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Find your Freedom Date

When could work become a choice? Enter what you have, what you save and what you'll spend, and see the month, the year and the age you could reach FIRE: financial independence, retire early.

A young woman, seen from behind, throws both arms up on a hilltop above a sunny harbor town and blue fjord.

Your numbers

Retirement accounts, index funds, brokerage. Leave out your home and emergency cash.

How should we work out what you save?

After tax. Include a partner's if you plan together.

Leave blank to use what you spend now. Include health insurance and taxes on withdrawals.

Assumptions (edit them)

Starting values are uFIRE's defaults, not predictions. Why we chose them is explained below.

After inflation. Default 5%.

Default 4% (the “4% rule”). Lower is more cautious.

Your results

Freedom Date in 19 years and 1 month, at about age 51. FIRE number $1,250,000.

Your Freedom Date

In 19 years and 1 month

at about age 51

That's about 19 years and 1 month from now, when your investments could reach your FIRE number of $1,250,000. The day work becomes a choice.

FIRE number
$1,250,000
You invest per year
$35,000
Savings rate
41%

Your investments, year by year

In today's dollars. Hover, tap or use the arrow keys to read a year.

  • Invested
  • FIRE number ($1,250,000)
$0$500K$1M$1.5MAge 32Age 43Age 52

See the table
Invested balance at the end of each year
YearAgeInvestedYou put inGrowth
Today32$60,000$60,000$0
+133$98,795$95,000$3,795
+234$139,530$130,000$9,530
+335$182,301$165,000$17,301
+436$227,211$200,000$27,211
+537$274,367$235,000$39,367
+638$323,880$270,000$53,880
+739$375,869$305,000$70,869
+840$430,458$340,000$90,458
+941$487,776$375,000$112,776
+1042$547,960$410,000$137,960
+1143$611,153$445,000$166,153
+1244$677,505$480,000$197,505
+1345$747,175$515,000$232,175
+1446$820,329$550,000$270,329
+1547$897,141$585,000$312,141
+1648$977,793$620,000$357,793
+1749$1,062,477$655,000$407,477
+1850$1,151,396$690,000$461,396
+1951$1,244,761$725,000$519,761
+2052$1,342,794$760,000$582,794

Already well on your way?

Check if you can coast

How your Freedom Date is worked out

Two steps, both simple enough to check with a calculator.

1. Your FIRE number. This is how much you'd need invested for your money to cover your spending without a paycheck.

FIRE number = yearly spending ÷ safe withdrawal rate

Example: $50,000 a year ÷ 0.04 = $1,250,000.

2. How long until you get there. Each month, what you have invested grows by the monthly version of your real return, and one-twelfth of your yearly saving is added. We count the months until the balance first reaches your FIRE number, then add them to today's date. Your age then is your age now plus those months. It's the same as this formula, worked month by month:

periods to FIRE = ln((T × r + C) ÷ (P × r + C)) ÷ ln(1 + r)

T = FIRE number, P = invested now, C = what you add each period, r = return each period. If r = 0, periods = (T − P) ÷ C. We round up to the first whole month the balance reaches T, and look up to 100 years ahead.

Because the return is after inflation, every dollar figure, including the chart, is in today's dollars. We also assume your yearly saving rises with inflation, so it stays the same in today's money.

The assumptions, and why

Real return, default 5%. “Real” means after inflation. Working in real terms keeps every result in today's dollars, so a FIRE number 15 years away still means what it means today, and we don't need a separate inflation guess. 5% after inflation is a middle-of-the-road planning assumption for a portfolio that holds mostly stocks. It is not a forecast, and markets don't deliver a steady return. Try 3% or 4% to see a more cautious picture.

Safe withdrawal rate, default 4%. This is the “4% rule.” It comes from William Bengen's 1994 paper (opens in a new tab), which used historical U.S. stock and bond returns to test how much a retiree could take out in the first year, then raise each year with inflation, without running out. A later study, often called the Trinity study (1998) (opens in a new tab), tested withdrawal rates over payout periods of 15 to 30 years; Bengen tracked how long portfolios lasted out to 50 years, but framed his 4% around a minimum of 30. If you stop work at 40, your money may need to last 50 years or more, so it's worth testing a lower rate such as 3.5% or 3%.

Spending once you're free. This drives everything. Use your real budget, add health insurance if you'll stop work before Medicare at 65, and add an allowance for tax on what you withdraw. The FIRE number calculator helps you build it up.

What this calculator can't tell you

  • Real markets aren't smooth

    The math assumes the same return every year. Real returns jump around, and some decades are much worse than average. Treat any date or number here as a rough guide, not a promise.

  • Sequence of returns risk

    A market fall in the first few years after you stop working hurts far more than the same fall later, because you're selling investments while they're down. That's why withdrawal-rate research tests historical periods rather than averages, and why many early retirees keep some flexibility in their spending.

  • Taxes

    These numbers are before tax on your withdrawals. Money from a traditional 401(k), 403(b), 457(b) or IRA is generally taxed as income when you take it out, and taking it before 59½ can add a 10% additional tax unless an exception applies (see the IRS list of exceptions (opens in a new tab)). Roth money and ordinary investment accounts follow different rules. Add an allowance for tax to your spending.

  • Health insurance before Medicare

    Medicare generally starts at 65 (Medicare.gov (opens in a new tab)). If you stop work before then, you'll need your own coverage, for example through the Health Insurance Marketplace (HealthCare.gov: retiring before 65 (opens in a new tab)). Include those premiums and out-of-pocket costs in your spending.

  • Inflation

    Results are in today's dollars because the return is “real” (after inflation). If you enter a return that isn't adjusted for inflation, the answers will look rosier than they are. Inflation is usually measured by the Consumer Price Index (opens in a new tab).

Ways to move your date

Sources

Links checked October 5, 2026.

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