When could work become optional?
A target capital, and how long your current pace would take to reach it. Every input is your assumption, and the withdrawal rate is the one that decides most of the answer.
Your assumptions
Everything here is in today's money: the spending, the target and the assumed return are all after inflation, so inflation is never counted twice.The withdrawal rate opens at 4%. That is a starting point and not a recommendation: no rate is approved on this page, and the line below shows what one point less does to the target.Your freedom number$1,000,000$40,000 a year, drawn at the 4% rate you assume. $100,000 is built, 10% of the target, and $900,000 is still missing. At this pace it arrives in 24.5 years, around 2051.
What moves the dateSaving a tenth more each month brings it 1.2 years earlier. Spending a tenth less each year brings it 1.8 years earlier. One point less real return pushes it 3.3 years later.Assume one point less on the withdrawal rate and the target rises to $1,333,333, 5.3 years further out.
In today's money throughout, because the target is too. The projection compounds monthly at the return you assume, and stops at 70 years: beyond that the answer stops meaning anything and is reported as out of reach.
Show the figures
| Year | Projected capital | Freedom number |
|---|---|---|
| Year 0 | $100,000 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 1 | $122,328 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 2 | $145,548 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 3 | $169,698 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 4 | $194,814 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 5 | $220,934 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 6 | $248,099 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 7 | $276,350 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 8 | $305,732 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 9 | $336,289 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 10 | $368,068 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 11 | $401,119 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 12 | $435,491 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 13 | $471,238 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 14 | $508,416 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 15 | $547,080 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 16 | $587,291 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 17 | $629,110 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 18 | $672,602 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 19 | $717,834 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 20 | $764,875 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 21 | $813,798 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 22 | $864,677 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 23 | $917,592 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 24 | $972,623 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 25 | $1,029,856 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 26 | $1,089,378 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 27 | $1,151,280 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 28 | $1,215,659 | $1,000,000 |
| Year 29 | $1,282,613 | $1,000,000 |