How is savings rate calculated?

Savings rate is the amount you save divided by your take-home income, expressed as a percentage. Saving 600 out of 3000 is a 20% savings rate.

How is years-to-FI estimated?

It uses the 25× rule: financial independence is roughly 25 times your annual spending. The estimate divides that target by your annual saving, with no investment growth — real returns would make it faster.

No: every figure stays in your browser and nothing is sent to a server.

What is a good savings rate?

A 20% savings rate is a common benchmark, but FIRE savers often target 40% to 60% or more. Even small increases matter, because saving more both grows your nest egg and lowers the spending you need to cover.

Why is the years-to-FI estimate so high without growth?

With zero investment return, you must save the entire 25× target yourself. In reality compounding does much of the work, so a realistic timeline with market returns is far shorter than the no-growth figure shown.

Should I use gross or net income for the savings rate?

Use take-home (net) income for a personal cash-flow view, which is what this tool assumes. Some FIRE communities use gross income instead, which produces a lower headline rate for the same saving.

Savings Rate Calculator

Savings rate calculator

Your savings rate is the share of your take-home pay that you save, and it is the single biggest lever on how soon you can stop relying on a paycheck. This tool reports your rate and a rough years-to-financial-independence estimate. It is for anyone budgeting, saving for a goal, or following a FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) plan.

How it works

The savings rate is the amount you save divided by your take-home income:

rate = monthly saved ÷ monthly income × 100

For the timeline it uses the classic 25× rule (the inverse of the 4% withdrawal rule): financial independence is roughly 25 times your annual spending. With no investment growth assumed, the estimate is:

years to FI = (annual spend × 25) ÷ annual saving

Real investment returns would shorten this meaningfully, so treat it as a conservative upper bound.

Example

Monthly income £3,000, saving £600:

Figure	Value
Monthly spend	£2,400
Savings rate	20%
Annual saving	£7,200
FI target (25 × £28,800)	£720,000
Years to FI (no growth)	100

Lift the savings rate and that timeline collapses fast. Everything runs in your browser with nothing uploaded.