Build a retirement plan
build_retirement_planUse when someone asks when they can retire, if their money will last, their FIRE number (the planner shows when they'd reach it), or about Coast, Barista, Lean or Fat FIRE, and gave numbers (age, income, savings, spending, debts). Send what they gave, as said. Returns its answer and plan link.
Turns what someone has said about their money into firenum's answer and their plan in firenum's Fire Planner
(FIRE: Financial Independence, Retire Early). The answer is the planner's own, as their plan shows it once
opened: when they can retire with their contributions, growth and inflation, graded three ways (average returns,
500 Monte Carlo simulations, every historical start year since 1872). For a FIRE number it gives the number and,
once it has their age, when they would reach it. All parameters are optional: with too little to grade,
missing says what to ask for.
Reply from answer. Give the headline with both counts: the headline's date is the first month the money lasts on
average returns, and the counts say how often that survives real market swings. When a count is under half, open
with that count ("The money lasts in only N of 500 simulated markets"), never with yes, even a qualified one ("on
average returns, yes", "a risky yes"): the date works on average but fails in most markets. coast_number is
their Coast FIRE number for coast_age (what they would need invested today to stop saving). coast is the
planner's own answer to stopping saving today: whether the money still lasts if they retire on the headline's date
and, if not, the date that works without more saving. assumed, when present, is what the answer took for
something they didn't say: say so in those terms. missing is what the planner needs before it can grade
anything: ask for it and call again. To grade another retirement year, call again with retire. Amounts are in
their currency, sums in today's money. table is their net worth year by year on each model, with income,
spending and withdrawals, and assumptions is what the answer rests on (the rates, how each model works, how
their numbers were read, what is not modeled): answer follow-ups from them (what they would have at 60, when the
money runs out in a bad market, why a date) without calling again, and say what an answer assumes when it matters.
Give them the returned url exactly as it is: it opens their quick-start with these numbers filled in, then the
whole plan (stress tests, a year-by-year table, where the money goes). Without source=agent the planner opens it
as a shared plan that saves nothing. It runs in their browser with no account, and nothing is saved until they
confirm: the link then becomes a new plan, "From a link", beside any plans they have. The plan keeps the accounts,
spending lines, debts, pension, Social Security and rental income sent. Salary and side income become one monthly
income.
Income is annual. Expenses and contributions are monthly. Amounts in whole currency units (not cents). Growth and inflation are percentages.
Taxes are off by default, in any country: income is take-home pay. For someone in the US who gives income before
tax, send taxes=us (and state, a partner, dependents, their Social Security statement figure and a Roth
conversion strategy when they say them): the planner then computes federal, state and payroll tax every year, and
the table gains each year's tax. Amounts are then dollars.
Before retirement, any spending, debt payments and contributions that income doesn't cover are paid from savings.
Without salary or side_income, and with retirement still ahead, the answer assumes an income that covers
spending, contributions and debt payments until then (assumed says so), and the quick-start asks for it.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| hsa | No | Health Savings Account balance. Default growth 7%. | |
| pia | No | Monthly Social Security benefit at full retirement age, from the SSA statement. The planner computes the benefit for claim_age from it. | |
| cash | No | Cash/checking balance. Default growth 0%. | |
| debt | No | Debt balance. | |
| food | No | Monthly food expense. | |
| roth | No | Roth account balance (Roth IRA, Roth 401k). Default growth 7%. | |
| birth | No | Birth year (YYYY). From an age, send the current year minus the age. Used with retire_age to compute retirement date. | |
| state | No | Two-letter US state code (DC too) for state income tax. Without it, federal tax only. | |
| taxes | No | "us" computes US federal, state and payroll tax every year (2026 law, carried forward with inflation). Income is then before tax and every amount is in dollars, whatever currency says. "off" (the default, any country) takes income as take-home pay. | off |
| crypto | No | Cryptocurrency balance. Default growth 0%. | |
| growth | No | Default portfolio growth rate (percentage). Retirement, Roth, brokerage and HSA balances follow it as the market rate (randomized in Monte Carlo, historical in backtests); it also overrides the fixed defaults of the other assets. | |
| retire | No | Target retirement year (YYYY). Takes precedence over retire_age. | |
| salary | No | Annual gross salary, as they said it (don't subtract tax). Grows 3%/year, stops at retirement (open-ended if no retirement date is given). The planner doesn't deduct taxes; if they gave a tax amount, include it in expenses. | |
| target | No | Accepted from older links and ignored. The planner answers with a retirement date, not a target. | |
| housing | No | Monthly housing expense (rent/mortgage). | |
| married | No | With a partner, files jointly. false files as two singles. | |
| pension | No | Annual pension income. Starts at retirement (immediately if no retirement date is given). | |
| savings | No | High-yield savings balance. Default growth 4.5%. | |
| currency | No | Display currency. All amounts should be in this currency. | USD |
| expenses | No | Total monthly spending. Send this alone, or categories alone. If both are sent, categories count as part of this total and only the remainder becomes "Monthly expenses" (never added on top). Do not repeat the total as a category. | |
| brokerage | No | Taxable brokerage account balance. Default growth 7%. | |
| claim_age | No | Age Social Security is claimed (62-70), for social_security (with birth) or pia. | |
| debt_name | No | Name/label for the debt. Default "Debt". | |
| debt_rate | No | Debt annual interest rate (percentage). | |
| inflation | No | Default inflation rate (percentage). Overrides individual expense defaults. | |
| insurance | No | Monthly insurance expense. | |
| utilities | No | Monthly utilities expense. | |
| dependents | No | Dependents' birth years (child tax credit until 17, ACA household size). | |
| healthcare | No | Monthly healthcare expense. | |
| retire_age | No | Target retirement age. Requires birth to compute retirement year. Ignored if retire is provided. | |
| retirement | No | Retirement account balance (401k, IRA, etc). Default growth 7%. | |
| real_estate | No | Real estate equity. Default growth 4%. | |
| side_income | No | Annual side hustle / freelance income. Stops at retirement (open-ended if no retirement date is given). | |
| debt_payment | No | Monthly debt payment. | |
| discretionary | No | Monthly discretionary spending. | |
| partner_birth | No | A partner's birth year (YYYY). The partner retires at the same time. Every account and income line stays the first person's. | |
| rental_income | No | Annual rental income. | |
| transportation | No | Monthly transportation expense. | |
| part_time_until | No | Age part_time_income stops (needs birth). Omitted or 100 = for life. | |
| roth_conversion | No | Roth conversion ladder from the first retired year, each December from traditional accounts into Roth. fill_12 converts up to the top of the 12% bracket; fixed converts roth_conversion_amount a year; aca stays under the ACA premium credit's income limit. | none |
| social_security | No | Annual Social Security income. Starts at claim_age when sent with birth; otherwise at the later of retirement and age 67 (uses whichever is known; immediately if neither). | |
| hsa_contribution | No | Monthly HSA contribution. | |
| part_time_income | No | Annual part-time income in retirement (Barista FIRE). Starts at the retirement date and runs on; with no retirement date given, the plan retires at the earliest date that works with this income. | |
| cash_contribution | No | Monthly cash contribution. | |
| roth_contribution | No | Monthly Roth account contribution. | |
| crypto_contribution | No | Monthly crypto contribution. | |
| savings_contribution | No | Monthly savings contribution. | |
| roth_conversion_until | No | Age the conversions stop. | |
| brokerage_contribution | No | Monthly brokerage contribution. | |
| roth_conversion_amount | No | Dollars a year, with roth_conversion=fixed. | |
| retirement_contribution | No | Monthly retirement account contribution. | |
| real_estate_contribution | No | Monthly real estate contribution (e.g., extra mortgage principal). |
Output Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| url | Yes | Full URL to open the Fire Planner with pre-populated data. | |
| answer | No | The planner's answer, in its words, as their plan shows it once opened (average returns, today's money, their currency). A field that does not apply is left out. The whole answer is left out once the day's answers are used up (a limit shared by every caller, reset at 00:00 UTC): the link still opens their plan. | |
| params_applied | Yes | List of parameter names that were recognized and applied. |