How the Bitcoin retirement calculator works
If you plan to live off Bitcoin, the question is how many coins you need at retirement to pay for each year’s spending — and that depends on what the price does. This Bitcoin retirement calculator runs a year-by-year withdrawal plan: it adds your current coins and monthly buys until you retire, then sells enough each year to cover your spending, which rises with inflation. It tells you how many BTC you need, how many your plan reaches, how long they last, and the extra monthly buy that would close any gap.
You choose the price path: a constant yearly growth rate, growth that slows over time, or the Bitcoin power law — either its trend price or its growth rate applied to your own starting price. The power-law coefficients are the same published fit used on the Bitcoin power law calculator. Every assumption is shown above the result.
This is a scenario, not a forecast and not financial advice. No prices are fetched. Bitcoin has fallen by more than 70% several times, and a plan that sells coins during a long slump runs out much faster. Use the stress test and lower growth rates before relying on any figure.
How to use the Bitcoin Retirement Calculator
- Type the Bitcoin price to start from, the coins you hold, the amount you buy each month and the years until you retire.
- Enter your yearly spending in today’s money, inflation, the years of retirement to fund and, if you like, the share of each sale lost to tax and fees.
- Pick a currency — dollars, pounds, rupees or euros — and the date the plan starts.
- Choose a price path and its rates: constant growth, slowing growth, or one of the power-law options.
- Read the BTC needed, the shortfall or surplus, the chart and the year-by-year table, and copy the result.
Bitcoin Retirement Calculator features
BTC needed at retirement
The sum of each year’s sale: spending with inflation ÷ that year’s price, after tax and fees.
Your plan’s stack
Current coins plus a buy at the start of every month until retirement, priced on the same path.
Closing the gap
The extra monthly buy, or the lump sum today, that would cover the shortfall.
Four price paths
Constant growth, growth that slows, the power-law trend, or power-law growth from your price.
Stress test
How many coins you would need if the price never rose at all.
The maths and the assumptions
Bitcoin needed at retirement = Σ spending × (1 + inflation)t ÷ (pricet × (1 − tax and fees)), one sale at the start of each retirement year t. The stack at retirement = coins held + Σ monthly buy ÷ price at each month. If the stack falls short, the extra monthly buy = shortfall ÷ Σ (1 ÷ monthly price).
The power-law paths use price = 10−16.509 × days5.690, days counted from 3 January 2009 — equation (4) of G. Santostasi and S. Perrenod’s 2026 preprint (Zenodo, doi:10.5281/zenodo.19387099). It is a historical regression with no predictive guarantee; its growth slows as the days add up.
Worked example: with a flat price of 100,000, no inflation and spending of 40,000 a year for 30 years, you need 40,000 × 30 ÷ 100,000 = 12 BTC. Holding 0.5 BTC and buying 500 a month for 10 years reaches 1.1 BTC — enough for 2.75 years — so the gap of 10.9 BTC needs about 9,083 more a month. On a 10% growth path with 3% inflation the figure needed drops to about 2.8 BTC, which is why the growth assumption matters so much.
Things the plan does not include
- Volatility. The path is smooth; real prices swing, and selling in a crash uses far more coins (sequence-of-returns risk).
- Tax rules. The tax field is a rough share of each sale. In the UK, US and India the real tax depends on your gains and allowances — see the UK crypto tax calculator.
- Other income. Pensions and savings reduce the spending Bitcoin must cover; enter only the part it has to fund.
- Custody and fees. Exchange spreads and security risks are not modelled.
Related tools
Compare with a traditional portfolio in the safe withdrawal rate calculator or the retirement calculator, and model regular buying in the DCA calculator.
Bitcoin Retirement Calculator FAQ
How much Bitcoin do I need to retire?
Add up each retirement year’s spending, grown by inflation, divided by the Bitcoin price you assume for that year. The Bitcoin retirement calculator does it for any growth path; at a flat 100,000 price, 40,000 a year for 30 years needs 12 BTC.
How does the power-law Bitcoin retirement calculator work?
It sets each year’s price from the power-law trend — or grows your price at the trend’s rate — and runs the same withdrawal plan. The trend is a historical fit, not a forecast.
Can I use it in the UK or India?
Yes. Choose pounds or rupees and enter a rough tax share per sale; check your actual tax with a tax calculator for your country.
Is retiring on Bitcoin safe?
No one can promise that. Bitcoin is volatile; this page shows scenarios, not advice. Try the stress test and low growth rates.