Purposeful FIRE

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Your FIRE Number Is Backwards. Start at 80 Instead.

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Most FIRE numbers price the life you're trying to leave. This free worksheet walks you backward from the life you want at 80 to a number you can trace line by line, and finally trust.

If you've ever hit a savings goal and still not felt safe, the number probably wasn't the problem. It was never tied to a real life.

Inside the 10-page worksheet you'll:

• Start at 80. Decide what has to be true for you to call it a good retirement.
• Map your chapters. Plan your Go-Go, Slow-Go and No-Go years, and front-load what depends on your health.
• See what's coming. Get a list of the life events and money milestones to plan for, from Medicare at 65 to kids' weddings and long-term care, each with a current national cost benchmark.
• Price the life, not the job. Work through a fill-in table showing what drops, what rises, and what disappears once you stop working.
• Do the math. Follow an 8-line walk-through that turns those costs into your reverse-engineered FI number, including bridges to Social Security and Medicare.
• See it done. Read a worked example where one couple's number dropped from $2.75M to about $1.7M, not because they wanted less, but because they priced the right life.

It takes about 45 minutes with a pen and last year's spending.

Dr. Yoendry Torres, Psy.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist and the founder of Purposeful FIRE. He helps people near financial independence close the gap between what their balance sheet says and what they feel.

© 2026 Purposeful FIRE LLC. Dr. Yoendry Torres, Psy.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist. This guide is an educational self-reflection aid, not a clinical instrument, not psychotherapy, and not financial, legal, or investment advice. Completing it does not create a psychologist-patient relationship.