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FIRE & Die With Zero retirement calculator

Will your money last as long as you do, and how much of it will you never get to spend? Enter a few numbers to see your net worth year by year, the savings you need to retire, and the most you can spend. Free, no sign-up; your numbers stay in your browser and in the page link.

1 · About you

Plan past your life expectancy: running out at 88 is worse than leaving a little at 95.

2 · Money

Retirement accounts, brokerage, cash, bonds. Leave out the home you live in unless you plan to sell it.

In today's dollars, including taxes on withdrawals and health insurance.

Your estimate in today's dollars is in your my Social Security account. Put 0 to plan without it.

3 · Assumptions

A long-run average for the whole portfolio. Stock-heavy mixes have averaged more, bond-heavy less, with big swings year to year.

0 = die with zero. Add an amount for heirs, charity or a safety buffer.

All results are in today's dollars unless you switch the chart to future dollars.

Your net worth by age

$0$1.0M$2.0M$3.0M405060708090Retire

The money lasts to age 95, with $2,080,024 left (today's dollars).

Your Die With Zero number

$841,982

Invested savings needed at age 60 to spend $5,000 a month and reach $0 at 95, with Social Security from 67.

On your plan you'll have $1,390,182 at 60: $548,200 more than you need.

Most you can spend in retirement

$7,367 /month

From age 60, the highest steady spending that never runs dry and reaches $0 at 95.

Earliest you could retire

Age 55

At $5,000 a month, saving $2,000 a month until then.

The 4% rule, for comparison

$900,000

25 × a year of spending not covered by Social Security. It is built to last about 30 years and leave money over; the Die With Zero number above is fitted to your own timeline (35 years).

You may be over-saving. On this plan you'd leave about $2,080,024 (today's dollars) unspent at 95, money you could spend as about $2,367 more a month in retirement, or retire earlier. If leaving it is the goal, put it in “Amount to leave behind.”

Estimates only, not financial advice. The tool assumes a steady return every year; real markets swing, and a bad decade early in retirement hurts more than the average suggests. Taxes are not modelled separately: include them in your spending. Inspired by Bill Perkins' Die With Zero. See what you'd take home now with the take-home pay calculator.

How this calculator works

  • Today's dollars. Every amount is in today's money. Your balance grows at the return you enter minus inflation (the real return), compounded monthly, so $5,000 a month means the same lifestyle at 40 and at 80. Switch the chart to future dollars to see the larger numbers your statements will actually show.
  • While you work, your monthly savings are added. After you retire, your monthly spending is taken out, and Social Security is added from the age you start it.
  • Your Die With Zero number is the invested balance you need on the day you retire so that the money never runs dry and reaches $0 (or the amount you want to leave) at the age you plan for. It counts Social Security from its start age, and it also covers the years before Social Security begins, when you live only on savings.
  • Most you can spend is the reverse: the highest steady monthly spending your plan supports to that age.
  • Earliest you could retire tries every retirement age from today and shows the first one where your spending lasts.

FIRE, the 4% rule and Die With Zero

FIRE stands for financial independence, retire early: once your investments can pay for your life, work becomes optional. The common shortcut is the 4% rule — save about 25 times a year of spending, then withdraw 4% in the first year and raise it with inflation. It was designed around roughly 30-year retirements and, in most historical periods, left a large balance unspent.

Die With Zero, Bill Perkins' book, argues the opposite risk matters too: dying with a fortune you saved instead of living. This calculator fits the number to your own ages, savings and Social Security, and warns you when your plan is likely to leave a lot of money unspent, so you can decide whether to spend more, retire sooner, or leave it on purpose.

Things to keep in mind

  • Taxes. Withdrawals from a traditional 401(k) or IRA are taxed as income, and Social Security can be partly taxed. Include those taxes in your monthly spending. For what you take home today, see the take-home pay calculator.
  • Health insurance before 65. Retiring before Medicare means buying coverage; budget for it in your spending. Our benefits pages list the ACA premium tax credit income limits.
  • Social Security timing. Starting later raises the monthly check. Your own estimates at different start ages are in your my Social Security account; try each one here.
  • Markets don't move in a straight line. The tool uses one average return. Poor returns in the first years of retirement do more damage than the average shows, so test a lower return and keep a buffer with “Amount to leave behind.”
  • Where you live. Spending depends heavily on rent, childcare and taxes in your county; see Can I afford to live here?

This is a planning estimate, not financial advice.

Last updated October 16, 2026.