Your FIRE Number · yourfirenumber.com · All figures are estimates in today’s dollars, for education only, not financial advice.
Your money today
What you’d need to earn once you’re coasting
Stopping earlier means a later retirement. Each row assumes you keep saving at today’s rate until then, and nothing after.
| Stop saving at | Invested then | Could retire at |
|---|
Includes taxes on withdrawals and health insurance before 65. How Coast FIRE works
The less you’ve saved when you leave, the more part-time work has to cover. Each amount is what it takes for the plan to survive at least 95% of historical markets, working part-time until the age you set.
| Leave full-time at | Invested then | Part-time income needed |
|---|
After-tax income. Includes health insurance until 65 (unless your job covers it) and Social Security from your claiming age. How Barista FIRE works
Today’s dollars. Replays your withdrawals through every market since 1928 with your stock/bond/cash mix. Half of historical paths ended above the solid line, half below.
Spending includes health insurance until 65 (after any subsidy). Social Security starts at each person’s claiming age from your profile.
Federal student loan on an income-driven plan? Tick the box on it, then see its forgiveness and tax bill below ↓
| # | Debt | Balance | Rate | Min. payment | Paid off |
|---|
Federal student loans: forgiveness and the tax bomb
If you’re on an income-driven plan, whatever’s left after 20–30 years is forgiven, and since January 1, 2026 the IRS counts that forgiven amount as income in the year it happens. This planner shows each plan’s payments, when forgiveness hits, and the tax bill that comes with it. It’s also available as a standalone calculator with a guide to the 2026 tax bomb.
Plan a lower income before forgiveness
Use − and + (or your arrow keys) to step age by 1 year and income by $1,000. On an income-driven plan, earning less for years before forgiveness also shrinks your payments, so more gets forgiven. That can cancel out much of the lower tax rate.
Future dollars, since loan balances don’t shrink with inflation. Assumes your income grows with inflation plus your yearly raises, and that you recertify on time every year.
| Plan | Payment now | You pay in total | Forgiven | When | Tax on forgiveness | Total cost | In today’s $ |
|---|
Today’s dollars. Holds the forgiven amount fixed and changes only your other income in the year it’s forgiven, which is what working part-time or retiring that year does. Federal tax plus your state rate, using 2026 brackets. Shading shows the federal bracket your other income is in. Each extra $1,000 you earn pushes $1,000 of the forgiven amount into the bracket above where it sits. When your income is in the 12% bracket, that often means 12% → 22%, so the curve is steep. In the 22% and 24% brackets it’s mostly 22% → 24%, so the curve is nearly flat until the top of the forgiven amount reaches 32%.
Unpaid interest is waived and up to $50 a month goes to principal, so your balance can’t grow. The only income-driven plan for loans made on or after July 1, 2026. Its income bands aren’t indexed to inflation.
Never more than the 10-year standard payment. No hardship test since July 2025. The only older income-driven plan left after July 1, 2028.
Requires full-time work for a government or nonprofit employer. Forgiveness stays tax-free federally.
Borrowers move to IBR or RAP by July 1, 2028 and keep their counted payments. ICR is the only option for Parent PLUS loans consolidated before July 1, 2026.
If you don’t pick a new plan, you’re moved to a standard plan, which doesn’t lead to forgiveness.
Tiers: under $25,000 → 10 years, under $50,000 → 15, under $100,000 → 20, above → 25. Nothing forgiven, so no tax bill.
The American Rescue Plan made all forgiveness tax-free from 2021 through 2025, and that exclusion has now expired. If your debts are larger than your assets right before forgiveness, the insolvency exclusion (IRS Form 982) can cut the bill, but people saving for FIRE usually don’t qualify.
What you own
What you owe
Change these amounts under “Other assets” in your profile and in the Debt payoff tab.
2026 tax figures and student loan rules, last updated October 3, 2026. Estimates for education only, not financial, tax or legal advice. How we calculate