FIRE Guides
Everything you need to know about Financial Independence, Retire Early. Explore different FIRE strategies and find the path that fits your lifestyle.
Which FIRE strategy should you learn first?
At the common defaults (age 30, $40,000/yr expenses, 4.0% SWR), Lean FIRE needs $600K, Regular FIRE needs $1.00M, and Fat FIRE needs $1.50M. As of 2026-06-29, each guide below walks through one FIRE type's formula, assumptions, and a fully worked numeric example.
Data verified .
| FIRE Type | Multiplier | Target Amount | Best Guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lean FIRE | 60% | $600,000 | /guide/what-is-leanfire |
| Regular FIRE | 100% | $1,000,000 | /guide/what-is-regular-fire |
| Fat FIRE | 150% | $1,500,000 | /guide/what-is-fatfire |
| Barista FIRE | 50% | $500,000 | /guide/what-is-baristafire |
Factors that affect this number
- Annual living expenses — the base every FIRE multiplier applies to
- Safe withdrawal rate (SWR), typically 3.7%-4%
- Expected annual investment return and inflation, which set the real return
- Current age and target retirement age
- Whether you plan to keep any part-time income (Barista FIRE) or stop contributing early (Coast FIRE)
- Current net worth and savings rate, which determine how fast you reach any target
- 4.0% default Safe Withdrawal Rate — Trinity Study (1998)
- 7% default nominal expected return — NYU Stern historical U.S. equity return data