Your Financial Freedom Number.
Estimate the resources required to pause work, choose work on your terms, or make paid work optional. Adjust your assumptions; see the maths update instantly.
Watch the three levels explained, then calculate yours.
Not sure what Pause, Choose and Optional mean? This companion video walks through each level and its maths using one consistent example.
Watch the 3-level explanation ↗No video plays automatically. YouTube opens only if you select the link.
Calculate your own financial freedom number.
Begin with the three results, then personalize the monthly spending and the assumptions below. Your calculations update as you edit the inputs.
A finite break from work.
With healthcare adjustment: —Chosen income + portfolio.
Monthly portfolio gap: —Work income no longer required.
Monthly portfolio gap: —These are estimated scenario targets based on the assumptions entered—not guaranteed financial outcomes. Level 1 is a cash-runway calculation; Levels 2 and 3 use a long-horizon withdrawal-rate assumption.
Price the life you want
Monthly after-tax spending, using the Columbus video example as the starting point.
The defaults reproduce the illustrative $3,500/month lifestyle in the video. They are not a personal living-wage recommendation.
Change your assumptions
Inputs below apply to distinct scenarios; not all inputs affect every freedom level.
Understand each result
1 · Pause: cash for a defined break
Break gap × months + cash reserve + transition costs.
—Healthcare-adjusted Pause also adds extra healthcare to spending during both the break and reserve period, as in the workbook.2 · Choose: finance the remaining gap
Annual gross spending gap ÷ withdrawal assumption + reserve and transition costs; then apply any safety margin.
—3 · Optional: no required earned work
After-tax spending minus reliable non-work income is the monthly portfolio gap.
—The effective withdrawal tax is modelled as gross gap = net gap / (1 − tax rate). This simplified model is not a tax engine.
What if the withdrawal rate changes?
These figures recalculate whenever your inputs change. Select the freedom level you want to test.
Calculating with your scenario inputs…
Lower assumed rates require more core capital, but do not alone quantify investment success probability.
| Rate | Core portfolio | Total with reserve |
|---|
Try a different scenario
Pause
How long could you leave paid work temporarily?
Choose
What if some reliable income continued from flexible work?
Optional
What would you need if earned work stopped entirely?
Start with real household numbers and revisit the tax, healthcare, income sustainability, portfolio access and inflation assumptions.
New to financial-freedom maths?
Level 1 · Pause
Goal: Finance a defined break from work. You can change the break duration, expected income during that break, extra healthcare and cash reserve. Chosen-work income and withdrawal rate do not affect the base Pause result. The healthcare adjustment is shown separately.
Level 2 · Choose
Goal: Continue some paid work on your own terms. Change your sustainable chosen-work income, withdrawal rate, withdrawal tax and reserve. Break duration and Pause income do not apply because this is an ongoing investment-funded gap.
Level 3 · Optional
Goal: Make employment income unnecessary. Here reliable non-work income can reduce the gap; chosen-work income does not. Change the withdrawal assumptions, reserve or spending, but there is no fixed break duration in this model.
Which parameters affect which level?
| Parameter | Pause | Choose | Optional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spending, buffer, transition costs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Break months and break income | Yes | — | — |
| Extra healthcare during break | Adjusted only | — | — |
| Chosen-work income | — | Yes | — |
| Reliable non-work income | — | — | Yes |
| Withdrawal rate, withdrawal tax and safety margin | — | Yes | Yes |
This table describes the specific simplified spreadsheet model, not every possible real-life financial arrangement. Find generic term definitions in the glossary ↗
Why three numbers instead of one retirement number?
Because a one-year career break, reduced-hours work and optional paid work fund different amounts for different periods. The same household can have three valid targets.
What is the monthly freedom gap?
It is the portion of spending not covered by the relevant income. For example, $3,500 spending minus $2,000 chosen work equals $1,500 per month for investments to fund.
Why isn't the 4% rule used for Level 1?
A defined 12-month break is a finite cash bridge. It does not automatically require the same portfolio-withdrawal method used for decades of investment-funded spending.
Is 4% guaranteed to work?
No. It is an assumption rooted in specific historical research. Actual results depend on returns, inflation, withdrawal flexibility, portfolio allocation and horizon. Compare the sensitivity table instead of treating any one rate as universally safe.
Why does changing currency not convert the amounts?
You are entering local costs in the selected currency. Choosing EUR or GBP only relabels the entered numbers. It never fetches a foreign-exchange rate or local living-cost estimate.
Can I save and return later?
Changes are stored in this device's browser storage. You can download an input backup for use on another device. Clearing your browser's data removes the local version.
Educational planning only; not personal investment, tax, pension or legal advice. Taxes, healthcare, pensions, account restrictions, sequence risk and spending changes may alter real outcomes.
Sources and spreadsheet version
Use this calculator in your browser, or examine the formulas in the underlying public workbook.
Spreadsheet — view online
Spreadsheet — download
Living-cost baseline
Withdrawal-rate research
Historical research
Healthcare
The Franklin County and healthcare entries in the video are illustrative planning assumptions; the MIT source is a reference point, not a claim that all budget categories represent a current official MIT household quotation.
I Calculated the 3 Levels of Financial Freedom
See Alex's three targets calculated step by step, then return to test your own assumptions.