Savings Rate Calculator
Your salary barely matters. The percentage of your take-home pay that you save is what decides when you can stop working. Enter your savings rate to see how many years stand between you and financial independence.
Years to financial independence
37.3
FI target
25× spending
Financially independent at age
67
All figures are in today’s dollars, using a real return of 4.85% after inflation.
Savings rate vs. working years
Starting from zero, with your assumptions above. Your rate is highlighted.
| Savings rate | Years until retirement |
|---|---|
| 5% | 60+ |
| 10% | 52.3 |
| 15% | 43.5 |
| 20% | 37.3 |
| 25% | 32.4 |
| 30% | 28.3 |
| 35% | 24.9 |
| 40% | 21.9 |
| 50% | 16.8 |
| 60% | 12.5 |
| 70% | 8.8 |
| 80% | 5.6 |
| 90% | 2.7 |
This calculator provides estimates only and is not financial advice. See our full disclaimer.
The shockingly simple math
This calculator is built on the idea Mr. Money Mustache popularized in The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement: how long you need to work depends almost entirely on your savings rate, not your income.
The reason is that your savings rate does double duty. Saving more grows the portfolio faster, and it simultaneously proves you can live on less — which shrinks the portfolio you need in the first place. Someone earning $200,000 and spending $180,000 has a longer road ahead than someone earning $60,000 and spending $30,000.
Your finish line is your annual spending divided by your safe withdrawal rate. At a 4% withdrawal rate that is 25 times your yearly expenses. Every dollar you cut from spending removes 25 dollars from the target and adds a dollar to your savings.
The projection runs in today’s dollars using a real return — your expected return adjusted for inflation, calculated as (1 + return) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1. That is why the inflation floor matters: an 8% return with 3% inflation is really about 4.85% of purchasing power growth per year.
The assumption limits are deliberate. Returns cap at 10%, inflation starts at 3%, and the withdrawal rate caps at 4% so the calculator errs toward a conservative answer rather than an optimistic one. It ignores taxes, Social Security, employer matches, windfalls, and any change in spending over time.
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