FIRE
Financial independence, retire early: compare your invested portfolio with annual lifestyle spending divided by a planning withdrawal rate. It is a useful benchmark, not a promise of lifelong funding.
How FIRE is calculated →FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE, BUILT AROUND YOUR LIFE
How soon can work become optional?
A financial independence calculator for career breaks, life abroad, and early retirement. Build a plan in chapters—and see what your choices could make possible.
No account or bank connection needed. Start with estimates and refine them as you go.
MORE LIFE. LESS WAITING.
Your future can have more than one chapter.
Build your optionsWork, save, and invest.
Make room for a breakA sabbatical, a move, a change of pace.
Choose what comes nextReturn to work—or explore a different path.
Illustrative chapters. Your dates, budgets, and outcomes are yours to explore.
WHAT YOU CAN EXPLORE
Put your next chapter into perspective.
Compare income, spending, savings, and the timing of life changes. Follow your portfolio through a monthly projection and test a range of possible market outcomes.
Read the methodologyA PLAN YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN
Start small. Explore the possibilities.
- 01
Find your starting point
Begin with your age, invested portfolio, spending, and after-tax savings. Estimates are enough to explore.
- 02
Shape your chapters
Add work, time off, a move, one-time costs, or a property. Give each chapter its own timing and budget.
- 03
Compare possible paths
Inspect monthly cash flows, test different market outcomes, and save scenarios before changing your plan.
MORE THAN ONE WAY TO FIND FREEDOM
Understand what each target tells you.
CoastFI
Explore whether investments could grow to your retirement target without further deposits or withdrawals. You still need a way to cover your living costs while the portfolio grows.
Understand CoastFI →GeoFI
See how a different location’s budget changes the financial independence target. Compare editable lifestyle budgets and the cost of moving or returning home.
Explore location-based FI →A career break can matter long before full financial independence. Model its dates and costs in your Life Plan, then inspect how they affect future funding.
KNOW WHAT IS BEHIND THE NUMBERS
A clearer model. Room for uncertainty.
Choose your assumptions, inspect the calculations, and compare outcomes. Market simulations help explore uncertainty; they cannot predict what markets or your life will do.
Assumptions, sources, and limitations →Your plan is saved in your browser.
No account or bank connection is required. Calculations run on your device. Export a backup, or deliberately share selected results or a full plan. Anyone with a full-plan link can read its contents.
Read about storage and sharing →BEFORE YOU START
A few useful answers.
Is Escape Velocity free to use?
Yes. The calculator is free to use and does not require an account or a bank connection.
Is this only for early retirement?
No. You can model a sabbatical, part-time work, life abroad, a return home, or a sequence of different chapters. Financial independence targets are one way to interpret a plan.
Are the numbers in today’s dollars?
Inputs and primary results use today’s US-dollar purchasing power. The portfolio chart also offers future nominal dollars. Inflation, real spending changes, and tax settings are explained in the methodology.
Does it include taxes, property, and Social Security?
The planner supports account-specific US withdrawal-tax and early-access estimates, primary and rental property cash flows, and optional Social Security estimates or benefit overrides. These are simplified models; review the tax and benefit limitations.
What does market success mean?
It is the share of simulated paths that fund every month through your chosen horizon under your assumptions. It is different from the Freedom Score and is not a real-world guarantee.
Can I try it without entering personal numbers?
Yes. Explore the example in a temporary preview. Your existing saved plan is preserved unless you explicitly choose to use the example.
How do I report a problem or suggest something?
Use the feedback page to prepare a report. Review what it contains before sharing it, and leave out account numbers or other private details.
Plan with perspective.
Escape Velocity is an educational planning tool, not individualized financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Outputs depend on your inputs and simplified assumptions. Review major decisions with qualified professionals.