Calculate the number of years you'd need to work at your current savings rate before you can "retire early" or be financially independent. The following formula

Calculate the number of years you'd need to work at your current savings rate before you can "retire early" or be financially independent. The following formula is something I adopted from finance blogs and is just an enlightening simplification. E/S * 25 = Y Where: E: Your yearly expenses. S: Your yearly after tax savings. Y: The number of additional years you need to work Implications: -If you spend and save an equal amount you have about 25 years of work to go. -If you save many multiples of what you spend, you may have just a few more years of work left before you are never obligated to work again. -If you save just a fraction of what you spend, then early retirement is not looking so good. -Every dollar per year you spend in early retirement will need at least 25 dollars backing it up in your nest egg. -Spending more money means you are obligated to work a hell of a lot harder and longer. (Which is not always an option in bubbly, ageist fields like tech) Assumptions: -Expenses and Savings stay constant throughout your life. -You put your money into an index fund that nets 7%, 3% of which goes to keeping up with inflation, 4% of which is your safe withdrawal rate (which is also where the constant, 25, comes from). -Your current bank balance is 0.