My FIRE Plan: Your Numbers on One Page

My FIRE plan from fireinscrubs.com/my-fire-plan/. An educational estimate in today’s dollars, not financial advice.

Most money advice arrives in pieces: a number here, an account rule there, a warning about insurance somewhere else. This page puts the pieces in order. It runs the same five steps as the home page plan, with your numbers, and ends with one next step instead of ten.

FIRE stands for financial independence, retire early: having enough invested that work becomes a choice. Pick the example closest to you, change what doesn’t fit, and print the result or save it as a PDF. Nothing you enter leaves this page, and nothing is saved when you close it.

How to read your plan

Your FIRE number is your yearly retirement budget divided by the withdrawal rate: 25 times the budget at 4%. Base it on what you’ll spend, including health insurance before Medicare and the tax on what you withdraw, not on what you earn. The bar shows how much of it you have now.

At your current pace is the age you reach that number if you keep investing what you entered, plus your employer’s match. To retire at your goal is the monthly amount of your own money that gets you there by the age you picked, with the match it earns. Coast FIRE is the balance that would grow to your number by 65 with no new money, a useful halfway mark. The Coast FIRE guide explains what coasting looks like on a shift schedule.

Your next step is the first thing on the list that isn’t done, in the order the steps come. The five cards under the chart show each step with your numbers, and the one to do next is outlined.

My take: the next step is the point of this page. A plan with ten action items gets none of them done. One step this month, then rerun the plan, beats a perfect spreadsheet you never open again.

Why the steps come in this order

The match comes first because it’s an instant return: a 100% match doubles each dollar before it’s invested. High-rate debt is next, because paying off a card at 22% is a guaranteed 22% return that no fund offers. The emergency fund keeps a surprise bill, or the waiting period before long-term disability pays (often 90 days), from landing on a credit card.

Disability coverage comes before more investing because, early in a career, your ability to work is worth far more than your account balances. The disability calculator shows what you’d have if you couldn’t work. Term life matters only if someone relies on your income.

After that, money goes into accounts in the order from which account first: an HSA (health savings account) if your plan qualifies, the rest of your 403(b) or 401(k), then a Roth IRA. If you plan to stop before 59½ and have a government 457(b), it moves ahead of the Roth IRA, because you can take it out without the 10% penalty once you leave that job. The account order calculator shows the full list with more options.

Keeping your plan

This page doesn’t save anything, by design: your numbers stay on your device and disappear when you close it. To keep your plan, use the print button and save it as a PDF, or print it for the fridge. Then pick one day a month to write down your invested balance, and rerun the plan after a raise, a new job, a move or a big expense.

For the deeper version of any step, these tools go further: the monthly number by profession, the early retirement bridge for the years before 59½, the shift planner for cutting back, and the full list of calculators.

What the plan assumes

• Growth: a steady return after inflation, compounded monthly, with investing at the end of each month, so every number is in today’s dollars. Real markets go up and down; a steady return is a planning shortcut. The date is the first month your balance reaches your number, searched to age 100.
• Your money: each month, your investing first covers the share of pay your employer matches, and that plus the match is invested. The rest goes to high-rate debt, then the emergency fund, until both are done, and then to investing. Your monthly amount stays the same in today’s dollars.
• The match is the rate you enter times your contributions, up to the share of pay you enter, and never more than the 2026 403(b) or 401(k) limit of $24,500 ($8,000 more from 50; $11,250 more at 60 to 63 instead).
• Accounts use 2026 limits from IRS Notice 2025-67 and Rev. Proc. 2025-19: HSA $4,400 self-only or $8,750 family, plus $1,000 from 55; IRA $7,500, plus $1,100 from 50. The Roth IRA income limit starts at $153,000 single or $242,000 joint (modified adjusted gross income), estimated here from your pay and a spouse’s income.
• Coast FIRE compounds yearly to 65 at the same return, as in the Coast FIRE guide.
• Left out: taxes on your pay (see the 2026 tax calculator), Social Security and pensions, 1099 income, student loans, raises, and the order you’ll draw money down in retirement.

FAQ

I’m an emergency physician, not a financial advisor, CPA or attorney. This plan is an educational estimate, not personalized financial, tax or insurance advice. Markets don’t move in straight lines, and your situation is different from these examples. Check big decisions with a professional who works for you.