It's not your salary. It's not your portfolio return. It's the gap between what you earn and what you spend.
Net take-home plus anything going straight into a pension.
What lands in your bank account after tax. Bonus money included.
Money going into your retirement account each year. Counts as savings even though you don't see it in your bank.
What you actually spend over a year. Use a realistic average, not a goal.
Rent or mortgage, bills, food, leisure, holidays. Everything that lands as a transaction.
How your portfolio grows, and how aggressively you withdraw later.
Expected portfolio return after inflation. 5% is a sensible default for a global stock-heavy portfolio.
The share of your portfolio you'll withdraw each year in retirement. 4% is the textbook default.
Strong. Early retirement on the table.
Illustrative figures only. The 4% rule comes from the Trinity Study and assumes a stock-heavy portfolio over a 30-year horizon. For your specific situation, consult a qualified adviser.
Worth turns your savings rate into a living trajectory: when each bill goes free, when your portfolio can replace your income, and the next move at each stage. Join the waitlist.
Yes. Money going into your pension is money you're not spending, even though it doesn't pass through your bank account. Include both your contributions and your employer's match. Some calculators leave the employer match out, which understates your real savings rate.
10% is the cultural baseline. 20% gets you to a comfortable retirement at normal age. 30%+ puts early retirement on the table. 50%+ and you're in serious FIRE territory. The right number depends on what you're optimising for, but most professionals can comfortably aim for 30 to 40% with some intentional spending changes.
The Trinity Study found that retirees withdrawing 4% of their initial portfolio each year (adjusted for inflation) had a 95%+ chance of the money lasting 30+ years, even through wars, recessions, and the Great Depression. So if you need 40,000 per year to live, you need a million invested. That's the FIRE target. Some prefer 3.5% or 3.25% for early retirees with longer horizons.
This calculator uses post-tax (net) income for both savings and the FIRE target, which keeps the maths consistent. In practice, tax drag in retirement is usually lower than during working years because you're drawing from a mix of taxable, tax-free (ISA / Roth), and tax-deferred (pension) buckets. Worth's full FIRE calculator handles this properly.