How to use this FIRE calculator
- Enter your age, salary before tax (for employer super), take-home pay and yearly spending. Choose "A couple" to plan as a household.
- Enter your super balance and what you have invested outside super, plus any salary sacrifice on top of the super guarantee.
- Optionally add your own Age Pension estimate, check the assumptions, then read your retirement age, the outside-super amount you need and the risk tests.
Results update as you type. Share the link to save a scenario, or download the year-by-year projection, pot by pot, as a CSV.
Why does super change the FIRE maths in Australia?
In Australia, FIRE (financial independence, retire early) runs on two pots of money with different rules. Super grows with employer contributions, but you cannot touch it until you reach preservation age and meet a condition of release. Money outside super, such as shares, ETFs and savings, can be spent any time but has no employer topping it up.
A US-style calculator adds the two together and asks whether the total is enough. That answer can be badly wrong here. A 45-year-old with $1,500,000 in super and almost nothing outside it is not financially independent, because they cannot pay rent for the next 15 years. This calculator therefore runs two tests and needs both to pass: the total must cover your spending for life, and the part outside super must cover every year until 60.
What is preservation age?
Preservation age is the earliest age you can usually take your super once you retire. It is set by the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations and depends only on your date of birth[1]:
| Date of birth | Preservation age |
|---|---|
| Before 1 July 1960 | 55 |
| 1 July 1960 to 30 June 1961 | 56 |
| 1 July 1961 to 30 June 1962 | 57 |
| 1 July 1962 to 30 June 1963 | 58 |
| 1 July 1963 to 30 June 1964 | 59 |
| On or after 1 July 1964 | 60 |
Everyone born before 1 July 1964 has already reached preservation age, so for anyone planning an early retirement today the age that matters is 60. The calculator uses 60 for everyone.
When can you take your super if you retire early?
Reaching 60 is not enough on its own; you also need a condition of release. The two that matter for early retirees are retirement and turning 65, and neither has cashing restrictions[1].
- Retirement at 60 or later. An employment arrangement has ended and either you were already 60 when it ended, or your fund is satisfied you never intend to work again full-time or part-time. The regulations define part-time as 10 to 30 hours a week[1].
- Turning 65. Your super is released whether or not you are still working.
If you stopped work at 45 and have no plans to go back, you can generally meet the retirement condition at 60. If you keep a small job into your 60s, ending it after 60 also counts. Check the details with your fund before you rely on a date.
How does the calculator work out your FIRE number?
FIRE number = yearly retirement spending ÷ safe withdrawal rate. At 4% that is 25 times your spending[9]. If you add an Age Pension, every year from 67 needs less from your investments, and the calculator values each year's shortfall with the same safety margin as your withdrawal rate. Then it splits the number: the cost of the years before 60 is the minimum you need outside super, and the rest can sit in either pot.
Each working year, both pots grow at your real (after-inflation) return. Your take-home pay minus spending is invested outside super. Your employer's super guarantee of 12%[2] plus any salary sacrifice goes into super, less the 15% tax the fund pays on concessional contributions[3]. You can retire in the first year both tests pass.
Worked example
Mia is 32, earns $110,000 before tax, takes home $80,000 and spends $50,000 a year. She has $80,000 in super and $60,000 in ETFs. With 7% returns, 3% inflation and 0.1% fees, her real return is 3.79%.
- Her employer pays $13,200 a year into super; $11,220 lands after contributions tax. She invests the other $30,000 outside super.
- FIRE number: $50,000 ÷ 4% = $1,250,000.
- She can retire at 50, with about $438,342 in super and $871,584 outside it. The 10 years before 60 need $438,202 outside super, so the bridge is comfortably covered.
How much do you need outside super to reach 60?
The bridge is what it costs to fund your spending from the day you stop work until super unlocks. It grows quickly the earlier you retire. For $50,000 a year at a 3.5% withdrawal rate, planning to 95:
| Retire at | Total needed | Needed outside super | Share outside super |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | $1,428,571 | $777,843 | 54% |
| 45 | $1,428,571 | $630,850 | 44% |
| 50 | $1,428,571 | $452,628 | 32% |
| 55 | $1,428,571 | $241,045 | 17% |
With a fixed withdrawal rate the total is the same at every age, but the outside-super share rises steeply. Retiring at 40 means 54% of your wealth must be outside super. The bridge is valued with the same safety margin as your withdrawal rate, not your expected return, so it holds up better if markets have a rough first decade.
Should you salary sacrifice or invest outside super?
Super is taxed lightly: concessional contributions are taxed at 15% in the fund[3], and benefits paid at 60 or older are tax-free for the great majority of members[4]. For a pure retire-at-60 plan, more super is usually efficient. For an early retiree, money in super is money you cannot spend before 60.
Compare Priya with Mia. Same pay and spending, but Priya salary sacrifices $20,000 a year, has nothing outside super yet, and invests only $12,000 a year outside it. Her super grows by $28,220 a year. Counting both pots, she has enough at 51, but her outside-super money cannot cover the $322,208 bridge until 53. The lock costs her 2 years. The calculator shows this gap whenever it applies, so you can find the split between the two pots that retires you soonest. The tax savings of salary sacrifice are real but not modelled here, because income tax depends on your full situation.
Before adding to super, keep the contribution rules in mind:
- Concessional cap. Employer contributions and salary sacrifice share one yearly cap. It was $25,000 for 2017-18 and is indexed, so check the ATO for this year's figure. If your total super balance was under $500,000, unused cap from the previous five years can be carried forward[4].
- Division 293. If your income plus concessional contributions exceeds $250,000, an extra 15% applies to the lesser of the excess and your contributions[4][5]. On a $260,000 salary the calculator estimates $4,680 a year.
- Transfer balance cap. A separate cap limits how much super can move into the tax-free retirement phase[4]. It matters mainly for very large balances.
How does the Age Pension fit into a FIRE plan?
Age Pension age is 67 for anyone born on or after 1 January 1957, and you generally need 10 years of Australian residence. How much you get depends on an income test and an assets test[6]. Before Age Pension age, Social Security law does not count your super as a financial investment or its returns as income; from that age it does[6]. A FIRE retiree with a large balance at 67 may therefore get a part pension or none.
That is why the calculator asks for your own estimate. If Mia expects $15,000 a year from 67, her number falls from $1,250,000 to $1,093,213 and she can retire at 48 instead of 50. The pension does nothing for the bridge, because it starts years after super unlocks; retiring 2 years earlier actually makes the bridge bigger, $508,076.
Is super tax-free after 60?
For most people, yes. Super benefits, both lump sums and income streams, received at 60 or older are not assessable income when they come from a taxed fund, which the law notes covers the great majority of members[4]. Some public sector schemes have an untaxed element that is still taxed after 60. Investments outside super don't get this treatment, so include any tax on their income and gains in your spending for the bridge years.
What return and inflation should you assume?
The default is 7% a year before inflation, 3% inflation and 0.1% fees. The Reserve Bank aims for inflation between 2 and 3 per cent[7], but headline inflation was 3.9% over the year to the September quarter 2026[8], so 3% sits at the cautious end of the target. For returns, Vanguard's 10-year forecast for developed markets outside the US is 5.3%-7.3% a year[14], while US shares returned 10.0% a year from 1928 to 2025[13]. Fees inside super, and the tax of up to 15% a fund pays on its earnings during the saving years, lower your return, so raise the fee input a little to allow for them[3].
How reliable is the risk test for Australians?
The risk section runs 2,000 Monte Carlo simulations and replays your retirement from every start year since 1928. Both use US data: S&P 500 returns, 10-year US Treasuries and US inflation[13]. They do not use Australian market history. Other markets have had different, often weaker, histories, so read a high success rate as encouraging rather than certain.
The test still answers the right question: what happens if returns arrive in a bad order? A poor first decade of retirement does far more damage than the same returns later[15]. The Trinity study found 4% withdrawals lasted 30 years in 95%-98% of US periods for share-heavy portfolios[11], but early retirements are longer. If your success rate is below about 90%, try a lower withdrawal rate, a year or two more of work, or a bigger outside-super bridge. The tests treat both pots as one; the projection chart above is where the super lock is checked year by year.
FIRE for couples in Australia
Choose "A couple" and enter combined pay, spending, super and investments. Use the younger partner's age: their super unlocks last and the money has to last their lifetime, so it is the cautious choice. The calculator splits salary evenly between you when it works out employer contributions and Division 293. If you expect an Age Pension, enter your combined estimate for both of you.