FIRE Calculator — Financial Independence & Early Retirement

Your FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) number is the total investment portfolio required to sustain your lifestyle indefinitely without working. Based on the Trinity Study's 4% Safe Withdrawal Rule, your FIRE number equals your annual living expenses multiplied by 25 (FIRE Number = Annual Expenses × 25). For a more conservative 3.5% withdrawal rate, multiply expenses by 28.6.

LeanFIRE covers bare-bones living expenses (<$40,000/year) requiring strict frugality. FatFIRE supports an abundant, travel-heavy lifestyle (>$100,000/year) requiring a larger nest egg ($2.5M+). BaristaFIRE means your portfolio covers partial expenses while you work a low-stress part-time job to cover healthcare and everyday cash flow.

CoastFIRE is the milestone where you have saved enough in invested assets that, without ever contributing another dollar, compound interest alone will grow your portfolio to your full retirement goal by standard retirement age (typically age 60–65).

The Trinity Study tested 30-year retirement horizons from 1926 to 1995 across stock/bond allocations, finding a 95%+ success rate for 4% withdrawals. However, for early retirees with 40-to-50-year retirement horizons, prominent economists recommend a more conservative Safe Withdrawal Rate between 3.25% and 3.50% to withstand sequence-of-returns risk.

Sequence of Returns Risk is the hazard that the market experiences a severe multi-year downturn in the first 3 to 5 years of retirement. Selling depreciated assets to fund living expenses permanently depletes your principal, drastically accelerating portfolio failure even if the market rebounds later.