Early retirement calculator: the year-by-year bridge to 59½
This calculator finds the earliest age at which you can retire and pay every year from money the law lets you touch, with 2026 federal tax and health premiums until Medicare.
You can retire at
age 50
The plain 25× rule says age 49. The difference is tax, health insurance to 65 and money you cannot reach before 59½.
| FIRE number, tax and health included | $1,635,257 |
| Plain 25× number | $1,500,000 |
| Savings at that age | $1,739,909 |
| 10 % penalties in the bridge | $0 |
| Rule of 55 on the last 401(k) | no |
Social Security is left out: count it as a margin, not as income. Not personal financial advice.
| Age | Spending + health | Taken from | Tax | 10 % | Left in total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | $67,200 | Taxable account $67,200 | $0 | $0 | $1,756,344 |
| 51 | $67,200 | Taxable account $67,200 | $0 | $0 | $1,773,601 |
| 52 | $67,200 | Taxable account $67,200 | $0 | $0 | $1,791,722 |
| 53 | $67,200 | Taxable account $67,200 | $0 | $0 | $1,810,748 |
| 54 | $67,200 | Taxable account $67,200 | $0 | $0 | $1,830,725 |
| 55 | $67,200 | Taxable account $67,200 | $0 | $0 | $1,851,701 |
| 56 | $67,200 | Taxable account $67,200 | $0 | $0 | $1,873,726 |
| 57 | $67,200 | Taxable account $67,200 | $0 | $0 | $1,896,853 |
| 58 | $67,200 | Taxable account $29,929 · Roth contributions $37,271 | $0 | $0 | $1,921,135 |
| 59 | $67,200 | Roth contributions $67,200 | $0 | $0 | $1,946,632 |
| 60 | $67,200 | 401(k) of last employer $74,833 | $7,633 | $0 | $1,965,389 |
| 61 | $67,200 | 401(k) of last employer $74,833 | $7,633 | $0 | $1,985,083 |
| 62 | $67,200 | 401(k) of last employer $74,833 | $7,633 | $0 | $2,005,762 |
| 63 | $67,200 | 401(k) of last employer $74,833 | $7,633 | $0 | $2,027,475 |
| 64 | $67,200 | 401(k) of last employer $74,833 | $7,633 | $0 | $2,050,274 |
Worked out by Radif Partners · How we calculate · figures read on irs.gov and healthcare.gov · not personal financial advice
Retiring early is a cash-flow problem before it is a savings problem: the earliest age is the first one at which every year until 59½ can be paid without the 10 % additional tax, and the calculator above tests each age in turn. Take a single saver of 41 with $675,000, most of it in a 401(k) and an IRA, who saves $38,000 a year and wants $52,000 of spending plus $7,200 of health premiums until 65. The plain rule of 25 times spending says age 49. Once federal tax and the access rules apply, the answer is 55, the year the rule of 55 opens the last 401(k). Converting $45,000 a year to a Roth IRA brings it to 54; a 72(t) series on the IRA brings it to 53. Each row of the table shows which account pays, the tax and any penalty.
Two ages, and why they differ
The calculator gives two answers. The first is the classic one: the first age at which projected savings reach spending divided by the withdrawal rate, $1,300,000 for $52,000 at 4 %. The second is the age at which the plan really works. To accept an age, the engine asks three things: savings must also cover the federal tax on future withdrawals and the health premiums until 65; every year from that age to the horizon must be payable; and no year may need a withdrawal that owes the 10 % additional tax. If any year fails, it moves to the next age.
For the saver above, the gap is 6 years. The money is there at 49, but $600,000 of the starting $675,000 sits in a 401(k) and an IRA, and only $68,000 is in accounts that pay out freely before 59½.
Three bridges for the same saver
| Bridge before 59½ | Earliest age that works | Savings at that age | 10 % paid if retiring at 53 |
|---|---|---|---|
| None: taxable account, Roth contributions, rule of 55 | 55 | $2,081,202 | $15,097 |
| Roth ladder, $45,000 converted a year | 54 | $1,945,907 | $4,376 |
| 72(t) series on the IRA | 53 | $1,817,054 | $0 |
The ladder and the 72(t) do not add a dollar of savings. They change which dollars you can reach. A Roth conversion becomes spendable without penalty five tax years after the conversion year, so each rung needs five years of other money first; the engine converts while a rung can still be spent before 59½. A 72(t) series pays a fixed amount from the IRA every year, with no 10 %, as long as it is not changed until the later of five years and 59½ (IRS SEPP questions and answers).
Where each year's money comes from, retiring at 53 with a 72(t)
The table is the core of the tool. It lists, for each age until 59½, the spending plus health premiums, the accounts drawn, the federal tax and any penalty. Here the IRA balance at 53 supports a fixed amortization payment of $21,451 a year at 5.54 %, the highest rate allowed for a series starting in November 2026. The series must run until 59½, which here comes after the five-year minimum.
| Age | Spending + health | Taken from | Federal tax | 10 % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53 | $59,200 | Taxable account $38,284; 72(t) payment $21,451 | $535 | $0 |
| 54 | $59,200 | Taxable account $38,284; 72(t) payment $21,451 | $535 | $0 |
| 55 | $59,200 | Taxable account $38,284; 72(t) payment $21,451 | $535 | $0 |
| 56 | $59,200 | Taxable account $38,284; 72(t) payment $21,451 | $535 | $0 |
| 57 | $59,200 | Taxable account $30,139; Roth contributions $8,146; 72(t) payment $21,451 | $535 | $0 |
| 58 | $59,200 | Roth contributions $38,284; 72(t) payment $21,451 | $535 | $0 |
| 59 | $59,200 | Roth contributions $38,284; 72(t) payment $21,451 | $535 | $0 |
The tax column is small for a reason. The 72(t) payment of $21,451 is ordinary income, and $16,100 of it is covered by the 2026 standard deduction (Rev. Proc. 2025-32). The rest falls in the 10 % bracket. The sales from the brokerage account add about $15,314 of long-term gains, which stay inside the 0 % band for capital gains, worth up to $49,450 of taxable income for a single filer. The result is $535 of federal tax on $59,200 of spending.
Gains from the taxable account in a bridge year
Tax on your gains
$0
| Taxable ordinary income | $5,351 |
| Taxable gains | $15,314 |
| Tax on ordinary income | $535 |
| Top of the 0 % band (taxable income) | $49,450 |
The same age without a bridge
Retiring at 53 with no ladder and no series, the reachable money runs out at 57. From then until 59½ the engine has to draw on the IRA and pay 10 % on each dollar, $15,097 in all. Nothing breaks: the plan still lasts to the horizon, but it pays a penalty that the two other designs avoid. With the ladder, 53 costs $4,376 of penalty, because only the conversions made at 53 and 54 have time to season before 59½.
The health line and the income it creates
Each year of the bridge carries $7,200 of premiums until Medicare at 65, which is why the spending column shows $59,200 rather than $52,000. Type the premium you expect after any premium tax credit. The credit itself depends on modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), and every design above creates some: the 72(t) payment counts in full, a Roth conversion counts in the year it is made, and only the gain part of a brokerage sale counts. A bridge built on low ordinary income can therefore also lower the premium, a link the health insurance page works through with the 2026 tables.
The order the engine spends in
Before 59½, each year starts by filling the standard deduction with income that is taxed anyway and free of penalty: the 457(b), then the 401(k) if the rule of 55 applies. Then come the brokerage account, Roth contributions and seasoned conversions, which cost little or no tax. Only when those are gone does it touch the IRA or a locked 401(k), with the 10 %, and last of all Roth earnings. After 59½ the order changes: pre-tax accounts fill the deduction first, then the taxable account, then the rest, so the Roth is kept for the end. The method page lists each assumption.
The year each of your accounts opens
Your 401(k) and IRAs open without the 10 % in
September 2044
| 401(k) of the job you leave | September 2044 |
| Older 401(k)s and IRAs | September 2044, or now with 72(t) |
| Governmental 457(b) | 2038, after leaving |
| Roth IRA contributions | any time |
What to change first when the age is too late
The engine's answer moves most with three inputs. Spending, because it sets the target and every bridge year. The split of new savings, because a dollar in a brokerage account can be spent at 53 while a dollar in a 401(k) cannot. And the bridge choice, tested above. The return and the withdrawal rate move the date as well, but they are assumptions about markets rather than decisions. Social Security is not counted anywhere in the plan. For the rule that opens the last 401(k), see the rule of 55; for the ladder alone, the Roth conversion ladder; for the series, the 72(t) calculator.