Savings Rate

Savings rate is the percentage of your income that you save and invest, calculated as: (Income - Expenses) / Income × 100. It is widely considered the single most important metric in FIRE planning because it simultaneously determines how fast your portfolio grows AND how much you need to retire.

A person saving 10% of income typically needs 43+ years to reach financial independence. At 25%, it takes about 32 years. At 50%, about 17 years. At 75%, just 7 years. These dramatic differences explain why FIRE practitioners focus obsessively on raising their savings rate.

The dual power of savings rate: every percentage point increase in savings rate both accelerates wealth accumulation AND reduces the FIRE number (by reducing the spending that needs to be replaced in retirement). This double-compounding effect makes savings rate the master variable of FIRE.