What is FIRE?
FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early — investing enough that your portfolio can cover your expenses, so paid work becomes optional. Here's how it works.
FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early — investing enough that your portfolio can cover your expenses, so paid work becomes optional. Here's how it works.
FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. The goal is to save and invest enough that your investments can cover your living expenses on their own. Once they can, paid work becomes optional — you've reached financial independence, and early retirement is on the table whenever you want it.
Financial independence has a specific target: your FIRE number, which is your annual spending divided by a safe withdrawal rate. At the common 4% rule that's your yearly expenses times 25 — spend $50,000 a year and your FIRE number is about $1,250,000. Reach it, and a sustainable withdrawal can fund your life indefinitely.
The same math scales to different lifestyles. Lean FIRE targets a frugal budget; Fat and Chubby FIRE a more comfortable one. Coast FIRE is the point you can stop saving and let compounding finish the job; Barista FIRE uses part-time income to bridge the gap. They differ in the spending target, not the formula.
Knowing your number is half the picture; the other half is when you reach it — based on what you've invested, what you add each year, and your expected real return. The calculator below solves for that year, and the app turns it into a live countdown on your iPhone home screen that moves closer every time you invest.
Runs in your browser — nothing is sent anywhere.
FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. It's an approach to saving and investing enough that your portfolio can cover your living expenses, making paid work optional.
Your FIRE number — your annual expenses divided by your safe withdrawal rate, which is about 25× your yearly spending at a 4% rate. Spend $50,000 a year and you need roughly $1,250,000.
The main variants are Traditional, Lean (a frugal budget), Fat and Chubby (a larger budget), Coast (stop saving and let it grow), and Barista (part-time income covers part of your spending). The math is the same; only the spending target changes.
It depends on your income, expenses, and savings rate. FIRE is a spectrum — even reaching Coast or Barista FIRE gives you options well before full financial independence. The calculator shows a realistic timeline from your own numbers.
See your number free above, then put the countdown on your iPhone home screen.