Most retirement advice starts at 59½. Most FIRE plans end there. If you leave work at 45, the interesting question is not whether you have enough money in total. It is whether the money is in accounts you can use during the fourteen-and-a-half years before the conventional doors open.
The bridge is a calendar
Write one row for every year between your exit date and 59½. Put expected spending in the first column. Then subtract reliable income: a partner’s paycheck, rent, consulting you actually intend to do, or other cash flow. What remains is the bridge your taxable brokerage account, cash, and planned retirement-account access must carry.
This is more useful than staring at one net-worth number. A household can be rich in a 401(k) and poor on Tuesday. Another can have a smaller portfolio but enough taxable assets to create a calm, flexible runway.
What taxable money buys
A taxable account is not merely the less-efficient bucket left after tax-advantaged accounts. It buys control. You can sell when you choose, manage realized gains, and coordinate income with health-insurance subsidies. Basis comes back untaxed; only gains create a taxable event. The exact result depends on your holdings and tax situation, so model lots rather than treating every dollar withdrawn as income.
The bridge can also feed a Roth conversion ladder. Each year you spend from taxable assets while converting a measured amount from a traditional IRA to a Roth. Five years later, converted principal becomes available under the applicable rules. The taxable account buys the waiting period.
Build it backward
Start with the exit year and work toward 59½. Keep the first twelve to twenty-four months in assets you will not be forced to sell after a crash. Put later years in a diversified portfolio. Add a tax column, a healthcare-income column, and a bad-market adjustment.
Then compare the result with your real FIRE number and the site’s guide to sequence-of-returns risk. The goal is not to make every year certain. It is to make the next decision visible.
This article is educational, not individualized tax advice. Verify current rules and your circumstances with a qualified professional.
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