FIRE / Retirement Number Calculator
Find your FIRE number, whether you're on track, and the age you reach it
| Age | Your corpus | FIRE number then | Progress |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | ā¹17,67,291 | ā¹1,59,00,000 | 11.1% |
| 32 | ā¹26,31,895 | ā¹1,68,54,000 | 15.6% |
| 33 | ā¹36,06,151 | ā¹1,78,65,240 | 20.2% |
| 34 | ā¹47,03,968 | ā¹1,89,37,154 | 24.8% |
| 35 | ā¹59,41,015 | ā¹2,00,73,384 | 29.6% |
| 36 | ā¹73,34,951 | ā¹2,12,77,787 | 34.5% |
| 37 | ā¹89,05,673 | ā¹2,25,54,454 | 39.5% |
| 38 | ā¹1,06,75,601 | ā¹2,39,07,721 | 44.7% |
| 39 | ā¹1,26,70,001 | ā¹2,53,42,184 | 50% |
| 40 | ā¹1,49,17,341 | ā¹2,68,62,715 | 55.5% |
Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type or upload is sent to us or stored.
Results are estimates, not financial advice. Rates, charges and rules change, so confirm with your bank, post office or a financial adviser before you decide. Terms of use
How to Use
- Enter your Monthly expenses today, your age and the age you want to retire.
- Set Inflation and the Safe withdrawal rate. It's 4% by default; try 3ā3.5% for a more cautious plan.
- Enter your Current investments, how much you invest each month and the Expected return.
- Results update as you type: your FIRE number at retirement, the corpus you're on course for, any shortfall or surplus, and the age you reach financial independence.
- If you're short, Monthly investment needed shows what would get you there. The chart and table track your corpus against the FIRE number year by year.
What is FIRE?
FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. You're financially independent when your investments are big enough that taking out a small, fixed share each year covers your living costs for the rest of your life. Work becomes optional. That target corpus is your FIRE number. This FIRE calculator works out the number for the age you want to retire, checks whether your current savings and monthly investments will get you there, and tells you the age at which you'd actually cross it.
How the FIRE number is calculated
FIRE number = yearly expenses at retirement Ć· safe withdrawal rate
Corpus at retirement = savings Ć (1 + r)n + monthly SIP grown for n months, r = return Ć· 12
Dividing by the withdrawal rate is the same as multiplying your yearly expenses by a fixed number: 4% means 25Ć, 3.5% means about 28.6Ć, and 3% means about 33.3Ć. Your corpus grows month by month, the same way it does in our SIP calculator.
Why 4%, and why many Indians use 3ā3.5%
The "4% rule" comes from US research, mainly William Bengen's 1994 study and the later Trinity study. Using historical US stock and bond returns, they found that taking out 4% of a portfolio in the first year, then raising the amount with inflation, usually lasted at least 30 years. Planners in India tend to be more cautious, for a few reasons:
- Longer retirements. Retire at 40 or 45 and your money may have to last 45ā50 years, not 30.
- Higher inflation. Indian inflation has generally run higher than US inflation, so withdrawals have to rise faster.
- Different markets and costs. The research used US market history. Indian returns, volatility, taxes and fund costs are different.
- Healthcare. Medical bills, and the loss of employer cover once you stop working, add risk.
That's why many Indian financial planners suggest a 3ā3.5% withdrawal rate for early retirement. You need a bigger corpus, but you get a wider safety margin.
| Withdrawal rate | Multiple of yearly expenses | FIRE number for ā¹50,000/month (today's money) |
|---|---|---|
| 4% | 25Ć | ā¹1.50 Cr |
| 3.5% | 28.6Ć | ā¹1.71 Cr |
| 3% | 33.3Ć | ā¹2.00 Cr |
Worked example
You're 30, spend ā¹50,000 a month and want to retire at 45. With 6% inflation, your expenses will be about ā¹1,19,800 a month by then, so at a 4% withdrawal rate your FIRE number is about ā¹3.59 crore. You have ā¹10 lakh invested and add ā¹50,000 a month, expecting 12%. By 45 you'd have about ā¹3.12 crore, which leaves you about ā¹47 lakh short. Investing about ā¹59,400 a month instead would close the gap. If you stay at ā¹50,000, you'd cross the FIRE number at around 46 years 10 months.
Making the plan realistic
- Count every expense you'll still have after retiring: rent or EMIs, children's education, travel, insurance premiums.
- Plan health cover separately. Buy your own health insurance well before you leave a job with group cover.
- Keep big goals separate. One-off costs like a child's wedding or a new home need their own corpus on top of the FIRE number.
- Assume a cautious return. The calculator uses the same return every year. Real returns jump around, and a crash just before or after you retire does the most damage.
- Step up your SIP. This calculator keeps your monthly investment flat. Raising it as your income grows (our step-up SIP calculator shows how) can bring FIRE forward by years.