This is a FIRE calculator that treats a business as an asset. Most calculators only see your salary and your savings rate. This one adds what a business pays you, or what it would sell for after the earn-out, fees and tax, and shows the date each path gets you. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
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. Want to keep them? Drop your email below for the five numbers that decide your date, and a spreadsheet that remembers them.
Questions
What is a FIRE calculator with a business?
A FIRE calculator works out when your invested savings can cover your spending. A version with a business also counts what the business pays you and what it could sell for, net of the earn-out, fees and tax, so an owner sees a date that includes the business.
Does my business count toward my FI number?
It counts in two ways: the profit it pays you while it runs without you, and the cash that lands if you sell it. A business that stops when you stop is a job, and only its savings count.
Why do FIRE calculators give different dates?
They use different assumptions for return, inflation, withdrawal rate and spending. Small changes in each compound over decades. A calculator that shows every assumption lets you see which one moved your date.
What is the dependency discount?
It’s the reduction a buyer applies when a business relies on its owner. The more of the work, the relationships or the decisions sit with the owner, the lower the multiple a buyer will pay.
Is anything I type sent anywhere?
No. The calculator runs in your browser. Nothing you enter is stored or sent.
Is this financial advice?
No. It’s arithmetic with the assumptions on the page. I’m not a licensed adviser.