Find Your FIRE Number and the 3 Paths to Get There
Lean, regular, or Coast — the math and the trade-offs.
You're saving consistently and want to know when work becomes optional.
Your personal FIRE number, the savings rate to hit it, and which FIRE variant fits your life.
Financial Independence happens when your invested assets can cover your annual spending indefinitely. The classic rule: you need ~25× your annual expenses invested.
- 01
Calculate your real annual spending
Add up 12 months of credit card and bank statements. Include rent/mortgage, food, transport, insurance, healthcare, fun. This is your real number, not your budget.
- 02
Multiply by 25 (the 4% rule)
Annual spending × 25 = the portfolio that, invested in stocks/bonds, has historically lasted 30+ years with 4% withdrawals. Spend $40k/yr → need $1.0M. Spend $80k/yr → need $2.0M.
→ Run the 4% rule calculator - 03
Pick your FIRE variant
Lean FIRE: under $40k/yr spending, minimalist. Regular FIRE: middle-class spending. Fat FIRE: $100k+/yr. Coast FIRE: invest enough early that compounding alone gets you there by 65.
→ Coast FIRE calculator - 04
Reverse-engineer the savings rate
Roughly: a 50% savings rate gets you to FIRE in ~17 years. 30% takes ~28 years. 70% takes ~9 years. The income side and the spending side compound together.
PitfallOptimizing only spending. After a point, earning more moves the date faster than cutting more. - 05
Set the first checkpoint
FIRE is a 10–25 year project. Set 5-year checkpoints — net worth targets at year 5, 10, 15 — and rebuild the plan when life changes.