Financial Independence · Retire Early
Find your number.
$0The portfolio that funds your life, forever.
find your number. plan your escape.
01 — Income & Spending
What does your financial life look like?
Two numbers do most of the work in early retirement: what you earn and what you keep. Drag the sliders to match your year. We'll do the math the moment you let go.
Federal tax estimated from gross income using 2025 brackets and standard deduction. Enter taxable income for a more accurate estimate.
Over half your take-home is working toward freedom. This is an exceptional savings engine.
02 — Your FIRE Style
What kind of freedom are you building?
Pick the version of retired life you actually want. Some are about leaving early at any cost; some are about leaving comfortably. We'll resize your number around the choice.
What you expect to spend annually in retirement — may differ from your current spending.
03 — Your Portfolio
How much have you already built?
The number that matters isn't a round target — it's yours. We multiply your spending by the inverse of your safe withdrawal rate, then watch your portfolio race toward it.
04 — Debt Tracker
What debts are slowing you down?
A register of what you owe. Tap any number to edit. Each entry tells you when it will be gone — and what it costs you to keep paying minimums.
List the debts that follow you home. We'll show when each disappears and how that pulls your FIRE date closer.
05 — Your Path
When do you cross the finish line?
Your portfolio's journey from today through retirement — with every debt paid off along the way.
At 7% real return with a 4% withdrawal rate, your portfolio grows even in retirement — returns exceed withdrawals. Lower your expected return or raise your withdrawal rate to model a declining balance.
06 — Projections
Three futures. One choice.
Markets aren't promises. Each scenario climbs to its own peak, then funds inflation-adjusted spending in retirement. The base case assumes your expected return; the others vary it ±2 points so you can see how sensitive your timeline really is.
07 — Tax Strategy
Not all savings are created equal.
The order you fill accounts matters as much as how much you save. HSA first — it's the only account that's tax-free coming and going. Then 401k to the match. Then Roth IRA. Taxable brokerage is the bridge to 59½ when you need money before traditional retirement.
08 — Roth Ladder
Bridge the gap to 59½.
Before 59½ you can't touch your 401k / 403b without a 10% penalty. The Roth conversion ladder solves this — convert pre-tax 401k / 403b money to Roth each year, wait 5 years, then withdraw the converted principal penalty-free. Start the ladder the day you retire so the first dollars unlock when you actually need them.
Projected from your current 401k balance of $165K growing at 7% for 11 years with $24K/yr contributions. This is your pre-tax 401k / 403b — separate from any Traditional IRA, which should be $0 if you are doing Backdoor Roth conversions.
Your conversion amount is your primary ordinary income during Roth ladder years — this is intentional. By keeping other income low, you convert pre-tax 401k funds at the 10–12% bracket rather than the 32–37% you paid while working. The standard deduction shelters your first $30K ($15K single) of conversions entirely.
How it works: Each year in retirement you convert a chunk of your pre-tax 401k / 403b to Roth, paying income tax at your (now lower) bracket. That converted money must season for 5 years before you can withdraw it penalty-free. The grey bars are locked; the green bars are available to spend.
| Year | Age | Convert | Tax Owed | Roth Balance | Available |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2037 | 49 | $60K | $3K | $60K | — |
| 2038 | 50 | $60K | $3K | $124K | — |
| 2039 | 51 | $60K | $3K | $193K | — |
| 2040 | 52 | $60K | $3K | $266K | — |
| 2041 | 53 | $60K | $3K | $345K | — |
| 2042 | 54 | $60K | $3K | $429K | $60K |
| 2043 | 55 | $60K | $3K | $519K | $120K |
| 2044 | 56 | $60K | $3K | $616K | $180K |
| 2045 | 57 | $60K | $3K | $719K | $240K |
| 2046 | 58 | $60K | $3K | $829K | $300K |
09 — Retirement Risk
The order of returns matters more than the average.
Two retirees with identical average returns can land in radically different places depending on when the bad years hit. A crash in year one is devastating because every withdrawal locks in losses. The same crash in year fifteen is survivable. This is sequence of returns risk — the most underappreciated threat to early retirement. All projections use your expected real (inflation-adjusted) return. Withdrawals are in today's dollars.
- 1
Cash buffer
Keep 1–2 years expenses in cash or short-term bonds so you never sell stocks at a loss.
- 2
Flexible spending
Reduce withdrawals 10% in down years. The portfolio recovers faster than you think.
- 3
Part-time income
Even $20K/yr bridges major market drops without touching the portfolio.
- 4
Bucket strategy
Separate short-, medium-, and long-term money so a downturn hits only the long bucket.
10 — Social Security
When should you claim Social Security?
SS is the one guaranteed income stream that increases every year with inflation. For high earners the question isn't whether to claim — it's when. Delaying from 62 to 70 increases your benefit by 77%. For a couple, the math gets even more compelling.
S10 waterfall shows SS in today's dollars (real terms). S9 lifetime totals include 3.0% COLA for comparison purposes.
11 — Income in Retirement
Where will your money come from?
In retirement you don't have one income stream — you have several buckets that deplete at different rates and get taxed differently. The order you draw from them determines how long your money lasts and how much you keep.
Early retirement withdrawal order: You retire at age 49, which is 10.5 years before penalty-free 401k access. The correct sequence draws from taxable brokerage first, then Roth contributions (always accessible), then your Roth conversion ladder (after 5-year seasoning), then optional 72(t) SEPP payments, and avoids your 401k until age 59½. HSA funds can also cover medical expenses penalty-free at any age.
| Age | Phase | SS | Brokerage | Roth | Ladder | 72(t) | 401k | Total | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 49 | Pre-59½ bridge | — | $95K | $15K | — | — | — | $110K | — |
| 50 | Pre-59½ bridge | — | — | $113K | — | — | — | $113K | — |
| 51 | Pre-59½ bridge | — | — | $117K | — | — | — | $117K | — |
| 52 | Pre-59½ bridge | — | — | $120K | — | — | — | $120K | — |
| 53 | Pre-59½ bridge | — | — | $124K | — | — | — | $124K | — |
| 54 | Pre-59½ bridge | — | — | $7K | $70K | — | $51K | $128K | — |
| 55 | Pre-59½ bridge | — | — | — | $131K | — | — | $131K | — |
| 56 | Pre-59½ bridge | — | — | — | $135K | — | — | $135K | — |
| 57 | Pre-59½ bridge | — | — | — | $139K | — | — | $139K | — |
| 58 | Pre-59½ bridge | — | — | — | $144K | — | — | $144K | — |
12 — Mortgage vs Invest
Pay off the mortgage or invest it?
You have $154K/yr in savings. It would take 2.6 years to deploy that toward your $400K mortgage. What happens if you invest it instead — or split it? Use the slider to see the trade-off.
You're making required payments of $2,982/mo and investing your full $154K/yr. Deploying that toward your $400K mortgage would take 2.6 years — instead, invested at 7.0% it grows to $1.1M by year 20. Your mortgage costs $316K in total interest on the required payment schedule.
At 6.5% vs 7.0% expected return, the math favors investing by 0.5% annually — your mortgage is cheap debt worth keeping. Your $0 opportunity cost at this allocation is 0.0% of your current portfolio — a relatively modest price for eliminating a fixed obligation. With 11 years to retirement, sequence-of-returns risk is less immediate — your portfolio has time to recover from downturns before you need to cover a $2,982/mo payment from it. Mathematically, paying off makes sense when your mortgage rate exceeds your expected return (7.0%). Below that threshold — as yours is at 6.5% — the optimal split is 100% investing.
You have a number. Now you have a plan.
Here is everything we know about your path to financial independence.
The SS-adjusted number assumes Social Security income reduces your portfolio withdrawals after age 67. You still need the full FIRE number to fund retirement before SS begins.
- 1
Max your HSA
Contributing $4K of $8K — add $4K to fully optimize the only triple tax-advantaged account.
- 2
Max your 401k
DoneHitting the $24K employee limit.
- 3
Fund Backdoor Roth
At your income level, direct Roth IRA contributions are not allowed. Use the Backdoor Roth: contribute $7,000 to a Traditional IRA then immediately convert to Roth. Important: keep your Traditional IRA balance at $0 — any pre-tax IRA balance triggers the IRS pro-rata rule, making part of your conversion taxable. Your 401k balance does not affect this. Current: $7K of $14,000/yr max (2 people).
- 4
Fund your pre-59½ bridge
You need to cover 10.5 years ($1.2M) before penalty-free 401k access at 59½. At retirement (age 49), projected bridge sources: taxable brokerage ~$271K + Roth contributions ~$112K + Roth conversion ladder (from year 5). Projected gap: $772K — consider enabling 72(t) SEPP or increasing taxable brokerage contributions.Projections assume 7% annual return and current contribution rates.
- 5
Optimize SS timing
Delaying from age 67 to 70 increases your benefit by 24%, but at 3.0% COLA the 3 missed years of early payments cost $7K in lifetime income by age 85 — delaying only wins if you live past the break-even.