Your number to retire early — counting Social Security, your mortgage, and a HECM at 62
Not counting a mortgage payment. Step 2 adds your mortgage.
Everything is in today’s dollars, so the return is after inflation. Your estimate is on your Social Security statement at ssa.gov/myaccount.
FIRE Summary
FIRE number
$1.09M
needed at 52
Savings at 52
$1.29M
on track
Financially independent at
Age 51
saving $3,000/mo
vs. 25× spending
$1.50M
Social Security saves you $407K
Your savings cover everything from 52 until Social Security starts at 67, then only the gap it leaves.
Your savings vs. your FIRE number
Your age along the bottom. Today’s dollars.
Estimates only. Returns are illustrative, not a forecast. A HECM requires age 62, HUD counseling, and the loan balance grows over time. Today’s rates →
Altgage Inc. NMLS #2447252 | 100 Cambridge St, Floor 14, Boston, MA 02114|The usual FIRE number is 25 times your yearly spending — what a 4% withdrawal supports. That ignores two things most early retirees have: Social Security later, and a mortgage that ends. This calculator counts both, which usually lowers the number.
Until Social Security starts, your savings pay for everything. After it starts, they only cover the gap it leaves — and that gap, divided by your withdrawal rate, is the rest of the number. Retiring at 50 with benefits at 67 means seventeen years of full spending, then a much smaller draw for life.
Adding 25 times your mortgage payment prices it as if you’ll pay it forever. Here it’s the payments you’ll actually make after you stop working — and since the payment is fixed while prices rise, each one costs less in today’s dollars.
A reverse mortgage can pay off what’s left of your mortgage at 62, from home equity. Payments before 62 still come from your savings. The cost is a loan balance that grows and is repaid from the house. The reverse mortgage calculator shows what your home could support.
Coast FIRE comes first: enough that you can stop saving. Then Barista FIRE: enough to go part-time. Then full FIRE: enough to stop. Step 3 shows all three for you.
Taxes. Enter spending that includes the tax you expect on withdrawals.
Health care before 65. Retiring before Medicare means buying your own coverage. Include it in your spending.
Early-withdrawal rules. Money in a 401(k) or IRA generally can’t be taken out before 59½ without a penalty unless you use an exception. Plan which accounts fund the early years.
Bad markets. A crash early in retirement hurts most. How long will my money last tests a bad first decade.
Your FIRE number is how much you need invested to stop working and live off your savings for good. The common shortcut is 25 times your yearly spending, which is what a 4% withdrawal supports. This calculator refines it: savings cover everything until Social Security starts, then only the gap it leaves, and a mortgage counts only for the payments you actually have left.
Yes — it lowers it, often by a lot. Before benefits start, your savings pay for everything; after they start, they only cover the difference between your spending and your benefit. With $60,000 of spending and a $30,000 benefit, the lifetime part of the number is based on $30,000 a year, not $60,000.
Not necessarily. A mortgage ends, so your savings only need to cover the payments left after you stop working, not 25 times the payment. A HECM reverse mortgage at 62 can also pay off what remains from home equity, which lowers the number further. Step 2 of the calculator shows your number without a mortgage, keeping it, and with a HECM.
Historically 4% survived every 30-year period in Bengen’s data, including retirees who started in 1929 and 1966. Morningstar’s 2026 research puts the safe starting rate at 3.9% for a balanced portfolio over 30 years, or up to 5.7% for retirees who cut spending in bad years. Early retirees facing 40 or 50 years often choose 3.5% for extra margin; the calculator lets you set it.
They are three milestones of increasing size. Coast FIRE is enough invested that you can stop saving and let it grow while work pays the bills. Barista FIRE is enough that you can quit full-time and let part-time income cover part of your spending. Full FIRE is enough to stop working entirely. Step 3 shows all three for your numbers.
A real return is the return after inflation. US stocks have returned about 6–7% after inflation over long periods; most FIRE planners use 4–5% to allow for bonds and today’s valuations. Because everything here is in today’s dollars, enter a return after inflation.