🔥 How Soon Could You Retire? Our New 2025 FIRE Calculator Shows You

Do you actually need €1 million to retire early?

We crunched the numbers using three real Dutch households—and the answer might surprise you. Whether you dream of full retirement, working part-time, or just having more freedom, our new FIRE Calculator shows you how close (or far) you really are from financial independence.

👉 [Launch the new 2025 FIRE Calculator]

💡 It’s the latest addition to our financial tools—alongside the [Buy vs Rent Calculator] and [Risk Profile Test]—built to help you make smarter money decisions.

❓ What Is FIRE, Anyway?

FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. But it’s not just about quitting work forever. It’s about buying back your time, or giving yourself the opportunity to go after your passions risk-free.

Our calculator helps you explore three levels of FIRE:

• Lean FIRE - Let your investments cover your basic needs, you live very frugally, because that is all you need.

• Barista FIRE - You basic needs and costs are covered by the investments, but you work part-time or doing something that you are really passionate about. This extra money gives you the opportunity to either quit your corporate job earlier, or it gives you the opportunity to live a bit more luxurious.

• Full FIRE - Retire fully. Live off your investment portfolio. All your costs are covered, but you still have money left over for some travel or eating out.

• Fat FIRE - Keep the luxuries. Fund a high-end lifestyle without needing to work at all. You can travel when every you want. Your spending don't have to be controlled tidely anymore. You can basically do whatever you want. And because you don't need to work, you have all the time in the world to actually spend it also!

  
  

👥 Meet 3 Real-World Scenarios

Let’s see how the calculator works in real Dutch situations :

👩 Sophie (27, Marketing advisor in Utrecht)

• Income: €45K

• Savings: €8,000

• Invests: €500/month (with a 5% increase every year)

• Expenses: €2,500/month

“I don’t want to retire early, but I do want to work part-time."

🧮 Calculator Result:

• Barista FIRE: age 45 (Earns around 18,5k from the ages of 45 till 68)

💡 Her net worth will be around 335k when she reaches the age of 45. After that it will decline to around 200k around her retirement age. She stops working and her social security and smaller pension will cover most of her expenses but her net worth is declining till the age of 90, but enough to cover her expenses (including inflation)

👨‍👩‍👧 Jeroen & Annabel (36, Couple of Two in a Small village)

• Combined Income: €80K

• Savings: €100,000

• Saves: €1,500/month

• Expenses: €4,000/month (expected in retirement)

“We want to see the world, when we are relatively young. After that we want to be able to take care of our families.”

🧮 Calculator Result:

• Full FIRE: age 58

🛠️ If they downsize their home (reinvest 300k), then they reach Full fire at the age of 55.

👵 Willem & Sandra (52, Self-employed)

• Income: €110K

• Savings: €220,000 (will be invested fully)

• Saves: €2,000/month

• Expenses: €4,000/month

“We never invested for our pensions, and we are not sure we started in time.”

🧮 Calculator Result:

• Full FIRE: age 64 🛠️ Luckily they saved enough to make up for the lost time. But if they will become older than 90 years old, or investment don't return 7% on average (after tax) they will be in trouble.

  

⚙️ What Does the FIRE Calculator Do?

You enter:

• Age, income, savings, and expenses

• Monthly contributions

• Return rate, inflation, and withdrawal assumptions

• Home equity or part-time income (optional)
  

🔎 The calculator shows:

• When you hit Barista, Full, and Fat FIRE

• How your portfolio grows over time

• What changes make the biggest difference

🧨 What Most People Get Wrong About FIRE

❌ “You need to be rich to retire early.” Starting early and spending less in retirement will have the biggest impact.

❌ “FIRE means never working again.” Having the feeling of contributing to the world, whether it is through work, your passions or volunteer work is something that most persons in the FIRE community are striving towards. Not sitting around at home binging Netflix series. But doing it all on your own terms, that is what FIRE is about.

❌ “It’s all or nothing.” This idea is something that we are still struggling with. We have always worked full-time. I cannot even imagine how a week of part-time work will feel. FIRE is a spectrum. Even partial freedom (e.g. working 3 days/week) is a huge lifestyle upgrade (I hope).

💬 FAQs – FIRE in the Netherlands

💸 What’s a safe withdrawal rate? Most experts use 3.5–4%. This balances long-term sustainability, even with inflation and market dips.

🏦 How do Dutch taxes affect FIRE? Box 3 wealth tax reduces net returns, especially for high savers. Our calculator uses 7% as the default, but you can adjust the numbers.

👨‍👩‍👧 Is FIRE possible with kids or a mortgage? Yes—but it takes planning. Use the calculator to test scenarios like home sales, side income, or reduced spending. If your kids still live at home when you want to retire your costs will be significantly higher than after they live on their own.

🎯 Why This Tool Matters

No spreadsheets. Easy to test and to play around with different scenarios.

✅ See your personal FIRE timeline

✅ Test different savings rates or expenses

✅ Explore what happens if you sell your house or go part-time

✅ Build a roadmap to financial freedom that actually fits your life

🧰 Use it with our other tools to build your complete financial picture.

🚀 Ready to See Your FIRE Plan?

👉 [Launch the FIRE Calculator] It takes 3 minutes. It could change how you see your future.