Set the portfolio target
Monthly spending is annualised, then multiplied by your selected portfolio target. This sets the spending-based amount; it does not decide how long the money must last.
How Undefeated calculates the year
A clear view of how age, spending, assets, contributions, return assumptions, and your portfolio target become a Financial Independence Year. It is a calculation estimate, not personal guidance.
How age and your financial inputs become a Financial Independence Year. Estimate only, not personal guidance.
- Inputs
- Entered by you
- Method
- Same model each run
- Boundary
- Not personal guidance
Project assets each year
Invested assets grow by your expected real return. Annual contributions are added during accumulation and stop at the candidate Financial Independence Year.
Test both conditions
At each candidate year, projected assets must meet the portfolio target amount and the capital needed to fund constant real spending through age 100. The larger requirement governs; the first year both checks pass is the Financial Independence Year.
Inputs
Each number has a specific role.
The calculator uses these values consistently each time it estimates your Financial Independence Year.
Set the time available in the model.
Your age sets the duration tested through age 100. The projection window limits how far ahead the calculator looks for a Financial Independence Year.
Sets the spending to fund.
Monthly spending is annualised, then used in both the portfolio target amount and the duration requirement.
Read Ambit explainerStarts the projection.
Invested assets are current non-pension capital projected forward and tested against both requirements before future monthly savings are added.
Adds new capital.
Monthly Savings added to those investments are converted into annual contributions and included during accumulation until each candidate Financial Independence Year. Pension contributions are excluded.
Read Ambit explainerSets the real-growth assumption.
Expected real return is used to project assets during accumulation and to calculate the duration requirement after each candidate year, before scenario shifts are applied.
Read Ambit explainerSets the spending-based amount.
The selected multiple is applied to annual spending. A higher target requires more capital, while the separate duration requirement may still set the larger amount.
Read Ambit explainerCore logic
The working stays visible.
The calculator uses real returns and whole annual steps so the result stays in today’s money. The spending percentage shown with a result uses projected assets at the FI Year, not the portfolio target. It is context, not a third check.
- Annual spending
- monthly spending x 12
- Portfolio target amount
- annual spending x portfolio target multiple
- Projected assets
- assets grown each year + contributions
- Duration requirement
- capital needed for real spending from the candidate year through age 100
- Governing requirement
- the larger of the portfolio target amount and duration requirement
- Answer
- first year projected assets meet both checks
Scenarios
Scenarios change one assumption.
Base uses your expected real return. Conservative subtracts 1.5 percentage points. Optimistic adds 1.5 percentage points. Spending, contributions, and the portfolio target stay unchanged.
Base
Uses the expected real return exactly as entered.
Conservative
Tests what happens if returns are 1.5 percentage points lower.
Optimistic
Tests what happens if returns are 1.5 percentage points higher.
Limits
Keep the limits clear.
The method is designed for comparison and understanding, not personal guidance.
- It is an estimate for information only, not a forecast or recommendation.
- Age 100 is a deterministic model boundary, not a lifespan prediction.
- Contributions stop at the candidate Financial Independence Year, and constant real spending is tested from that point.
- Leave pension pots out of invested assets. The model treats the other money entered as available capital but does not verify account access.
- It does not model tax, fees, product wrappers, pension rules, variable spending, later income, or sequence-of-returns risk.
- It does not predict market returns.
- It depends entirely on the assumptions you choose.