Type your numbers. Get your date. Every assumption is on the page, where you can move it.
Two doors. If you don’t have a business yet, you’ll see two dates side by side — the one that saving a slice of your salary gets you, and the one you’d get by building something that pays you. If you already own one, you’ll see what a buyer would pay, what actually lands in your account after the earn-out and the fees, and your date whether you walk away or stick it out.
You
The thing you’d build
Every dollar it pays you gets saved. That’s the honest version of “earn more”. The thing itself may also be worth something when you stop — that’s the other door.
The four dials everyone hides
Your dates
Illustrative, not advice. Every assumption is on this page where you can move it. If a number here disagrees with another calculator, one of the dials above is why.
Why the calculators disagree
Run the same numbers through five calculators and you’ll get five dates. Each one silently picks a return, decides whether inflation counts, assumes your pot is before or after tax, and leaves your pension in or out. That’s the whole disagreement. The four dials above are those four choices, made visible — and the line under your date tells you which one moves it most, so you know which assumption is worth arguing with.
The thing none of them do: treat a business as an asset with a sale price. Or refuse to count it until it runs without you. That’s the second door, and it’s the reason this page exists.
What to do with your date
Write both of them down. The gap between them is the case for building something — made with your own numbers, not my promise. If you want the reasoning behind how I’m closing my own gap, it goes out once a week, Fridays. Drop your email below. If you own a business, say so — you’ll get the owner’s version.