Have you asked, “Can I retire at 55?” Or have you ever sat down and figured out when you might be able to successfully retire? If you have, you may have realized that the closer you are retirement the better your retirement projections will be. Since I’m only 31, calculating my retirement is like trying to sink a putt from far, far away. There are just too many variables between me and the goal.

For this reason, I have largely refrained from retirement projections. It seemed futile to me. Everything has changed since a reader passed on a tip. I feel like Tiger Woods with a top of the line putter now. The tip? Check out this great retirement calculator. I’ve seen retirement calculators before, but FireCalc seems to be to take every factor into account.

I put it through the tests and at my current savings rate, it says I should be to retire in 16 years at age 47. If that seems early to you, it should. I ran my calculations assuming that I’d continue to max out my Roth IRA and 401Ks. This may not be possible if new priorities come into my life. For instance, if me and Energy Gal decide to have children and/or buy a bigger home, I might have difficulty carrying through with my plan.

If you have a couple of minutes, give the calculator a run.  Let me know in the comments what you think of the results.