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There's a nest-egg size that lets you retire. We solve for the shortfall (or cushion) given your current savings, monthly contribution, age, and expected returns.
Your contribution rate and horizon are the two levers. Retiring sooner means fewer years of contributions and compounding, so the nest egg is smaller; starting earlier (or waiting) shifts it the other way.
A classic starting frame: you can retire when your portfolio is 25× your annual spending. The 4% safe-withdrawal rate (SWR) is the inverse — you can safely withdraw 4% of your portfolio per year.
nestEgg = annualSpend × 25 → withdraw 4%/yrThe 4% rule came from the Trinity study — a 30-year retirement survived most historical sequences at 4% withdrawal. Longer retirements (FIRE) often use 3-3.5% for safety.
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Go Deeper
Understand the concept behind the numbers before you run them.
A step-by-step early retirement planner: set your FIRE number, raise your savings rate, fund the right accounts, unlock your money before 59.5, bridge healthcare before Medicare, and choose a safe withdrawal rate -- with calculators to run your own numbers.
Pursuing financial independence as a couple changes the math -- two incomes, two sets of tax-advantaged accounts, shared expenses. Here is how couples set a joint FIRE number, use spousal and per-person account strategies, handle kids, and align when one partner keeps working.
Geographic arbitrage -- living where your money goes further -- can shrink your FIRE number and pull your retirement years closer. Here is how it works at home and abroad, the tax and healthcare angles, the real trade-offs, and how much it can actually save.
The order you withdraw from your accounts in retirement can add years to your money. Here is the tax-efficient drawdown sequence -- taxable, then tax-deferred, then Roth -- why the simple order is not always best, how to defuse the RMD tax bomb, and the early-retiree tweaks.
Retire before 65 and you lose employer coverage years before Medicare begins. Here is how to bridge the gap: ACA marketplace plans and how subsidies really work for early retirees, plus COBRA, health-sharing, the HSA, and how managing your taxable income cuts the cost.
Lean FIRE and Fat FIRE are the two ends of the early-retirement spectrum -- frugal and fast versus comfortable and slower. Here is what each really costs, the lifestyle and risk trade-offs, where Coast, Barista, and Chubby FIRE fit, and how to choose the path that matches your life.