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It means covering your living costs with steady, reliable income — like a pension, rental income, or Social Security — instead of selling off your savings. If your regular income is enough to pay the bills, you can retire without ever drawing down a portfolio, which is the most cautious of the three FIRE strategies.

People who already have, or expect, dependable income streams that keep paying month after month — such as a workplace pension, rent from a property you own, an annuity, or a solid Social Security benefit. If those streams alone cover your spending, this path lets you avoid the ups and downs of selling investments in a falling market.

Income that arrives regularly and is likely to continue: Social Security, a pension, annuity payments, and rent from property are the common ones. The more of it that adjusts with inflation (Social Security does; most fixed pensions do not), the better it holds up over a long retirement. This calculator lets you enter each stream and see whether the total covers your expenses from the age you choose.

Portfolio Drawdown funds retirement by gradually selling your investments and following a safe withdrawal rate (the 4% rule is the well-known starting point). Income Stream FIRE instead leans on income you already receive, so your savings can stay invested and untouched. It usually needs strong income sources, but it removes the worry of running your portfolio down.

Many households blend strategies: reliable income covers the essentials, and a modest drawdown from savings covers the rest. You can model that here by comparing this view with the Principal-Preserving and Portfolio Drawdown calculators to see which mix lets you retire earliest with confidence.