LuniBound · Free calculator
Savings rate calculator: how many years until you can retire?
The share of your take-home pay you invest is the biggest lever on when work becomes optional. Saving more grows your portfolio faster and lowers the amount you need — both at once.
| Savings rate | Years to FI | Spending/yr |
|---|
Table uses your take-home pay, starting balance, return and withdrawal rate.
Estimates in today's dollars — see the assumptions below. Your inputs stay in this browser and are never transmitted.
Why your savings rate matters more than your income
Raising your savings rate works twice. More money goes into your investments every month, and — because you've shown you can live on less — the portfolio you need to support that lifestyle gets smaller. That double effect is why the years to financial independence fall so steeply as the savings rate rises.
A surprising consequence: if you start from zero, the number of years depends only on your savings rate, the return and the withdrawal rate — not on how much you earn. Someone earning $50,000 and someone earning $200,000 who both save 50% reach financial independence in the same number of years. Income still matters, of course: it makes a high savings rate far easier to reach.
How it's calculated
FI number = spending ÷ withdrawal rate
Monthly investing = take-home pay × savings rate ÷ 12
The calculator grows your current balance plus your monthly investing at your real return, month by month, until the portfolio reaches the FI number. It assumes you'll spend the same in retirement as you do now.
Example: starting from $0, 5% real return, 4% withdrawal rate
Saving 10% of take-home pay takes about 51 years. At 25% it's about 31.6 years, at 50% about 16.4 years, and at 70% under 9 years. Each extra 10 points of savings rate is worth the most at the low end: going from 10% to 20% saves roughly 15 years.
Keep in mind
- Retirement spending can differ. Housing paid off, kids grown, or new costs like health insurance can move your spending up or down — the full planner lets you set retirement spending separately.
- Returns vary. This is a steady-return estimate. The full LuniBound planner shows how often a plan works across 500 simulated market paths.
- Taxes and fees are not modeled. Lowering the return a little is a simple way to stay conservative.
See your whole plan on one page
The LuniBound planner adds 500 simulated market futures, a growth chart, Coast FIRE and your moon progress — still 100% in your browser, with no account and no bank linking.
Open the full plannerQuestions
How do I calculate my savings rate?
Divide what you invest each year by your take-home pay. Many people include an employer 401(k) match in both the savings and the pay. What matters most is measuring it the same way every time.
Does my income affect how many years it takes?
Starting from zero, no — only the savings rate, return and withdrawal rate matter, because both your savings and the amount you need scale with income. With money already invested, a higher income at the same savings rate gets you there a little sooner.
What savings rate do I need to retire early?
It depends on your timeline. At a 5% real return and a 4% withdrawal rate, starting from zero, a 50% savings rate takes about 16 years and 25% about 32 years.
Why does the table change when I edit my starting balance?
Money you already have invested shortens every row, because it is already compounding. The table uses all of your inputs except the savings rate, which varies by row.
Is my data private?
Yes. Everything is calculated in your browser and saved only in this browser's local storage. Nothing you enter is sent to Lunibyte or anyone else.