About FIRE Calculator & FAQs
What is FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early)?
FIRE is a financial movement focused on aggressive saving and investing to build enough wealth to live off investment income, allowing individuals to retire much earlier than traditional retirement ages.
How is FIRE different from traditional retirement planning?
The primary difference is the timeline and intensity. FIRE emphasizes achieving financial independence sooner, often through high savings rates (e.g., 50%+ of income), frugal living, and strategic investing to accelerate wealth accumulation.
How does this FIRE Calculator work?
This calculator helps you: Determine your target FIRE corpus (money needed by early retirement), project your own corpus based on current savings and planned investments, compare your projection to the target, and visualize yearly savings and spending phases.
What is the "4% Rule" and is it used here?
The "4% Rule" suggests withdrawing 4% of retirement savings annually, adjusted for inflation, for about 30 years. This calculator uses a dynamic approach for target corpus estimation (based on real returns and a longer horizon like until age 95), but the principle of sustainable withdrawals is similar.
What are the key factors for a successful FIRE journey?
Key factors include: High Savings Rate, Disciplined Investing, Expense Management, Reasonable Investment Returns, and Flexibility. This calculator primarily models investment growth and corpus requirements.