FIRE Calculator Early Retirement
FIRE number · Coast FIRE · location arbitrage · CPP/OAS timing · 3-scenario fan chart · annual milestone roadmap
Your situation
Lifestyle & spending
Investment returns & SWR
Government benefits
Portfolio Runway
Balanced (7%) as the solid line; shaded band spans cautious (4%) to optimistic (9%). Use the toggle to isolate a scenario.
Income Sources Over Retirement
How your income layers shift with age — taper income fades as CPP and OAS phase in, reducing your portfolio burden.
Location Arbitrage Impact
How your choice of living arrangement changes your required FIRE number and monthly spending.
The Pre-CPP Gap Years
Before government benefits begin, your portfolio carries everything. These are the highest-risk years of early retirement — each bar is what you draw that year.
Who Pays for Retirement (at 65)
Once CPP + OAS begin, how much of your spending the government covers versus what your portfolio must carry.
Your FIRE Milestone Roadmap
Key financial events from today to retirement, auto-generated from your inputs.
Amber = accumulation · Green = FIRE achieved · Indigo = drawing down
The math behind your result
All calculations run entirely in your browser — no data is sent anywhere. Expand the section below to see the exact formulas.
▶ How is this calculated?
FIRE Number
FIRE Number = Annual Spending ÷ Safe Withdrawal Rate Example (3.5% SWR): $50,000 ÷ 0.035 = $1,428,571 25× rule (4% SWR): FIRE Number = Annual Spending × 25
Blended Spending (Location Arbitrage)
Monthly = (canadaMonths × canadaMonthly + abroadMonths × abroadMonthly) ÷ 12 Example: 6 months Canada ($2,600) + 6 months Vietnam ($1,400): (6 × 2600 + 6 × 1400) ÷ 12 = $2,000/month → $24,000/yr → FIRE# = $685,714
Coast FIRE
Coast FIRE = current savings × (1 + returnRate) ^ yearsToFireAge ≥ FIRE Number If true: you can stop contributing — growth alone will get you there. Example: $480k × 1.07^7 = $771k > FIRE number → Coast FIRE ✓
Portfolio drawdown
Each year in retirement: income = taperIncome + CPP (if age ≥ cppStart) + OAS (net) + pension gap = max(0, annualSpending − income) Monthly: portfolio = portfolio × (1 + monthlyRate) − gap/12 Portfolio hits zero → depleteAge
CPP adjustment (Service Canada 2025)
Before 65: adjusted = expected × (1 − 0.006 × months_before_65) max −36% at 60 After 65: adjusted = expected × (1 + 0.007 × months_after_65) max +42% at 70
Recommended SWR by retirement duration
≥ 50 years → 3.0% (retire at ~40) ≥ 40 years → 3.5% (retire at ~45–50) ← most FIRE scenarios ≥ 30 years → 4.0% (retire at ~55–60) Sources: Bengen (1994), Pfau (2012), ERN Safe Withdrawal Rate Series
About the FIRE Calculator
What is FIRE and why does the math differ from regular retirement?
FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) means building a portfolio large enough to fund your lifestyle indefinitely without earned income. Unlike retiring at 65, an early retiree at 45 faces a 45-year drawdown — nearly twice as long as classical retirement planning assumes. This fundamentally changes the safe withdrawal rate: the classic 4% rule was calibrated for 30-year retirements. For 40–50-year retirements, research consistently points to 3%–3.5% as the more appropriate withdrawal rate.
Lean, Fat, Barista, Coast — which flavour of FIRE are you?
These are all the same core idea (a portfolio that funds your life without a paycheque) at different spending levels or with different amounts of continued work — this calculator supports all of them, just under its own input names:
- Lean FIRE — the smallest FIRE number, built around minimal spending. Use the "Lean" lifestyle tier below.
- Fat FIRE — the opposite: a larger FIRE number funding a more comfortable, less budget-constrained lifestyle. Use the "Fat" lifestyle tier below (the "Fat FIRE 52" persona is a ready-made example).
- Coast FIRE — your current savings, left untouched, will compound to your full FIRE number by your target age, so you can stop contributing today. This calculator checks your Coast FIRE status automatically — see the Coast FIRE card in your results.
- Barista FIRE — you leave your career but keep a lower-stress, part-time job to cover some spending while the portfolio grows toward full retirement. This tool models the same idea under "Semi-FIRE bridge" (taper income) — enter your expected part-time income and the age it ends.
The 20 user stories this tool covers
- Calculate your FIRE number (spending × 25, or ÷ SWR)
- Check if you've already hit Coast FIRE (no contributions needed)
- Count years until you reach your FIRE number
- Model semi-FIRE / taper income bridge (retire from corporate, earn part-time)
- Apply location arbitrage — Canada summers + SE Asia winters
- Compare Lean / Standard / Fat / Expat lifestyle tiers
- Choose the right SWR for your retirement duration (3% → 4%)
- See 3 market-return scenarios (conservative / balanced / growth)
- Visualize how your CPP start age (60–70) affects a 40-year runway
- Model OAS deferral to 70 for the 36% boost
- See the income stack: how CPP and OAS gradually replace portfolio draw
- Province-aware spending defaults for each Canadian province
- Location comparison: Canada-only vs 6+6 vs fully abroad FIRE numbers
- OAS clawback detection if income exceeds $93,454 threshold
- DB pension integration as a separate income stream
- 5 quick-start personas (Early Expat, Semi-FIRE, Coast FIRE, Fat FIRE, Lean Nomad)
- Annual milestone roadmap (RRSP→RRIF at 71, CPP, OAS, OAS +10% at 75)
- Shareable URL with all inputs serialized
- Retirement depletion detection and "money runs out at age X" warning
- Net-of-government-income coverage ratio at full retirement age
Why early retirees must plan differently for CPP
Retiring at 45 means you'll have no CPP income for at least 15 years — and possibly 25 years if you defer to 70. This "CPP desert" is the most critical phase of the early retiree's financial life. The portfolio must carry the full spending load during these years. Once CPP and OAS arrive at 65–70, the portfolio burden can drop by $15,000–$25,000/year — and in some cases the portfolio stops declining entirely (see the income stack chart).
Limitations of this projection
This tool uses constant-rate growth and does not model: sequence-of-returns risk (catastrophic early losses are much more damaging than the average suggests), RRSP/RRIF withdrawal taxes, healthcare cost inflation, or variable spending in retirement. For a more conservative assessment, stress-test the Conservative (4%/3%) scenario and plan to reduce spending in years when markets underperform.
Related calculators
- Quick FIRE Number — the 3-number version of this calculator, for a fast first estimate
- Retirement Projection — detailed CPP/OAS projection to age 95
- TFSA vs RRSP — which account to draw from first in FIRE
- Income Tax Calculator — model your after-tax retirement income
- Compound Interest — detailed single-account projection
Year-by-year projection
Balanced (7% / 5%) scenario · every year from retirement to age 90.
| Age | Portfolio | Draw | Taper | CPP | OAS | Pension |
|---|
What if the market crashes early?
A crash in your first retirement years — while you're withdrawing — is the biggest risk to an early retirement (sequence-of-returns risk).
| Scenario | Money lasts to | Left at 90 |
|---|
Each scenario uses your current inputs (balanced 7%/5% returns) and applies a one-time downturn at the start of retirement, then resumes your normal return. Illustrative — real sequences vary. Drawdown is unchanged; only the early returns differ.
Frequently asked questions
What is the FIRE number and how is it calculated?
Your FIRE number is the portfolio size you need to retire indefinitely. It equals your annual spending divided by your safe withdrawal rate. At 3.5% SWR: $50,000/year ÷ 0.035 = a $1,428,571 FIRE number. The 3.5% rate is recommended for 40-year retirements (retiring at ~45–50) versus the classic 4% which was designed for 30-year retirements.
What is Coast FIRE and how is it different from regular FIRE?
Coast FIRE means your current portfolio, left untouched, will compound to your FIRE number by your target retirement age — so you can stop making new investment contributions today. For example, $480,000 invested at age 38 growing at 7%/year for 7 years reaches ~$771,000 by age 45. If that covers your FIRE number, you've "coasted" — any extra savings are optional. This calculator checks Coast FIRE status automatically based on your inputs.
How does retiring early at 45 affect CPP and OAS in Canada?
Retiring early at 45 means roughly 15–25 years with no CPP or OAS income. CPP is based on your contribution history — fewer working years means a lower benefit, typically $600–$900/month for early retirees versus the 2025 maximum of $1,433/month. Starting CPP at 60 reduces it by 36%; deferring to 70 increases it by 42%. OAS begins at 65 and can be deferred to 70 for a 36% bonus. This calculator models all CPP/OAS timing scenarios for the early retirement gap.
What is Semi-FIRE (taper income) and how does it change my FIRE number?
Semi-FIRE means you leave your main career but earn a modest part-time income (freelancing, consulting, or passion work) for a few years — for example $2,500/month from ages 45–50. This "bridge" income covers a large portion of your spending without touching the portfolio, allowing it to continue compounding. It dramatically reduces your required FIRE number — in some cases by $200,000–$400,000 — and gives your investments 5 more years of growth before drawdown begins.
How much does location arbitrage reduce your FIRE number?
Location arbitrage means spending part of each year in a lower-cost country. A typical Canada + SE Asia (6+6) split can reduce your blended monthly spending from $3,500 (Canada-only) to roughly $2,000–$2,400, cutting your FIRE number from ~$1.2M to ~$680,000–$820,000. The exact savings depend on your Canadian and abroad spending rates. This calculator computes your blended spending automatically and shows you the location comparison chart.