How to use the retirement calculator
- Enter your age, the age you want to retire and how long the money must last (85 is a sensible default; plan for longer if your family lives long).
- Enter your current monthly household expenses and what you have saved for retirement so far.
- Set inflation and expected returns before and after retirement.
- Read the corpus needed, the shortfall and the monthly SIP, and try a yearly step-up.
- Switch to FIRE to see how many years your current savings rate needs to reach financial independence.
Retirement corpus formula
Corpus = E × (1 − qn) ÷ (1 − q), where q = (1 + g) ÷ (1 + r)
- E is your first year's expenses in retirement: today's expenses × (1 + g)years to retire.
- g is inflation and r the return after retirement.
- n is the number of years in retirement. Expenses are drawn at the start of each year.
The monthly SIP is the shortfall (corpus minus your existing savings grown to retirement) divided by what ₹1 a month grows to at your pre-retirement return.
Corpus and SIP by monthly expenses
| Expenses today | At 60 | Corpus needed | Monthly SIP |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₹30,000 | ₹1,72,305 | ₹4.17 Cr | ₹11,808 |
| ₹50,000 | ₹2,87,175 | ₹6.95 Cr | ₹19,680 |
| ₹75,000 | ₹4,30,762 | ₹10.42 Cr | ₹29,520 |
| ₹1,00,000 | ₹5,74,349 | ₹13.89 Cr | ₹39,360 |
| ₹1,50,000 | ₹8,61,524 | ₹20.84 Cr | ₹59,040 |
Age 30, retiring at 60, money lasting to 85, 6% inflation, 12% return before and 8% after retirement, no existing savings.
What starting later costs
| Starting age | Corpus needed | Flat SIP | SIP with 10% step-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | ₹9.3 Cr | ₹14,313 | ₹5,232 |
| 30 | ₹6.95 Cr | ₹19,680 | ₹7,864 |
| 35 | ₹5.19 Cr | ₹27,356 | ₹12,141 |
| 40 | ₹3.88 Cr | ₹38,824 | ₹19,504 |
| 45 | ₹2.9 Cr | ₹57,448 | ₹33,380 |
The same ₹50,000 a month of expenses today, retiring at 60. Starting at 25 needs a bigger corpus, because prices rise for longer, yet a far smaller SIP. Raise your SIP every year with the step-up SIP calculator.
FIRE: how the withdrawal rate changes the target
| Withdrawal rate | Multiple of expenses | Corpus today | Years to FIRE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4% | 25× | ₹1.8 Cr | 12 years |
| 3.5% | 28.6× | ₹2.06 Cr | 14 years |
| 3% | 33.3× | ₹2.4 Cr | 16 years |
Example: take-home pay of ₹1,50,000 a month, expenses of ₹60,000, ₹10,00,000 invested, 10% return and 6% inflation. A lower withdrawal rate is safer but adds years of work. Once retired, plan withdrawals with the SWP calculator.
Frequently asked questions
How much money do I need to retire in India?
It depends on your expenses, years to retirement and how long the money must last. A 30-year-old spending ₹50,000 a month today will spend about ₹2,87,175 a month at 60 if inflation averages 6%. To fund that, rising with inflation, until 85 at an 8% return needs a corpus of about ₹6.95 Cr.
How is the retirement corpus calculated?
Today's expenses are inflated to your retirement age. The corpus is the present value, on the day you retire, of a yearly expense that keeps rising with inflation until your life expectancy, discounted at your post-retirement return. That is a growing annuity, which works out the same as discounting at the real return (return minus inflation).
What is the 4% rule, and does it work in India?
The 4% rule says you can withdraw 4% of your corpus in the first year, then raise it with inflation, and the money should last about 30 years. It comes from US market data with inflation near 3%. Indian inflation has averaged closer to 5–6%, and early retirees need money for 40 years or more, so many Indian planners use 3–3.5%, which means a corpus of about 29–33 times yearly expenses.
What is FIRE?
FIRE stands for financial independence, retire early. You save a large share of income, often 40–60%, and invest it until the portfolio can cover your expenses at a safe withdrawal rate. The FIRE mode of this calculator shows how many years that takes at your current savings rate.
What return should I assume after retirement?
After retirement most people move to a safer mix of debt and some equity, so returns are lower. 7–8% is a common planning assumption. What matters most is the real return: an 8% return with 6% inflation leaves only about 1.9% of real growth, which is why the corpus needs to be so large.
Do EPF, PPF and NPS count towards my retirement savings?
Yes. Add your EPF, PPF, NPS and retirement-earmarked mutual fund balances to savings so far. Leave out your home and emergency fund. Remember that part of the NPS corpus has to be used to buy an annuity, which pays a taxable pension.