FIRE calculator for Canada: net worth, FIRE number and coast FI

What does this FIRE calculator work out?

This FIRE calculator works out three things from one set of inputs: your net worth today, your FIRE number (the invested portfolio that could cover your spending), and how long your current savings rate and expected return would take to get there. It also shows your coast FI number and compares lean, regular and fat FIRE on the same engine, so one change to your inputs updates every scenario at once.

FIRE stands for “financial independence, retire early”. Independence is the important part: the point where investment withdrawals could pay for your life, whether or not you choose to stop working. The calculator treats every result as an estimate built on assumptions you control, and it shows those assumptions next to the answer.

How to use this calculator

1. Enter what you own. Split investments into TFSA, RRSP-type accounts (RRSP, spousal RRSP, LIRA, RRIF, workplace DC plan) and non-registered accounts. Add cash, your home and other assets such as a car or an FHSA.
2. Enter what you owe. Mortgage and HELOC balances go in one field; car loans, student loans, lines of credit and credit card balances in the other.
3. Add your age, take-home pay and savings rate. Take-home pay is after income tax, CPP and EI. The savings rate is the share of that pay you invest each year.
4. Choose your spending in financial independence. Keep “same as today” to use take-home pay minus savings, or enter a different amount if you expect to spend more or less.
5. Pick a withdrawal rate and a real return. Both are assumptions. Compare a cautious and a hopeful version rather than trusting one.
6. Open “Coast FI and cash” to change the coast FI age or count cash toward the portfolio.

The results show your years to financial independence first, then the FIRE number, net worth and coast FI number, followed by the scenario tables and a year-by-year projection you can download as a CSV.

How is a FIRE number calculated?

A FIRE number is calculated by dividing the yearly spending you expect in financial independence by the withdrawal rate you assume. The multiple of spending is simply 100 divided by the rate, so a lower rate always means a bigger target.

How to read this table: each row is the same spending with a different withdrawal assumption. Moving from the middle row to the top row adds a third to the target, which is why the withdrawal rate deserves as much thought as the return.

Where does the withdrawal rate come from?

The withdrawal rate most FIRE calculators default to comes from US research, not from any Canadian rule or regulator. William Bengen’s 1994 study and the 1998 “Trinity study” by three Trinity University professors looked at how much a retiree could withdraw from a US stock and bond portfolio in the first year, then raise with inflation, without running out over retirements of about 30 years in US market history. The answer they landed on became the “four per cent rule”, which is the same thing as saving 25 times your spending.

That research has three limits worth knowing before relying on it in Canada:

• It used US markets. Canadian investors usually hold a mix of Canadian, US and international assets, with different returns and currency effects.
• It tested 30-year retirements. Someone reaching financial independence at 45 could need withdrawals for 45 years or more, and longer periods generally support a lower rate.
• It ignored most costs. Fund fees and advisory fees come straight out of the return; the investment fee calculator shows how much a higher MER costs over decades.

The calculator therefore treats the rate as a lever, not a fact. The withdrawal-rate table in the results shows your FIRE number and years to reach it at every rate from cautious to aggressive.

Worked example: FIRE number and coast FI for a 32-year-old

Take a hypothetical 32-year-old with $45,000 in a TFSA, $60,000 in an RRSP, $10,000 in a non-registered account, $15,000 in savings, a car worth $20,000 and a $18,000 car loan. Take-home pay is $90,000 a year and the savings rate is 30%. The assumptions are a 4% withdrawal rate and a 4.5% real return, with coast FI measured to age 65.

• Net worth: assets of $150,000 minus debts of $18,000 = $132,000.
• FIRE portfolio today: only the invested accounts count, so $115,000. Cash and the car stay in net worth only.
• Savings and spending: $27,000 is invested each year, leaving $63,000 of spending.
• FIRE number: $1,575,000.
• Years to financial independence: 25 years and 1 month, around age 57. Of the money in the portfolio by then, about $677,250 comes from new savings and $789,288 from investment growth.
• Coast FI: $368,505 invested today would grow to the FIRE number by 65 with no more saving. That amount rises every year, because less time is left for growth, so at the current pace coast FI arrives in 12 years and 2 months, around age 44, when the balance of about $629,542 could grow to the FIRE number by 65 on its own.

How to read this table: the first three rows change only the lifestyle the portfolio must fund. The fourth row shows that a more cautious withdrawal rate adds about two years. The last row shows the savings-rate effect: saving half of take-home pay cuts the wait by more than ten years, because it raises savings and lowers spending at the same time.

How does the maths work?

The projection runs month by month in today’s dollars:

1. The yearly real return is turned into an equivalent monthly rate, so growth compounds correctly rather than dividing the annual rate by 12. A 4.5% real return becomes 0.3675% a month.
2. Each month the portfolio earns that rate, then one twelfth of your yearly savings is added.
3. The first month the balance reaches the FIRE number is your time to financial independence. If it never gets there within 100 years, the calculator says so.
4. Coast FI divides the FIRE number by one plus the real return, raised to the number of years until your coast age. Each month the calculator checks whether the balance, left alone, would grow to the FIRE number by that age.

A real return is the return after inflation. If a portfolio earns 6.5% in a year when prices rise 2%, the real return is 4.41%, a little less than the simple difference. Working in real terms means the FIRE number stays in today’s dollars and your savings are assumed to rise with inflation.

Which Canadian accounts can fund early retirement?

Canadian accounts can all fund early retirement, but each is taxed differently on the way out, which changes how much you need to withdraw to spend a given amount. The calculator adds them together for the FIRE number and flags a portfolio heavy in RRSP money.

How to read this table: the spending figure you enter should include income tax on RRSP and non-registered withdrawals. A portfolio mostly in a TFSA needs less gross withdrawal for the same spending than one mostly in an RRSP. The RRSP withdrawal tax calculator estimates the tax on RRSP money, and the TFSA vs RRSP vs FHSA calculator compares where new savings go further. To model a single account’s growth, try the TFSA growth calculator or the RRSP calculator.

What is the difference between lean, regular, fat and coast FIRE?

Lean, regular and fat FIRE differ only in the spending the portfolio has to fund; coast FI is a milestone on the way rather than a lifestyle. These are FIRE-community labels, so the calculator states its own settings instead of implying an official definition.

Coast FI is useful for anyone who wants to downshift to lower-paid or part-time work without giving up on a normal retirement age. The coast FIRE guide for Canada covers how people use it in practice.

How do CPP and OAS change an early-retirement plan?

CPP and OAS reduce the amount a portfolio needs to cover after they begin, but not before. CPP can start at any age from 60 to 70, with a smaller payment for starting early and a larger one for waiting, and OAS normally starts at 65 with the option to defer. The calculator deliberately leaves both out, so its FIRE number is the amount the portfolio would need on its own. Someone retiring at 50 relies on the portfolio alone for at least ten years before CPP could start. The OAS, CPP and GIS planner estimates what those benefits could add once they start. The guide to retiring early in Canada walks through bridging those years.

Common mistakes with FIRE calculators

• Using a nominal return. Entering a return before inflation while keeping spending in today’s dollars makes the date look years closer than it is.
• Counting the house. Home equity lifts net worth but cannot pay the grocery bill without selling or borrowing.
• Forgetting tax on RRSP money. A dollar of RRSP withdrawal is not a dollar of spending; the tax comes off first.
• Treating the withdrawal rate as a guarantee. It is a rule of thumb from US history for 30-year retirements. A long early retirement is a different test.
• Ignoring fees. A higher fee lowers the real return every single year, which compounds into years of extra work.
• Leaving out irregular costs. Car replacements, home repairs and dental work belong in yearly spending, averaged out.
• Comparing net worth with strangers. Averages hide wide ranges; net worth by age in Canada shows medians alongside the averages.

When should you talk to a professional?

A fee-only financial planner or a tax professional is worth consulting before acting on a FIRE plan, because the calculator cannot see your full tax picture, pension rules or family situation. That matters most when you are:

• deciding whether to leave a job or cut hours based on a coast FI or FIRE result;
• planning RRSP or RRIF withdrawals before 71 to manage tax, or unlocking a LIRA;
• timing CPP and OAS, especially if OAS clawback could apply;
• relying on a pension, rental income or a business sale as part of the plan;
• moving to or from Canada, which changes tax residency and benefit eligibility.

Limits of this estimate

The projection assumes steady returns, while real markets swing. A bad run of returns just after you stop working (called sequence-of-returns risk) can hurt far more than the same returns later on. The calculator also assumes your savings and spending stay constant in real terms. Use it to compare scenarios and see which levers matter most, then revisit the numbers once a year as your balances change.