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Grinding the numbersCompounding your returnsBrewing your plan
Find how much corpus you need to retire early or on time, with expenses inflated to your retirement date, in five flavours of FIRE.
Your FIRE Number
₹4,81,07,032
by age 50
Years to FIRE
20
Years in Retirement
35
Monthly Expense Today
₹50,000
Monthly Expense at Age 50
₹1,60,357
Years to FIRE
20
Years in Retirement
35
Full FIRE
₹4,81,07,032
Corpus to sustain your current lifestyle, unchanged, in retirement.
Coast FIRE
₹49,87,100
What you'd need saved today to "coast" — no more contributions — to your FIRE number by your target age.
Lean FIRE
₹3,36,74,922
A leaner corpus, sized to a trimmed-down, minimalist lifestyle.
Barista FIRE
₹2,40,53,516
A smaller corpus, sized to the gap left after part-time work, freelancing, rent, or other extra income covers the rest of your expenses.
Fat FIRE
₹7,21,60,548
A larger corpus, sized to an expanded, more comfortable lifestyle.
Closing the gap to your FIRE number needs an estimated monthly SIP of ₹38,494 over the next 20 years, at your expected pre-FIRE return. Model it precisely with:
FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. The idea is simple: build a portfolio large enough that a modest yearly withdrawal from it covers your living costs, so paid work becomes optional — whether you stop at 40, 50 or a conventional retirement age.
Your FIRE number is the size of that portfolio. The common rule of thumb divides your yearly expenses by a safe withdrawal rate: at 4%, you need 25 times a year's spending. Because your retirement date is usually years away, this calculator first inflates today's expenses to what they are likely to be by then.
The calculator also shows lighter and heavier variants — Lean, Fat, Barista and Coast FIRE — and works out the monthly SIP needed to close any gap between what you have today and your full FIRE number.
The 25-times rule applies to your expenses in the year you retire, not today’s. With 6% inflation, this is the FIRE number as a multiple of what you spend in a year today:
| Years until you retire | 4% withdrawal rate | 3.5% | 3% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 years | 45× | 51× | 60× |
| 15 years | 60× | 68× | 80× |
| 20 years | 80× | 92× | 107× |
| 25 years | 107× | 123× | 143× |
A later date raises the target but leaves more years to save, so the monthly SIP still falls: the SIP Calculator shows what the same SIP grows to.
For an early retirement, test how long the corpus lasts with the SWP Calculator: at 4%, with withdrawals rising 6% a year, a corpus earning 8% lasts about 37 years; at 3.5%, about 46 years.
Take a base case of a 30-year-old who spends a fixed amount each month today, has some savings already and wants to be financially independent at 45, assuming 6% inflation, a 12% return before FIRE and a 4% withdrawal rate. The first row of the table below is that base case; each row after it changes just one thing. Every figure is calculated with the same formula this calculator uses.
| Scenario | Monthly SIP needed | Yearly expenses at FIRE | Today's savings grow to | FIRE number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ₹50,000/month today · age 30, FIRE at 45 · ₹10,00,000 saved (base case) | ₹60,397 | ₹14,37,935 | ₹54,73,566 | ₹3,59,48,373 |
| Base case, FIRE at 40 | ₹1,02,251 | ₹10,74,509 | ₹31,05,848 | ₹2,68,62,715 |
| Base case, FIRE at 50 | ₹38,494 | ₹19,24,281 | ₹96,46,293 | ₹4,81,07,032 |
| Base case, spending ₹40,000/month instead | ₹46,148 | ₹11,50,348 | ₹54,73,566 | ₹2,87,58,698 |
| Base case with a 3.5% withdrawal rate | ₹70,575 | ₹14,37,935 | ₹54,73,566 | ₹4,10,83,855 |
| Base case at 7% inflation instead of 6% | ₹71,172 | ₹16,55,419 | ₹54,73,566 | ₹4,13,85,473 |
| Base case, starting with no savings | ₹71,245 | ₹14,37,935 | ₹0 | ₹3,59,48,373 |
In the base case, 15 years of 6% inflation push yearly expenses to about 2.4 times today's level, so the FIRE number works out to roughly 60 times what you spend in a year today.
Retiring at 40 instead of 45 shrinks the FIRE number by about a quarter, yet the monthly SIP rises by around 70%, because there are five fewer years to save and compound. Retiring at 50 does the opposite: a bigger number, but a SIP more than a third lower.
Spending 20% less lowers both the target and the SIP — the SIP falls by nearly a quarter. Cutting expenses is the only lever that helps on both sides at once.
A more cautious 3.5% withdrawal rate and one extra point of inflation each raise the FIRE number by about 15% and the SIP by nearly a fifth.
The savings already in place matter too: starting from zero would need a SIP almost a fifth higher.
FIRE isn't one number. Each variant trades a different lifestyle against a different target.
| Type | What it covers | Target compared with Full FIRE | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lean FIRE | A trimmed-down, frugal lifestyle | Smaller (70% of expenses) | Minimalists, or as an early milestone |
| Full FIRE | Your current lifestyle, unchanged | The benchmark | Most people planning to stop work entirely |
| Fat FIRE | A more comfortable, expanded lifestyle | Larger (150% of expenses) | Those who want room for travel and extras |
| Barista FIRE | Expenses left after part-time or other income | Smaller, depending on that income | People happy to keep some work or rental income |
| Coast FIRE | What you need invested today, with no further contributions | Much smaller today; it grows into Full FIRE | Those who want to ease off saving early |
Many people aim for Coast or Lean FIRE first as milestones on the way to Full FIRE.
About 25 times your yearly expenses at the date you retire, at a 4% withdrawal rate. Measured against what you spend today, at 6% inflation, that is:
With a more cautious 3.5% withdrawal rate, each target is about 14% higher.
Because it compounds every year until you retire, and the FIRE number is a multiple of your expenses at that date. Retiring in 15 years at a 4% withdrawal rate, the target is:
Leaving inflation out would put the target at 25 times today’s expenses: less than half of what you need.
Your FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) number is the investment corpus you'd need so that a safe annual withdrawal from it covers your living expenses indefinitely, without needing to earn active income.
Full FIRE covers your current lifestyle unchanged. Lean FIRE targets a trimmed-down lifestyle at a smaller corpus. Fat FIRE targets a more comfortable, expanded lifestyle at a larger corpus. Coast FIRE is what you'd need saved right now to grow into your Full FIRE number with no further contributions. Barista FIRE is a smaller corpus that only needs to cover the gap left after part-time work or other income, like rent, covers the rest.
Your FIRE number is calculated as your (inflation-adjusted) annual expense divided by the safe withdrawal rate — this is the widely used "4% rule": a corpus 25 times your annual expenses, sized so a 4% annual withdrawal is expected to sustain it through a long retirement.
Coast FIRE is the present value of your Full FIRE number: your Full FIRE amount is discounted backward from your target FIRE age to today at your expected pre-FIRE return rate. If your current savings already exceed that amount, you've reached Coast FIRE — they're projected to grow into your full number without another rupee invested.
The calculator projects your current savings forward to your target FIRE age at your expected pre-FIRE return, subtracts that from your Full FIRE number to get any shortfall, and then works out the monthly SIP (invested at the same return, for the years remaining) needed to close it — the same monthly-compounding SIP formula used by the SIP calculator, solved in reverse.
The 4% rule comes from studies of roughly 30-year retirements. An early retirement can last 40 or 50 years, so many planners suggest a more cautious 3–3.5% withdrawal rate, which means a corpus about 29–33 times annual expenses instead of 25. Try a lower Safe Withdrawal Rate in the calculator to see what that does to your number.
Everything you expect to keep paying once you stop working: household bills, food, transport, rent or home maintenance, insurance premiums, travel and hobbies, plus irregular costs such as car replacement or home repairs spread out as a monthly average. Remember costs your employer pays today — health insurance is the most common one people forget.
Usually not. One-off goals are better planned separately with the Goal Calculator, and loans are ideally cleared before you retire. Keep your FIRE number for ongoing living expenses only, so it isn't inflated by costs that end after a few years.
No. It sizes the corpus to cover the expenses you enter, before any tax on the withdrawals. If gains or income in retirement will be taxed where you live, add an allowance for that tax to your monthly expenses, or use a slightly lower withdrawal rate.
Most people set up a systematic withdrawal from a diversified portfolio and keep a few years of spending in safer assets so they never have to sell in a crash. The SWP Calculator shows how long a corpus lasts at a given withdrawal, and the 3 Bucket Strategy calculator models splitting it by time horizon.
Today's monthly expenses are inflated forward to your target FIRE age, then each FIRE variant sizes a corpus off that future annual expense using your safe withdrawal rate (SWR) — the same "25x expenses" logic behind the standard 4% rule.
Annual expense at FIRE
Expense(FIRE) = Monthly Expense × 12 × (1 + Inflation)^(FIRE Age − Current Age)
Full / Lean / Fat / Barista FIRE
Corpus = Expense(FIRE) × Lifestyle Ratio ÷ SWR
Coast FIRE
Coast FIRE = Full FIRE ÷ (1 + Pre-FIRE Return)^(FIRE Age − Current Age)
Required monthly SIP
Shortfall = Full FIRE − (Current Savings compounded to FIRE Age); solved for the monthly SIP that grows to Shortfall
SIPCafe's calculators and guides are for education and planning only and are not investment, tax or legal advice. Results are estimates based on the assumptions you enter; actual returns vary and are not guaranteed. Consider speaking with a qualified financial adviser before making investment decisions. SIPCafe is not a registered investment adviser and does not recommend any specific security, fund or scheme. All investments carry market risk; read a fund's or scheme's official documents carefully before investing.