Fat FIRE Calculator — Australia

Fat FIRE targets a retirement with no meaningful lifestyle compromise — travel, private schooling, a comfortable margin. The number is much larger, which makes tax, contribution caps and the split between accessible and locked-away money the dominant factors.

Rules & rates

Australia United States

Australian rules, 2026-27 tax year

Your situation

Everything in today's dollars.

Current age35

1870

Retirement age

Income & spending

Gross annual income

Take-home after tax: $171,930

Annual spending now

Annual spending in retirement

What you have invested

Investments outside super

Superannuation

Salary sacrifice into super

Earliest Fat FIRE age

Age 56

That is 21 years from now, around 2047. From that age the portfolio funds your spending all the way to 92, including the years before Super unlocks.

Target portfolio: $4,000,000
Projected at retirement: $3,067,890
Savings rate: 13%

Save this scenario. Compare plans side by side, track progress, and export the full year-by-year schedule.

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Why you can retire on less than the 4.0% target

The $4,000,000 target is the simple 4.0% rule — a portfolio big enough to live off indefinitely. Your plan reaches $3,067,890 and still works, because it only has to last to age 92, and it keeps compounding the whole time you are drawing on it. That is a reasonable way to plan, but it leaves less margin for a bad run of markets — worth testing in the drawdown simulator.

Portfolio through to your planning horizon

Shown in today's dollars, so every figure keeps the purchasing power you understand right now.

Outside super
Super
Target to sustain spending

Left at the end: $438,052
Money runs out: Never
Year one saving: $25,770

The bridge: 4 years before Super unlocks

Retiring at 56 means funding everything from investments outside super until age 60.

Covered

Needed for the bridge: $640,000
Accessible at retirement: $1,601,178
Surplus: $961,178

The bridge holds

Your accessible investments cover every year before age 60, so the plan does not depend on reaching superannuation early.

What actually moves your date

Each row changes one thing and re-runs the whole projection.

Spend $5k less a year
Cuts both what you need and what you must save towards.
-1 yr
Age 55
Earn 10% more
A raise, with the extra going straight to investments.
-2 yr
Age 54
Cut fees by 0.5%
Switching to a lower-cost fund or platform.
-1 yr
Age 55
Returns 1% lower
A more pessimistic market than the one you assumed.
+4 yr
Age 60
Live 5 years longer
A longer horizon the portfolio has to stretch to cover.
+1 yr
Age 57
Retire on 10% more
A more comfortable retirement budget than you planned for.
+1 yr
Age 57

Where your money goes this year

Based on Australia rules for the 2026-27 tax year.

Gross income: $260,000
Salary sacrifice into super: $0
Income tax: −$82,870
Medicare levy: −$5,200
Take-home pay: $171,930
Spending: −$168,000
Into outside super: $3,930
Employer SG (12%): $31,200
Contributions tax: −$9,360
Into super: $21,840

Year by year

Retirement years are shaded.

Age	Year	Spending	Outside super	Super	Total
35	2026	$168,000	$381k	$342k	$723k
36	2027	$168,000	$406k	$379k	$785k
37	2028	$168,000	$434k	$417k	$851k
38	2029	$168,000	$464k	$457k	$921k
39	2030	$168,000	$498k	$499k	$996k
40	2031	$168,000	$534k	$542k	$1.08m
41	2032	$168,000	$574k	$588k	$1.16m
42	2033	$168,000	$617k	$635k	$1.25m
43	2034	$168,000	$664k	$685k	$1.35m
44	2035	$168,000	$715k	$736k	$1.45m
45	2036	$168,000	$770k	$790k	$1.56m
46	2037	$168,000	$829k	$846k	$1.67m
47	2038	$168,000	$893k	$904k	$1.80m
48	2039	$168,000	$962k	$964k	$1.93m
49	2040	$168,000	$1.04m	$1.03m	$2.06m
50	2041	$168,000	$1.11m	$1.09m	$2.21m
51	2042	$168,000	$1.20m	$1.16m	$2.36m
52	2043	$168,000	$1.29m	$1.23m	$2.52m
53	2044	$168,000	$1.39m	$1.31m	$2.70m
54	2045	$168,000	$1.49m	$1.39m	$2.88m
55	2046	$168,000	$1.60m	$1.47m	$3.07m
56	2047	$160,000	$1.51m	$1.53m	$3.04m
57	2048	$160,000	$1.42m	$1.59m	$3.01m
58	2049	$160,000	$1.32m	$1.66m	$2.98m
59	2050	$160,000	$1.21m	$1.73m	$2.94m
60	2051	$160,000	$1.21m	$1.70m	$2.91m
61	2052	$160,000	$1.20m	$1.67m	$2.87m
62	2053	$160,000	$1.19m	$1.64m	$2.83m
63	2054	$160,000	$1.17m	$1.61m	$2.79m
64	2055	$160,000	$1.16m	$1.58m	$2.74m
65	2056	$160,000	$1.15m	$1.55m	$2.70m
66	2057	$160,000	$1.14m	$1.52m	$2.65m
67	2058	$160,000	$1.12m	$1.48m	$2.60m
68	2059	$160,000	$1.10m	$1.45m	$2.55m
69	2060	$160,000	$1.09m	$1.41m	$2.50m
70	2061	$160,000	$1.07m	$1.37m	$2.44m
71	2062	$160,000	$1.05m	$1.33m	$2.38m
72	2063	$160,000	$1.03m	$1.30m	$2.32m
73	2064	$160,000	$1.00m	$1.25m	$2.26m
74	2065	$160,000	$978k	$1.21m	$2.19m
75	2066	$160,000	$952k	$1.17m	$2.12m
76	2067	$160,000	$924k	$1.12m	$2.05m
77	2068	$160,000	$893k	$1.08m	$1.97m
78	2069	$160,000	$861k	$1.03m	$1.89m
79	2070	$160,000	$827k	$978k	$1.81m
80	2071	$160,000	$791k	$927k	$1.72m
81	2072	$160,000	$753k	$873k	$1.63m
82	2073	$160,000	$712k	$818k	$1.53m
83	2074	$160,000	$668k	$761k	$1.43m
84	2075	$160,000	$622k	$702k	$1.32m
85	2076	$160,000	$573k	$641k	$1.21m
86	2077	$160,000	$521k	$578k	$1.10m
87	2078	$160,000	$467k	$512k	$978k
88	2079	$160,000	$408k	$444k	$852k
89	2080	$160,000	$347k	$374k	$721k
90	2081	$160,000	$282k	$301k	$583k
91	2082	$160,000	$213k	$225k	$438k

Save this scenario. Compare plans side by side, track progress, and export the full year-by-year schedule.

See plans

How this works

What does retiring early without cutting back really cost?

Caps become the binding constraint

At Fat FIRE income levels the concessional and elective deferral caps stop you from sheltering most of your savings. The bulk of the work has to be done outside the tax-advantaged system, which changes both your tax bill and how much of your wealth you can actually reach before preservation age.

The bridge gets easier, the target gets harder

Because so much has to sit outside super or a 401(k), high earners rarely fail the bridge test. What they run into instead is the sheer size of the target — and the fact that a percentage point of fees on a very large balance costs a very large amount.

Keep going

Other Australian calculators

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Model part-time income covering part of your spending while the portfolio keeps growing.

Lean FIRE

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Drawdown / SWR

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