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Your savings rate is your retirement date.
The shockingly simple math of early retirement: your savings rate — not your income, not your stock picks — sets the date. A 50% rate buys financial independence in about 17 years; 65% in 10.5; 75% in 7. This calculator runs the closed-form projection on your actual income, spending, and current stash, and shows what each 5-point bump buys you in years.
The FIRE-curious use it to convert a vague "I should save more" into a date: raise the rate five points and watch years fall off. It is also the honest mirror for high earners — a big salary at a 10% rate retires later than a modest one at 40%.
Two ways at once: a higher rate adds more to the portfolio and shrinks the annual spending the portfolio must cover. The math at 5% real return from zero: 10% takes 51 years, 30% takes 28, 50% takes 16.6, 65% takes 10.5, 75% takes 7.1, 90% takes under 3. The rate, not the return, is the dominant variable.
Everything that increases net worth: 401(k) and IRA contributions (including the employer match), HSA contributions, extra principal on debt beyond minimums, and taxable investing — all divided by after-tax income. Counting the match is legitimate: it is compensation you converted to assets.
For 30-year retirements it survived every historical window; for 40–60 year early-retirement horizons, the researched floor is closer to 3.25–3.5%, which means a target of 28–30× spending rather than 25×. Use the safe withdrawal calculator to stress-test the number this one gives you.