FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early)
Accumulating enough that investment income covers expenses, well before conventional retirement age.
The target is conventionally set at 25 times annual expenses, which is the inverse of a 4% withdrawal rate. At $40,000 of spending that is $1,000,000, and at $80,000 it is $2,000,000. Income does not appear in the formula at all.
What determines the timeline is the savings rate, and the relationship is steeper than intuition suggests because the rate works on both ends at once. Saving more raises the amount accumulated each year and lowers the spending the portfolio eventually has to support.
That double effect is why the years-to-independence curve is so nonlinear. Assuming 5% real returns from a standing start, a 10% savings rate takes around 51 years while 50% takes about 17 and 75% about 7. Doubling the rate does far more than halve the time.
Worked through
Savings Rate → Years to FIRE
| Savings Rate | Years to FI |
|---|---|
| 10% | ~51 years |
| 25% | ~32 years |
| 50% | ~17 years |
| 75% | ~7 years |
Where this lives in Promi
Investing page. The FIRE tab runs the projection against your own figures.
Related in FIRE & Financial Independence
See your own fire (financial independence, retire early)
Promi computes this from your linked accounts, with the definition one click from the number.
Try the demo