FI Progress Explained: How Close Are You to Financial Independence?
The One-Sentence Definition
FI Progress is your net worth divided by your FI number, expressed as a percentage. Hit 100% and you could, in theory, live off your investments forever.
FI Progress is calculated automatically in Turbobulls based on your spending and net worth. See it on your dashboard →
The Intuition: 25× Your Annual Expenses
The math behind FI is straightforward. Take your annual spending and multiply by 25. That's your FI number - the amount of invested wealth that can fund your lifestyle indefinitely.
Person A: 30,000/year spend
FI number = 25 × 30,000 = 750,000. If they have 375,000 invested, their FI Progress is 50% - halfway there.Person B: 60,000/year spend
FI number = 25 × 60,000 = 1,500,000. If they have 375,000 invested, their FI Progress is only 25% - same wealth, very different finish line.Lowering your spending is mathematically the most efficient FI lever. Cutting 10,000 from annual expenses drops your FI number by 250,000 - equivalent to earning that much investing.
The 4% Rule: Where 25× Comes From
The 4% rule comes from a 1998 study at Trinity University, since refined many times. It found that a portfolio of 60% stocks / 40% bonds, withdrawing 4% in year one and adjusting for inflation each year after, had a 95%+ historical success rate over 30-year retirements.
4% per year of a 1,000,000 portfolio = 40,000/year. So a 1M portfolio supports 40k/year spending. Flip it around: to support 40k/year spending, you need 25× = 1M invested.
What the Mixed Badge Means
Inside Turbobulls, every metric carries a small scope badge that tells you what data feeds it. FI Progress carries the Mixed badge.
That means it blends two scopes:
- Total net worth (wallet + portfolio + broker - debt) - the numerator
- Annual expenses (your wallet-side expense tracking) - the denominator
Both have to be tracked accurately for the score to be meaningful.
How to Read the Number
| FI Progress | What stage you're in |
|---|---|
| 0% - 10% | Building phase. Wealth growth is mostly from saving, not from returns. Focus on savings rate. |
| 10% - 25% | Foundation built. Investment returns are now meaningful contributors to growth. |
| 25% - 50% | Acceleration phase. Compounding starts visibly outpacing your contributions. |
| 50% - 75% | Coasting becomes possible. Some FIRE adherents downshift to "Coast FI" here. |
| 75% - 100% | Final stretch. Sequence-of-returns risk becomes real - one bad year here matters a lot. |
| 100%+ | Financially independent by the 4% rule. Work becomes optional. |
See How Close You Are to Financial Independence
The Catch: Your FI Number Moves
This is the most important caveat. FI Progress depends on both your wealth AND your expenses. If you save more by spending less, your numerator (wealth) goes up AND your denominator (FI number) goes down - a double speedup.
This is the hedonic treadmill problem. Building wealth without controlling lifestyle creep is like running on a treadmill that's speeding up. FI Progress catches it ruthlessly.
How Turbobulls Calculates FI Progress
In plain words: Turbobulls multiplies your average monthly expenses by 12 and then by 25 (= 300×) to find your FI number, then divides your current net worth by that target.
FI number = avgMonthlyExpenses × 12 / 0.04 (equivalent to × 300)
FI Progress = min(totalNetWorth / FI number, 1) × 100
Find average monthly expenses. Sum of wallet expense transactions divided by total days, scaled to 30 days.
Multiply to annual. Times 12.
Divide by 4%. The Trinity study's safe withdrawal rate. Equivalent to multiplying by 25.
Compute the ratio. Net worth divided by FI number, capped at 100%.
When FI Progress Matters - and When to Ignore It
- Long-term planning. The single best "am I on track" headline number.
- Evaluating spending changes. See how lifestyle changes shift the goalposts.
- Setting retirement dates. Combine with your current savings rate to forecast finish.
- Comparing strategies. Two paths can reach FI at very different ages.
- You just started tracking. Without a few months of expense data, the FI number is noisy.
- Your expenses are atypical. One-off big purchases inflate the FI number temporarily.
- You're 5+ years from FI. Sequence-of-returns risk is irrelevant; focus on savings rate.
- You don't want traditional FI. Coast FI, Barista FI, and Lean FI have different thresholds.
The Full Picture: Pair FI Progress With These
FI Progress tells you "how close." Pair it with these for the full picture:
One Number That Answers 'When Can I Stop Working?'
Turbobulls computes your FI Progress automatically from your expenses and net worth. Watch the percentage climb, spot lifestyle inflation, and forecast your FI date.
- Automatic FI Progress using the 4% rule (25× annual expenses)
- Updates with every expense and net worth change
- Pairs with Savings Rate and Wealth Velocity for full FI analysis
- Tracks lifestyle creep through the FI number's movement
- Multi-currency wealth and expenses handled natively
- Zero manual calculations - no spreadsheets, no formulas
Read more
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