FIRE Calculator
Key takeaways
- Yearly expenses of ₹7.20 L at a 4% withdrawal rate put today’s FIRE number at ₹1.80 Cr; the ₹10.00 L corpus covers 5.56% of it.
- Investing ₹50,000 a month at 12%, the corpus meets the inflation-adjusted target in year 20 — age 50, by when that target has grown to ₹5.77 Cr.
- At ₹60,000 a month, the crossing lands in year 18 instead of year 20.
Yearly schedule
The corpus catches the inflating target in year 20 — age 50. Both keep moving: each row’s Target is that year’s expenses × 12 ÷ the withdrawal rate.
| Year | Invested | Growth | Corpus | Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ₹16.00 L | ₹1.61 L | ₹17.61 L | ₹1.91 Cr |
| 2 | ₹6.00 L | ₹2.57 L | ₹26.18 L | ₹2.02 Cr |
| 3 | ₹6.00 L | ₹3.66 L | ₹35.85 L | ₹2.14 Cr |
| 4 | ₹6.00 L | ₹4.89 L | ₹46.73 L | ₹2.27 Cr |
| 5 | ₹6.00 L | ₹6.27 L | ₹59.00 L | ₹2.41 Cr |
| 6 | ₹6.00 L | ₹7.82 L | ₹72.83 L | ₹2.55 Cr |
About the FIRE Calculator
FIRE — Financial Independence, Retire Early — describes building a corpus large enough that withdrawals from it can cover living expenses without further work. This calculator computes two things: the "FIRE number", which is annual expenses divided by the withdrawal rate entered, and how many years of investing it takes for a corpus to reach that number while the number itself keeps rising with inflation.
Enter monthly expenses today, the inflation rate assumed, and a withdrawal rate. The withdrawal rate (usually abbreviated SWR) is the percentage of the corpus drawn each year; 4% is the figure the FIRE literature conventionally uses, and this calculator applies whatever rate is entered without any claim about whether it is sustainable for any particular person or period. Then enter current age, the corpus already held, the amount invested each month, and the return expected on it.
The search runs a year at a time, up to sixty. Within each year the corpus compounds monthly — grown at the monthly rate, then the month's investment added — and at the end of the year it is compared against that year's target, which is today's annual expenses inflated forward and divided by the withdrawal rate. The first year the corpus is at or above that target is "Years to FIRE". "Corpus at FIRE" reports that year's target rather than the simulated balance, so it always answers "how large a number was reached", and "Age at FIRE" is simply current age plus years to FIRE.
If sixty simulated years pass without the corpus catching the target, every output shows "—" rather than an ever-larger year count. That happens whenever the assumed return does not outpace inflation by enough relative to how little is being added each month. All three rates — inflation, return, and the monthly amount — are held flat for what can be decades, so the result is the arithmetic of one scenario and not a plan, a target, or a claim about any withdrawal rate's safety.
Frequently asked questions
How is the FIRE number calculated?
FIRE number = (Monthly expenses × 12) ÷ withdrawal rate, expressed as a decimal. At a 4% rate that works out to 25 times annual expenses; at 5% it is 20 times, and at 3% it is about 33 times. The multiple is entirely a function of the rate entered.
Where does the 4% figure come from?
It originates in United States studies of historical portfolio withdrawals over 30-year retirements. It is a rule of thumb from a specific market, period and time horizon — not a rule of arithmetic, not a guarantee, and not something this page endorses for any particular situation. The field accepts any rate from 2% to 8% so the effect of the assumption is visible rather than hidden.
Why does the target keep growing in the schedule?
Because expenses inflate. If ₹60,000 a month buys a certain life today, it takes more rupees to buy the same life in twenty years — so the corpus that would fund it grows too. The Target column shows that year's inflated figure, and the Corpus column shows the balance chasing it, which is why the crossing is only visible when both are on the same row.
Why do all the results show a dash?
Because sixty simulated years passed without the corpus reaching the target. That is the honest answer at those inputs — most commonly when the expected return is at or below inflation, or when the monthly investment is small relative to expenses. Reporting a seventy-eighth year would be a bigger extrapolation than the model can support.
What is the difference between this and the Financial Freedom calculator?
FIRE targets inflation-adjusted EXPENSES, so its target moves every year of the search. Financial Freedom targets a fixed monthly passive INCOME at a fixed yield, so its target is one number that never moves. They are related questions with genuinely different arithmetic, which is why the two pages give different answers.
Does this account for tax, or for a pension?
No. There is no tax on the growth, no tax on withdrawals, no employer contribution, no pension income and no lump-sum event of any kind. Everything comes from the four rates and two balances entered on this page, and any of those things would change the result.
Disclaimer: This calculator is for information and education only. It is not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any investment. Where a rate of return, inflation or growth is an input, it is an assumption: actual returns vary and are not guaranteed, and past performance may or may not be sustained in future. It does not take your personal circumstances into account. Actual returns and inflation move unevenly from year to year, which changes how long a corpus lasts. Every figure is computed solely by applying the formula and assumptions stated on this page to the inputs you entered.