FI Number and Withdrawal Rates | Community Q&A | ChooseFI (2024)

  • Brad Barrett
  • Tag: Money Plan, Retirement

Advertiser Disclosures.

Choose FI has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Choose FI and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. American Express is a ChooseFI advertiser. Disclosures.

Every week we here at ChooseFI get hundreds of emails from our community. There have been so many interesting and thought-provoking questions that we created a series dedicated to answering the most frequently asked each week.

This week’s question is about calculating your FI number and withdrawal rates, and comes from YandaPanda, who writes:

Question:

“I am confused…

  • FI Number. Once you’ve determined what your life costs (your annual expenses) you can determine your Financial Independence number by multiplying that number by 25 using the “4% rule of thumb” for safe withdrawals. If your annual expenses are $60,000, multiply by 25 to get a FI number of $1.5 million. This is also a good time to determine if you’re still comfortable with a 4% withdrawal rate, or maybe you want to be more conservative at 3% (then multiply by 33) or even potentially more aggressive at something like 5% (multiply by 20).

Why would you multiply by a larger number, when utilizing a smaller amount from the front end. I get that the numbers work, but how could you survive on a 5% withdrawal rate that starts with a significantly lower starting number. (3% = $1.98m, 4% = $1.5m, 5% = $1.2m) That seems backward to me. Wouldn’t your money run out faster? Why do you need MORE in investments to get LESS out of them?”

ChooseFI’s Answer:

Your intuition here is correct: the higher your withdrawal rate, the more aggressive you’re being and the higher likelihood you have of running out of money if returns aren’t as ideal as you hoped.

Having a larger net worth and taking out a smaller percentage is safer.

This leads us to a few related questions we get from the community: what exactly is the 4% Rule and FI Number?

FI Number

If you know ChooseFI, you probably have at least heard about your FI Number.

Your FI Number is: Your yearly spending divided by your Safe Withdraw Rate (more on that in a bit).

A great example can be found in a cornerstone article here. Also, there is a cool video the guys did about finding your FI Number and getting incrementally better here.

4% Rule and the Trinity Study

The “4% Rule of Thumb” our reader spoke about is an investment strategy conceived in 1998. We take a deep dive into this concept in our Ultimate Guide to Investing.

In essence, three professors from Trinity University (Texas) studied hundreds of variables over the course of the market (1929-1995). They concluded that within about a 96% certainty that if you withdrew 4% of your money each year after retirement, you’d have enough money for the rest of your life.

Planning

You need to determine first when you want to retire. Second is how much money do you think you’ll need for the rest of your life? If you are older, are you willing to be more aggressive financially if need be? These are all questions you should ask yourself regarding retirement planning.

Risk

4% rule of thumb is just that. We are all different. We’ve all taken different roads to get here. What it comes down to is risk. Are you risk-averse or risk-tolerant? With 4% being the suggestion, hedge the side you are more comfortable on. Want to be a bit more aggressive? Take a 4.5% withdrawal rate.

We just want to give you the best information given each and everyone’s needs

The Bottom Line

Know what your own “4% Rule of Thumb” is. If you are struggling, it’s this: it’s the percentage that when you see it, you don’t want to throw the smartphone out the window. Solace…mmmmmm…..beautiful thing!

And if you are just starting or on the fence and are intimidated by your FI Number (good or bad) come aboard. We’re a group of thinkers. Like we said in an earlier article, we have jackets and everything.

Dive Deeper:

Calculate Your FI Number

Beyond 4%: The Argument For Flexible Spending Rules In Retirement

Mapping Out Your FI Number | Households of FI with Corinne | EP 304

Choose FI has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Choose FI and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. American Express is a ChooseFI advertiser. Disclosures.

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FI Number and Withdrawal Rates | Community Q&A | ChooseFI (2024)

FAQs

What is the 4% rule for choose fi? ›

100% divided by 4% is 25. You will need to have 25 times your annual expenses saved to safely withdraw 4% of the balance each year.

What is a good fi number? ›

FI Number. Once you've determined what your life costs (your annual expenses) you can determine your Financial Independence number by multiplying that number by 25 using the “4% rule of thumb” for safe withdrawals. If your annual expenses are $60,000, multiply by 25 to get a FI number of $1.5 million.

What is a fi number? ›

What is a Financial Independence number? In short, your FI number is the amount of money you'll need to live comfortably without relying on regular employment income. Once you reach your FI number, you can more or less consider yourself financially independent .

What is the perfect withdrawal rate? ›

The 4% rule says people should withdraw 4% of their retirement funds in the first year after retiring and take that dollar amount, adjusted for inflation, every year after. The rule seeks to establish a steady and safe income stream that will meet a retiree's current and future financial needs.

What is the rule of 72 in fidelity? ›

There's even a simple formula, called the Rule of 72, that can help you figure out how long it may take to double your money at a specific interest rate. The formula is 72/Interest Rate = Years. For example: Let's say that an investment is yielding 7% annually1.

What is the 1234 financial rule? ›

One simple rule of thumb I tend to adopt is going by the 4-3-2-1 ratios to budgeting. This ratio allocates 40% of your income towards expenses, 30% towards housing, 20% towards savings and investments and 10% towards insurance.

Why is hitting half fi more like 75%? ›

Reaching half your FI number means you're about 75% of the way through your FI investing timeline. Thanks to your compounding returns, around the halfway mark, they start to do most of the heavy-lifting for you – that's encouraging news, no? You don't have to reach the mountain peak on your own.

How to calculate your fi? ›

To calculate your FI number, track your yearly spending and multiply it by 25 or divide it by 4% (the safe withdrawal rate) to estimate the amount needed in your investment portfolio.

What is a good fi score? ›

Typically, an F1 score > 0.9 is considered excellent. A score between 0.8 and 0.9 is considered good, while a score between 0.5 to 0.8 is considered average. If the F1 score falls below 0.5, then the model is considered to have a poor performance.

What is the fi retirement number? ›

The rule of 25 says you need to save 25 times your annual expenses to retire. To get this number, first multiply your monthly expenses by 12 to figure out your annual expenses. You then multiply that annual expense by 25 to get your FIRE number or the amount you'll need to retire.

What does fi mean in retirement? ›

A financial status of having enough money and assets to pay for one's living expenses without being dependent upon employment is the generally accepted definition of financial independence, or FI.

Is fi a payment bank? ›

No, Fi Money is not a bank. Fi Money is a financial app that has partnered with Federal Bank. Through this banking partnership, we provide a Savings Account & VISA debit card.

What is the 4 rule and safe withdrawal rates? ›

The 4% rule limits annual withdrawals from your retirement accounts to 4% of the total balance in your first year of retirement. That means if you retire with $1 million saved, you'd take out $40,000. According to the rule, this amount is safe enough that you won't risk running out of money during a 30-year retirement.

What is the safest withdrawal rate? ›

The safe withdrawal rate helps you determine a minimum amount to withdraw in retirement to cover your basic expenses, such as rent, utilities, and food. As a rule of thumb, many retirees use 4% as their safe withdrawal rate—the so-called 4% rule.

What is the 7% withdrawal rule? ›

The 7% rule in retirement refers to a strategy where retirees withdraw 7% of their retirement savings annually to fund their retirement lifestyle. This approach aims to balance providing sufficient income while preserving the principal for as long as possible.

What is the 4% fi rule? ›

The 4% rule states that you should be able to comfortably live off of 4% of your money in investments in your first year of retirement, then slightly increase or decrease that amount to account for inflation each subsequent year.

What is the 4 rule in math? ›

The Rule of Four stipulates that topics in mathematics should be presented in four ways: geometrically, numerically, analytically, and verbally. Implementing the Rule of Four supports students in being adept with all four types of representations and also provides support to students who learn in different ways.

How does 4% rule work fire? ›

The 4% rule says that retirees can withdraw 4% of their savings the first year and then adjust for inflation in future years if necessary to not run out of money in retirement. The 4% rule also assumes a 30-year retirement goal, so if you plan to retire earlier than that, this may not work for you.

Why the 4 rule is outdated? ›

If a retiree experiences poor investment returns during the first few years of retirement, their savings can erode significantly, making it difficult to recover even if markets perform well in later years. The 4% rule assumes a constant and predictable rate of return, which is not realistic.

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