A Pathless Tool

FIRE Calculator

FIRE means Financial Independence, Retire Early: having enough invested that the returns pay for your life, so work becomes optional. This works out how much is enough for you, and when you get there.

1 Pick a goal

Pathless FIRE

Not enough to never work again. Enough to take the next few years to find work you care about, with confidence you can make some money in the short term and in the long term.

While you explore, your savings cover the gap between what you spend and what you earn from freelancing, consulting or odd jobs. After that, the work you find pays for most of your life, and a smaller pile covers the rest.

NowWorking and investing every year until you have enough to leave.
Your pathless yearsNo full-time job. Trying to make income: freelancing, consulting, odd jobs, small projects. Not investing; your savings cover the gap between what you spend and what you make.
AfterEarning from the work you found. What’s left of your savings stays invested and covers the rest.

ExampleSay you spend $50,000 a year and expect to make $20,000 a year freelancing while you explore. Your savings cover $30,000 a year for 4 years. If the work you find then brings in $40,000, your savings only need to cover $10,000 a year, which takes $250,000 invested at 4%. You’d need about $312,000 when you leave, a quarter of the $1.25M for full FIRE.

Good forleaving work you’ve outgrown before you know exactly what comes next.

Lean FIRE

Enough invested to never have to work again, living on the essentials: housing, food, health, and not much else.

It’s the smallest of the classic FIRE numbers, so you get there fastest, but it leaves the least room for surprises or for spending more later.

Until you get thereWorking and investing every year.
AfterNo job needed. Your savings pay for everything, on a tight budget. You take out about 4% a year.

ExampleSay you can live on $30,000 a year. $30,000 ÷ 4% = $750,000. Starting from $150,000 and investing $25,000 a year, that takes about 13 years.

Good forfrugal people, and anyone planning to live somewhere cheap.

FIRE

The classic goal: enough invested that taking out about 4% a year pays for the life you live today, for good.

Your FIRE number works out to about 25 times what you spend in a year. Work becomes fully optional.

Until you get thereWorking and investing every year.
AfterWork is optional. Your savings pay for everything at today’s level of spending. You take out about 4% a year.

ExampleSay you spend $50,000 a year. $50,000 ÷ 4% = $1.25M. You take out $50,000 a year and, over time, the rest grows enough to keep it going. Starting from $150,000 and investing $25,000 a year, that takes about 20 years.

Good foranyone who wants the option to never work for money again.

Fat FIRE

Enough to never have to work again with plenty of margin: travel, helping family, generosity, and a cushion for bad years in the market.

It’s the biggest number and the longest road, which is why many people aim for a smaller goal first.

Until you get thereWorking and investing every year, usually for longer or at a higher income.
AfterWork is optional. Your savings pay for a bigger life, with room for travel, family and bad years.

ExampleSay you want to spend $100,000 a year. $100,000 ÷ 4% = $2.5M. Starting from $150,000 and investing $25,000 a year, that takes about 31 years, so most people on this path earn and invest much more.

Good forpeople with expensive plans, or who want a lot of safety.

Coast FIRE

Do your saving up front. Once what you’ve invested can grow on its own into a full FIRE number by a later age, you can stop adding to it.

From then on you only need to earn what you spend, which frees you to take lower-paid, part-time or more meaningful work.

NowWorking and investing hard.
CoastingStill working, but only enough to pay your bills. Not investing anything more; your savings grow untouched.
Your chosen ageFull FIRE. Your savings pay for everything.

ExampleSay you’re 35, spend $50,000 a year and want full FIRE by 60, which takes $1.25M. At 5% growth, $369,000 invested today becomes $1.25M by 60 on its own. Once you have it, you could take a lower-paid job that just covers your $50,000 a year.

Good forpeople early in their careers who want to downshift sooner.

Barista FIRE

Leave full-time work but keep some part-time or low-stress income. The name comes from taking a job at a coffee shop for the paycheck and the benefits.

That income pays for part of your life, so your savings only need to cover the rest, and your number is much smaller.

Until you get thereWorking full-time and investing every year.
AfterA part-time or low-stress job brings in some income. Not investing more; your savings pay the rest.

ExampleSay you spend $50,000 a year and a part-time job brings in $20,000. Your savings only cover $30,000 a year, so you need $30,000 ÷ 4% = $750,000 instead of $1.25M. Starting from $150,000 and investing $25,000 a year, that takes about 13 years instead of 20.

Good forpeople who still like working, just less of it.

2 Your numbers

Where you are now

Your age years What you have investedretirement accounts, brokerage, index funds. Not your home. $ How much you invest each year $

What your life costs

Bare-bones spending per yearthe essentials, nothing extra $ Spending per yearwhat your life costs now $ Comfortable spending per yeartravel, help, generosity, slack $

Your pathless years

Years to find work you care about years Money you can make meanwhile, per yearfreelancing, consulting, odd jobs, after tax $ What that work brings in after, per yearonce you’ve found it, after tax $

Age you want full FIRE by years Part-time income per yearafter tax $

Assumptions

Yearly return after inflationlong-run stock returns have averaged around 5–7% % Safe withdrawal ratehow much you take out each year. 4% is the classic rule of thumb. % Currency

3 Your answer

You need

—

What you have invested TargetPathless years

How this works

All six goals at a glance

A back-of-the-envelope estimate, not financial advice. Everything is in today’s money: the return is after inflation, and spending stays flat. Taxes, fees, pensions and big one-off costs are left out.

Could you get there faster somewhere cheaper? Try the Location Arbitrage Calculator. Planning time off rather than stopping for good? Try the Sabbatical Planner. Working for yourself? The Target Income Calculator works out what to charge.