Pourtfolios

Work Optional Calculator

Every dollar you earn goes one of three places: spent, saved, or invested. Only one of those actually builds wealth. Spent dollars are gone. Saved dollars — sitting in a checking or savings account — barely keep pace with inflation, so they're not really growing at all. Invested dollars are the only ones doing real work: compounding, year after year, until eventually they generate enough to cover your life without a paycheck. That's work optional — the point where a job becomes a choice, not a requirement. Below, we call this your investing rate: the share of every dollar you actually put to work, not just set aside. It matters more than how much you earn, and it's the single biggest lever you have.

Why investing rate matters more than income

Invested 50% Spent 40% Saved 10%

Spending and investing both matter — but only one of them ages like this portfolio does. The invested slice is the one quietly getting better with time.

As we mentioned above, this means the percentage of your income you're actually investing (in a brokerage, 401k, IRA, etc.), not just setting aside. Cash sitting in a savings account doesn't compound the same way. Here's the part that surprises most people: it's not your paycheck that decides how fast you get here — it's what share of it you invest. Income is just the faucet; if spending rises right along with it, the tub never fills. Invest 10% of anything and you're in for a multi-decade grind. Invest half, and you can cut that timeline by more than two-thirds — using the same 7% growth and 4% withdrawal assumptions you can fine-tune below. Same math, any income level, starting from $0.

Investing rateYears to work optional

About you

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Traditional IRA

Contributions may reduce taxes now; withdrawals taxed later.

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2026 limit: $7,500 combined (Traditional + Roth)

Roth IRA

Contributions taxed now; withdrawals tax-free later.

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401(k) / 403(b)

Employer-sponsored plan — traditional and/or Roth, often with a company match.

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2026 limit: $24,500

HSA

Triple tax advantage — deductible contributions, tax-free growth and withdrawals for medical expenses.

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2026 limit: $4,400 (self-only)

Taxable brokerage

After-tax dollars — no special tax treatment, but flexible with no withdrawal rules.

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No annual limit

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Retirement assumptions

%

Percent of current income you'll want to cover annually in retirement — $67,500/year.

Historically, a diversified stock portfolio has returned about 10%/year before inflation (~7% after inflation) over the last century.
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The three-fund portfolio — this is the kind of portfolio the return assumption above is based on: a simple, low-cost mix of index funds.
  • Total US stock market
  • Total international stock market
  • Total bonds

Want to go deeper? Read more at bogleheads.org, the community and wiki this concept comes from.

%

Sets your target number: yearly expenses ÷ withdrawal rate.

Your expenses are shown growing with inflation each year — this reflects rising costs, not a change in your actual buying power, which stays the same.
%

Once you're work optional, your withdrawal amount grows with inflation each year, while your portfolio keeps compounding at the expected return rate above.

Social Security

62 is the earliest age you can claim — waiting longer (up to 70) increases the monthly benefit. We fold it into your timeline once you hit this age.

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A rough estimate based on your income (~40% wage replacement) — get your real number from your ssa.gov account. Set to $0 to leave Social Security out of the math entirely.

You'll be work optional at

Age 52

That's 22 years from now — your portfolio is projected to reach $2,250,000.

Your portfolio's aging like a fine Cab — 22 more years to reach its peak.

Projected portfolio value Work optional number

This is an educational tool, not financial advice.