{
  "id": "early-retirement",
  "version": "1ca56569654c",
  "status": "published",
  "name": "Early Retirement Calculator",
  "question": "Can I take early retirement?",
  "summary": "Projects your savings to a chosen early retirement age and through retirement, and shows the savings you need then, the gap, the extra yearly saving that closes it, and how long the money lasts.",
  "category": "finance",
  "subcategory": "retirement",
  "url": "https://www.acalculator.org/finance/early-retirement-calculator",
  "markdown": "https://www.acalculator.org/finance/early-retirement-calculator.md",
  "kind": "schedule",
  "method": "Real return r = (1 + R) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1. Each working year: balance × (1 + r) + saving. Each retirement year: (balance − (spending − other income)) × (1 + r). Needed at retirement = need × (1 − (1 + r)^−N) ÷ r × (1 + r) for N retirement years; extra saving = shortfall × r ÷ ((1 + r)^n − 1) for n working years.",
  "assumptions": [
    "All amounts are in today’s money: your saving, spending and other income rise with prices.",
    "Savings are added at the end of each working year; retirement spending is taken at the start of each retirement year.",
    "The return and inflation stay the same every year. Real returns go up and down.",
    "Taxes, fees and Social Security are not included unless you put them in other income. Taking money from a 401(k) or similar plan before age 59½ usually adds a 10% tax (IRS Topic 558).",
    "This is an estimate for planning, not financial advice."
  ],
  "inputs": {
    "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "age": {
        "title": "Your age",
        "description": "Your age now.",
        "type": "integer",
        "minimum": 18,
        "maximum": 90
      },
      "retire": {
        "title": "Retire at age",
        "description": "The age you want to stop working.",
        "type": "integer",
        "minimum": 19,
        "maximum": 100
      },
      "until": {
        "title": "Plan until age",
        "description": "The age your money should last to; plan past your life expectancy.",
        "type": "integer",
        "minimum": 20,
        "maximum": 110
      },
      "saved": {
        "title": "Saved today",
        "description": "What you have invested for retirement now.",
        "type": "number",
        "x-unit": "USD",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 10000000000
      },
      "save": {
        "title": "You save",
        "description": "What you invest per year or per month until you retire, in today’s money. A monthly amount is × 12.",
        "type": "number",
        "x-unit": "USD",
        "x-period": "year",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 1000000000
      },
      "spending": {
        "title": "Yearly spending in retirement",
        "description": "What you will spend each year once you retire, in today’s money.",
        "type": "number",
        "x-unit": "USD",
        "x-period": "year",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 1000000000
      },
      "income": {
        "title": "Other yearly income in retirement",
        "description": "Pension, rent or part-time pay you will get every year of retirement, in today’s money.",
        "type": "number",
        "x-unit": "USD",
        "x-period": "year",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 1000000000
      },
      "rate": {
        "title": "Expected yearly return",
        "description": "The yearly investment return before inflation, the same every year.",
        "type": "number",
        "x-unit": "percent",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 20
      },
      "inflation": {
        "title": "Inflation",
        "description": "How fast prices rise each year. The real return is (1 + return) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1.",
        "type": "number",
        "x-unit": "percent",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 20
      }
    }
  },
  "outputs": {
    "atRetirement": {
      "label": "Savings when you retire",
      "description": "Your projected savings on the day you retire, in today’s money.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "needed": {
      "label": "Savings you need then",
      "description": "What pays your spending less other income every year until the planning age, at the real return.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "shortfall": {
      "label": "Shortfall",
      "description": "Savings you need minus savings you will have, when it is more than 0.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "surplus": {
      "label": "Surplus",
      "description": "Savings you will have minus savings you need, when it is 0 or more.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "extra": {
      "label": "Extra to save each year",
      "description": "The added yearly saving, in today’s money, that closes the shortfall by your retirement age.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "lastsTo": {
      "label": "Money runs out at age",
      "description": "The age at which a year’s spending is more than what is left.",
      "format": "integer"
    },
    "status": {
      "label": "On track?",
      "description": "Whether the money lasts to your planning age.",
      "format": "text"
    },
    "left": {
      "label": "Left at the planning age",
      "description": "Savings left at the planning age, in today’s money.",
      "format": "money"
    }
  },
  "defaultAnswer": {
    "inputs": {
      "age": 35,
      "retire": 55,
      "until": 95,
      "saved": 150000,
      "save": 25000,
      "spending": 50000,
      "income": 0,
      "rate": 7,
      "inflation": 3
    },
    "outputs": {
      "atRetirement": 1056899.4301889525,
      "needed": 1046138.8306242797,
      "surplus": 10760.599564672797,
      "status": "Yes, to age 95",
      "left": 49396.77428048199
    },
    "text": "Retiring at 55, you would have $1,056,899.43 and need $1,046,138.83 to spend $50,000.00 a year until 95."
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "given": {
        "age": 40,
        "retire": 50,
        "until": 60,
        "saved": 0,
        "save": 50000,
        "spending": 50000,
        "income": 0,
        "rate": 0,
        "inflation": 0
      },
      "expect": {
        "atRetirement": 500000,
        "needed": 500000,
        "surplus": 0,
        "left": 0,
        "status": "Yes, to age 60"
      },
      "source": "U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Investor.gov compound interest calculator and formula. https://www.investor.gov/financial-tools-calculators/calculators/compound-interest-calculator; hand calculation in content.mdx: 10 × 50,000 = 500,000 saved; 10 × 50,000 = 500,000 spent"
    },
    {
      "given": {
        "age": 40,
        "retire": 50,
        "until": 60,
        "saved": 0,
        "save": 40000,
        "spending": 50000,
        "income": 0,
        "rate": 0,
        "inflation": 0
      },
      "expect": {
        "atRetirement": 400000,
        "shortfall": 100000,
        "extra": 10000,
        "lastsTo": 58,
        "status": "No, it runs out at 58"
      },
      "source": "U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Investor.gov compound interest calculator and formula. https://www.investor.gov/financial-tools-calculators/calculators/compound-interest-calculator; hand calculation in content.mdx: 400,000 pays 8 full years (ages 50 to 57); at 58 only 0 is left"
    },
    {
      "given": {
        "age": 35,
        "retire": 55,
        "until": 95,
        "saved": 150000,
        "save": 25000,
        "spending": 50000,
        "income": 0,
        "rate": 7,
        "inflation": 3
      },
      "expect": {
        "atRetirement": 1056899.4301889525,
        "needed": 1046138.8306242797
      },
      "source": "U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Investor.gov compound interest calculator and formula. https://www.investor.gov/financial-tools-calculators/calculators/compound-interest-calculator; year by year at the real return 1.07 ÷ 1.03 − 1, in content.mdx; checked in Python"
    },
    {
      "given": {
        "age": 30,
        "retire": 31,
        "until": 33,
        "saved": 100000,
        "save": 0,
        "spending": 30000,
        "income": 10000,
        "rate": 10,
        "inflation": 0
      },
      "expect": {
        "atRetirement": 110000,
        "needed": 38181.81818181818,
        "surplus": 71818.18181818182
      },
      "source": "IRS Topic No. 558, Additional tax on early distributions from retirement plans other than IRAs. https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc558; hand calculation in content.mdx: 100,000 × 1.1 = 110,000; need 20,000 a year for 2 years: 20,000 + 20,000 ÷ 1.1 = 38,181.82"
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    "U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Investor.gov, Compound Interest Calculator (yearly compounding with yearly additions). https://www.investor.gov/financial-tools-calculators/calculators/compound-interest-calculator (cited as in the repository’s FIRE page; investor.gov refused a scripted read on 2026-10-01)",
    "IRS, Topic No. 558, Additional Tax on Early Distributions From Retirement Plans Other Than IRAs (10% before age 59½; exceptions include separation from service after age 55). https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc558 (retrieved 2026-10-01)"
  ],
  "related": [
    "fire",
    "coast-fire",
    "retirement",
    "401k-early-withdrawal"
  ],
  "changelog": []
}