Fat FIRE Calculator

Fat FIRE means retiring early without trimming your lifestyle, or with room for a bigger one. The math is the same as regular FIRE with a larger spending number, so both the target and the timeline grow. Enter the yearly spending you want in retirement to see your Fat FIRE number.

Your details

Current ageAnnual income after tax ($)

Salary and wages only. Add Social Security separately below

Annual expenses ($)

Current portfolio ($)

Expected return after inflation (%)

Stocks historically return about 7% after inflation.

Lean expenses ($/year)

For Lean FIRE: 70% of your current spending

Aspirational spending ($/year)

For Fat FIRE: 2.0x your current spending

Part-time income ($/year)

For Barista FIRE: covers 40% of expenses

Target retirement age

For Coast FIRE: let compounding close the gap

Safe withdrawal rate (%)

Classic 4% rule: lower is more conservative

Saved to this browser, up to 5 scenarios.

Your Fat FIRE number

$2,500,000

26.0 years to go, reached at age 56

Your FIRE number

$1,250,000

18.0 years to go, FI at age 48

Savings rate

37.5%

$2,500/mo saved

✓

Your portfolio sustains through age 95.

Portfolio projection

All paths to FI

Lean FIRE

Cover essentials only

$875k

14.4 yrs at age 44 (2041)

Barista FIRE

Part-time work covers the gap

$750k

12.9 yrs at age 43 (2039)

FIRE

Full financial independence

$1.25M

18.0 yrs at age 48 (2044)

Fat FIRE

Your dream lifestyle

$2.50M

26.0 yrs at age 56 (2052)

Coast FIRE

Stop saving now, retire at 65 on growth alone

$117k

43% of the way

Once you hit FI at age 48, each extra year of work grows your nest egg and boosts your retirement income. Working 5 extra years past your FIRE date would raise your monthly income by $2,340/mo but with diminishing returns each year.

How the Fat FIRE number works

Your Fat FIRE number is your target yearly spending divided by your withdrawal rate. At 4%, that is 25 times what you plan to spend.

An early retirement can last 40 years or more, so some planners use a lower withdrawal rate for extra margin. A lower rate raises the target. You can change it under FIRE variant settings.

Fat FIRE number = target yearly spending ÷ withdrawal rate

A worked example

Say you are 35, take home $250,000, spend $120,000 and have $400,000 invested. Retiring on $150,000 a year at a 4% withdrawal rate takes $3,750,000. Saving $130,000 a year at a 7% return after inflation, you would get there in 13.1 years, at about age 48. At a more cautious 3.5% withdrawal rate the target rises to about $4,286,000.

Common questions

How much is Fat FIRE?

There is no official cutoff. People often use the term for spending of about $100,000 a year or more, which at a 4% withdrawal rate means $2,500,000 or more invested.

Should I use a lower withdrawal rate?

If your retirement could last 40 years or more, a rate around 3.5% leaves more room for a bad stretch of markets early on. The cost is a bigger target and a longer road to it.

Does Fat FIRE take much longer?

Usually, because the target is bigger. Raising your savings rate shortens the timeline more than anything else, and the calculator shows your savings rate next to your FIRE number.

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