We could all then take a look at the answers and say:
-I'm right about where most everyone else is
-oh my goodness I need to retire already
- or maybe I'll hold off on retiring a little bit more.
It would seem to me that the annual $ amount from FIRECalc, age, and if you're retired or not is less than what you would need...you'd also need what your current burn rate is.
100k, 55, recently retired means something different if my current (or post retirement) burn rate is 50k versus $150k, right? I see all of these people in the bay area with huge mortgages (but fewer square feet to live in than I do), huge taxes, etc.
To me, what you really want to know is the spending multiple.
One way to calculate it would be to get a current value on future income streams (social security, pensions, etc). You'd have to agree to all use the same discount factor, otherwise the results would be all over the place. And we'd all have to use the actuarial tables to keep apples-to-apples. So then you'd add the present value of your income streams to your spendable assets. (I'm not going to use the "N" word ["NW"] or people freak out with their own definitions). But you take that total of spendable plus present value of future streams, and you divide it by your current or projected annual expenditure.
I did a little googling, but couldn't find a calculator that would give one the present value of social security payments. I figure it must be out there, but I just didn't see it. I wouldn't need to be social security, per se, it just has to let you put in how many years in the future the payments will start, and how long. And also allow for inflation and discount percent input (this is important because there's time between now and when the payments start).
But rough numbers, I'm totally underspending (but I knew that)...When I add in a quickie present value of SS to my nest egg and divide that total by my current burn rate, I can get myself to over 100 years of age.
So although we lose the FIRECalc "market" aspect and fall back to assuming the portfolio will keep up with inflation, I think this calculation is a better yardstick to measure if you are behind, equal, or ahead of others in your quest to RE.
Calculate the present value of your future cash flows, add that to your nest egg, divide the total by your projected annual spending, then add that to your current age. Is that number higher than the actuarial table for you?