Project your FIRE number, years to financial independence, Coast FIRE milestone, and safe retirement income
| Years to FIRE | Category | What it means |
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| Milestone | Portfolio target | Age reached | Years away | Status |
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| Withdrawal rate | FIRE number | Years to FIRE | FIRE age | Monthly income at FIRE |
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| Metric | Value | Notes |
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Founder & CEO, Toolraxy
Faiq Ur Rahman is a web designer, digital product developer, and founder of Toolraxy, a growing platform of web-based calculators and utility tools. He specializes in building structured, user-friendly tools focused on health, finance, productivity, and everyday problem-solving.
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Financial independence has become a hobby, a movement, and for some people a full-time spreadsheet obsession. The core question behind all of it is simple: how much do you need, and when will you get there?
This calculator answers that with one screen. It takes the standard FIRE formula (annual spending divided by withdrawal rate), runs a year-by-year projection, and reports the exact age you’d reach the target. Five variants are built in: classic FIRE, Lean, Fat, Barista, and Coast. It also adds Social Security or pension income if you want the portfolio requirement to drop.
Set the currency. Every money field updates to the symbol you pick.
Enter your current age and target retirement age. These frame the whole projection.
Add your current portfolio or net worth. Include retirement accounts, taxable investments, and any other investable assets.
Enter your annual savings. The amount you invest each year, assumed to be deposited at year-end.
Type your planned annual spending in retirement. The lifestyle number you want the portfolio to fund.
Set a safe withdrawal rate. Four percent is the classic default. Lower rates require more capital but survive longer.
Add other guaranteed income. Social Security, a pension, or any annuity reduces the portfolio requirement.
Choose a FIRE variant and, if you want, an inflation rate. Coast FIRE and Barista FIRE change the target significantly.
The FIRE number is the portfolio value that funds your retirement spending indefinitely at a safe withdrawal rate.
Formula: FIRE Number = (Annual Spending − Guaranteed Income) ÷ Safe Withdrawal Rate
If you need $48,000 a year after Social Security and choose a 4% withdrawal rate, the target is $48,000 ÷ 0.04 = $1,200,000. Drop the rate to 3.5% and the number jumps to $1,371,400. The withdrawal rate is the single biggest lever.
The projection compounds your portfolio year by year.
Formula: Portfolio (Year N) = (Portfolio (Year N−1) + Annual Savings) × (1 + Return Rate)
Savings grow too, if you enter a savings growth rate.
Formula: Savings (Year N) = Savings (Year N−1) × (1 + Savings Growth Rate)
The Coast FIRE number answers a different question. What amount do you need today so that, with no further contributions, it grows to your FIRE number by traditional retirement age (65)?
Formula: Coast FIRE Number = FIRE Number ÷ (1 + Real Return)^(65 − Current Age)
Real return is the nominal return minus inflation, compounded.
FIRE variants adjust spending before the calculation. Lean FIRE multiplies spending by 0.60. Fat FIRE multiplies by 1.75. Barista FIRE assumes part-time work covers 40% of spending. Coast FIRE changes the milestone, not the spending.
Worked Example
You’re 34, targeting retirement at 50. Your portfolio is $210,000. You save $42,000 a year, expecting 7% returns with 2.5% inflation. Planned spending is $54,000. Withdrawal rate: 3.8%. No Social Security yet.
Step 1: Portfolio-funded spending = $54,000 (no other income).
Step 2: FIRE number = $54,000 ÷ 0.038 = $1,421,050.
Step 3: Progress today = $210,000 ÷ $1,421,050 = 14.8%.
Step 4: Project forward. With $42,000 annual savings growing 2% a year and 7% returns, the portfolio hits $1,421,050 in 16 years, at age 50.
Step 5: Coast FIRE number. With 31 years until 65 and a real return of about 4.4%, Coast FIRE = $1,421,050 ÷ 1.044^31 = $380,700. You’re not there yet, but you’re 55% of the way.
Step 6: Switch to Lean FIRE. Spending drops to $32,400. FIRE number falls to $852,600. You hit it in 9 years, at age 43.
Step 7: Scenario comparison. A 4% withdrawal rate raises the FIRE number to $1,350,000 and pushes the timeline to 15 years. A 3% rate raises it to $1,800,000 and stretches the timeline to 20 years.
It’s the portfolio value that can sustain your retirement spending indefinitely at a safe withdrawal rate. At a 4% withdrawal rate, the FIRE number is 25 times your annual spending. A $50,000 spending target implies a $1,250,000 FIRE number.
Subtract any guaranteed income from your annual spending, then divide by your safe withdrawal rate. If you need $60,000 and Social Security covers $20,000, the portfolio must fund $40,000. At 4%, that’s a $1,000,000 FIRE number.
Coast FIRE is the amount you need today so that, with no further contributions, your portfolio grows to your FIRE number by traditional retirement age. Once you hit Coast FIRE, you can stop saving aggressively and just cover current expenses.
Lean FIRE targets a frugal lifestyle with low spending, usually under $40,000 a year. Fat FIRE targets a comfortable lifestyle with high spending, often over $100,000. The difference shows up entirely in the FIRE number, which scales with spending.
For a 30-year retirement, 3.5% to 4% has historically been safe. For 40 to 50 years, many planners use 3% to 3.5%. Lower rates require more capital but improve the odds of surviving a long retirement.
It reduces how much the portfolio needs to cover. If you need $60,000 and Social Security pays $25,000, the portfolio only has to fund $35,000. At a 4% withdrawal rate, that drops the FIRE number by $625,000.
At a 4% withdrawal rate, $1 million supports $40,000 a year, inflation-adjusted. That’s a lean retirement in most countries. At 3.5% it supports $35,000. Whether it works depends on your spending and any other income sources.
A balanced 60/40 portfolio has historically returned 6% to 7% nominal. A stock-heavy portfolio runs 7% to 8%. Use a conservative estimate you’d defend in a bad decade. The calculator adjusts for inflation if you enter a rate.
It depends on your savings rate, current portfolio, return assumption, and spending target. A high savings rate (40% or more of income) can reach FIRE in 15 to 20 years. A moderate savings rate takes 25 to 30. The calculator shows your specific timeline based on your inputs.
Barista FIRE is a hybrid strategy where you reach a portfolio that covers most of your expenses, then work part-time to cover the rest and get health insurance. The calculator assumes part-time work covers 40% of spending.
It doesn’t have a dedicated healthcare field, but the buffer input handles it. Adding 10% to 20% as a buffer covers pre-Medicare health insurance for most early retirees. The buffer raises the FIRE number proportionally.
Cut spending. Every dollar of annual spending cut reduces the FIRE number by 25 times that amount at a 4% withdrawal rate. A $10,000 spending cut drops the FIRE number by $250,000 and can pull years off the timeline.
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