enter today's expenses in today's dollars. Estimate only, not financial advice.
FIRE Projection
Your FIRE number
$1,000,000
Assumes a constant return and level savings; ignores taxes, Social Security, and inflation. The 4% rule is a guideline, not a guarantee. Not financial advice.
Calculated using the standard formulas described at https://trycleartally.com/methodology — for educational estimates only, not a quote or financial advice. Verify with your lender or financial institution before making decisions.
Find your FIRE number — the nest egg that lets you live off your investments — and the age you'd reach it at your current savings rate.
Reviewed by the ClearTally editorial team · Last updated July 26, 2026 · Methodology & sources
Part of the retirement calculators collection — 6 tools in the order most people need them.
FIRE is one lens on retirement. For a more traditional projection with employer match, see the retirement calculator, and to model how a lump sum plus contributions compounds, use the investment return calculator.
How it works
FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early: saving aggressively until your investments can cover your living costs, so paid work becomes optional. The whole idea rests on one number — your FIRE number — which is your annual expenses divided by a safe withdrawal rate. Using the common 4% rule, that's 25 times what you spend in a year, because 4% is the share many studies suggest a diversified portfolio can pay out annually without running dry.
From there it's a compounding question: how long until your current savings, plus what you invest each year, grow to that target at your expected return. Notice how much the expense figure drives everything — cutting your annual spending lowers the FIRE number by 25 times the cut, so trimming $4,000 a year off your budget drops the target by $100,000. That leverage is why FIRE communities focus as hard on spending as on earning.
Example:a 30-year-old who spends $40,000 a year needs $1,000,000 to retire on the 4% rule (40,000 ÷ 0.04). Starting with $50,000 invested and adding $30,000 a year at a 7% average return, they'd reach it in about 16 years — financially independent at 46. Save more or spend less and that age drops quickly; the calculator lets you test each lever.
Sources & further reading
FAQ
The 4% rule says you can withdraw 4% of your portfolio in your first retirement year, then adjust that amount for inflation each year, with a low historical chance of running out over 30 years. It comes from studies of past US market returns, so it's a guideline, not a guarantee — a very early retirement spanning 50+ years, a rough sequence of returns early on, or lower future returns can all strain it. Many early retirees use a more conservative 3.25%–3.5%, which raises the FIRE number; you can test that here by lowering the withdrawal rate.
Divide your expected annual expenses by your safe withdrawal rate. At a 4% rate, $50,000 of annual spending needs $1,250,000 (50,000 ÷ 0.04), which is the same as multiplying expenses by 25. Use your projected retirement spending, not your income — FIRE is built around what you actually spend. If you expect your costs to change in retirement (a paid-off mortgage, or new healthcare costs), estimate that future budget rather than today's.
They're informal labels for the spending level you're targeting. Lean FIRE means covering a modest budget — often under $40,000 a year — so a smaller nest egg works but with little slack. Fat FIRE aims for a comfortable, higher-spending lifestyle that needs a much larger portfolio. Regular FIRE sits in between. There's also Coast FIRE: saving enough early that compounding alone carries you to a normal retirement age without adding more. Since the FIRE number is just expenses ÷ rate, you pick your version by changing the expense figure.
Not directly, so read the result as today's dollars. The cleanest way to handle inflation is to enter your expenses and returns in real (inflation-adjusted) terms — for instance, a 7% nominal return is closer to 4–5% after inflation, and using the lower figure gives a more conservative age. Taxes matter too: withdrawals from a traditional 401(k) or IRA are taxable, so you may need a larger balance than a taxable or Roth account to net the same spending. Treat the age as a planning estimate and revisit it as your numbers firm up.
It's mathematically possible, but it depends almost entirely on your savings rate — the share of income you invest. Someone saving 50% of their take-home pay reaches financial independence in roughly 17 years regardless of income, because a high savings rate both builds the nest egg faster and shrinks the expenses it has to cover. Retiring early also means planning for decades of healthcare, a longer withdrawal window, and the reality that plans change. The calculator shows the timeline; whether the lifestyle behind those inputs is sustainable is the harder question.