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It is the most common path to early retirement: build up a pot of investments, then gradually spend it down to cover your living costs. How much you can safely take out each year is your withdrawal rate — and the well-known starting point is the 4% rule, which suggests withdrawing about 4% in your first year, then adjusting for inflation.

The 4% rule is a rule of thumb: take out about 4% of your investments in year one, then raise that dollar amount with inflation each year, and your money should last roughly 30 years. Flipped around, it gives you a savings target of about 25 times your yearly spending. This calculator lets you set your own withdrawal rate so you can test more cautious or more aggressive numbers.

No — it is a guideline based on past market history, not a promise. Bad luck early in retirement (a market drop in your first years) is the main risk. Many retirees stay flexible: they trim spending in down years or use a slightly lower rate for extra safety. Treat the result as a confidence estimate, not a certainty, and revisit it over time.

No. This strategy focuses on your liquid investments — the money you can actually sell and spend, like funds in a brokerage account, 401(k), or IRA. Your primary home is excluded because you still need somewhere to live, so it cannot fund day-to-day spending. The calculator finds the earliest age those investments can support withdrawals through your life expectancy.

Income Stream FIRE lives on steady income without selling investments, and Principal-Preserving FIRE lives only on the earnings while keeping savings whole. Portfolio Drawdown is the most flexible and usually allows the earliest retirement, because you are willing to spend the savings themselves down over time. You can compare the earliest age each approach gives you across the three calculators.