FIRE -- Financial Independence, Retire Early -- is not really about retiring.
About this calculator
FIRE -- Financial Independence, Retire Early -- is not really about retiring. It is about having enough invested that work becomes optional. The FIRE corpus is the amount that, withdrawn safely each year, covers your living expenses indefinitely. The classic 4% rule comes from US research on 30-year retirements; for India, most practitioners lean towards 3% to 3.5% given equity volatility and the absence of a social safety net. This calculator uses whatever rate you set.
Coast FIRE is the intermediate milestone most people actually hit first. Once your invested corpus is large enough to grow into the full FIRE number by your target retirement age -- even with zero new contributions -- you have reached Coast FIRE. From that point on, you can stop saving and let compounding finish the job, or redirect the freed cash to current lifestyle. For an Indian at 30 with a 50-year target and 11% expected returns, Coast FIRE usually arrives in the late thirties or early forties, a decade before full FIRE.
Two numbers in this calculator deserve a close look. One is the real return, computed as the gap between your expected return and inflation: this is what actually drives corpus growth in purchasing-power terms. Two is the sensitivity chart, which shows how FIRE age moves when returns swing by a percentage point. Small shifts make a large difference across twenty-year horizons, which is why aggressive assumptions in FIRE planning are the most common mistake. See [[sip]] for the SIP-side math, [[retirement]] for the traditional retirement frame, and [[compound-interest]] for the compounding engine underneath.
Common uses
- 30-year-old with 15L corpus deciding whether 40k monthly SIP reaches FIRE by 50
- Comparing Coast FIRE age at 10% versus 12% equity return assumptions
- Mid-career professional checking if existing corpus alone carries them to retirement
- Testing whether dropping monthly saving from 50k to 30k delays FIRE by 2 years or 8 years
- Planning a sabbatical at 40 using Coast FIRE math
Frequently asked questions
What is a realistic FIRE corpus for India?
For a 70k per month lifestyle in today
What is Coast FIRE?
Coast FIRE is the point where your current invested corpus, with zero further contributions, will grow to the full FIRE number by retirement age. Reaching it unlocks the option to stop saving and enjoy current income without pushing back retirement.
Is the 4% safe withdrawal rate safe for India?
Most Indian FIRE planners use 3% to 3.5%. The 4% rule came from the US Trinity Study with American equity and bond return history. Indian equity is more volatile, real-estate is less liquid, and public pension coverage is thin -- so a lower withdrawal rate is safer.
Should I include EPF and PPF in FIRE corpus?
Yes, at their realistic post-tax withdrawal value. EPF and PPF give guaranteed returns but lock money up for decades, so treat them as a bond allocation inside your FIRE corpus rather than as growth engines.
How does inflation affect FIRE planning?
Inflation is the silent killer of FIRE math. A 70k monthly lifestyle today becomes 2.25 lakh in 20 years at 6% inflation. Always use real returns (return minus inflation) for the compounding calculation, which this calculator does automatically.