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Investments & growth
Goal Planner Calculator India
Work out the monthly SIP each of your goals needs, and plan several at once. Education, a home, freedom: each gets its own number, at its own return and its own date.
A ₹50 lakh goal fifteen years away is really ₹1.2 crore in the rupees you will actually pay, at 6% inflation. Plan the goal in tomorrow's money, or you fund less than half of it.
About the goal planner
A goal planner works out the monthly SIP needed to reach a target amount by a target date, at an assumed return. Below the tool is what the number means, why time matters more than the amount, what inflation does to every target, and how to plan several goals at once.
| Time to goal | Total you invest | Monthly SIP |
|---|---|---|
| 5 years | ₹37.9 lakh | ₹63,199 |
| 10 years | ₹28.2 lakh | ₹23,537 |
| 15 years | ₹20.6 lakh | ₹11,440 |
| 20 years | ₹14.7 lakh | ₹6,130 |
| 25 years | ₹10.3 lakh | ₹3,440 |
Time is the biggest lever you have. The same goal costs about eighteen times as much a month at five years as at twenty-five, and you put in far less of your own money the longer you give it.
Your goals by life stage
How much do I need to invest for a goal?
It depends on three things: the target, how long you have, and the return you assume. A ₹50 lakh goal fifteen years away needs about ₹11,440 a month at 11%. The same goal in five years needs about ₹63,199, because compounding has almost no time to help. Change the numbers above for your own case. The figure is before inflation and before tax, so treat it as a floor, not a ceiling.
How does the goal planner work out the monthly amount?
It runs the SIP maths backwards. Instead of asking what a monthly amount grows into, it asks what monthly amount reaches your target, at the return you set. The one number to get right is the monthly rate: for 12% it is about 0.95%, written (1+r)^(1/12) minus 1, not a flat 1%. Nothing compounds neatly month by month in equity; the calculator only splits the assumed annual return honestly across the months.
Why does another calculator show a smaller monthly number?
Because many divide the annual return by 12 to get the monthly rate, a shortcut that assumes about 12.7% a year rather than the 12% you asked for. Assuming faster growth means the calculator asks for less. On a ₹50 lakh goal over fifteen years it tells you about ₹9,909 a month when the honest figure is about ₹10,506.
| Method | Monthly rate used | Monthly SIP |
|---|---|---|
| Shortcut: 12% / 12 | 1.000% | ₹9,909 |
| Correct: (1.12)^(1/12) - 1 | 0.949% | ₹10,506 |
The shortcut assumes your money grows faster than it does, so it asks for less. The honest number is about ₹600 a month higher, on every goal, for the life of the plan.
What return should I assume for a goal?
Match it to the horizon, not to hope. For a goal a couple of years away, use a safe, low return, because you cannot ride out a fall. For one over a decade out, an equity assumption of 11 to 12% is reasonable, with a margin of safety. The default rows above already do this: the car sits at 8%, the child's education at 11%, the retirement top-up at 12%.
What will inflation do to my goal?
More than almost anyone expects. A ₹50 lakh education bill today is really about ₹1.2 crore in fifteen years at 6% inflation, and the monthly SIP to reach it jumps from about ₹11,440 to about ₹27,416. If you plan in today's rupees, you fund less than half the real cost. Tick "adjust goal amounts for inflation" above to size every target in the money you will actually pay, and see what inflation does to any amount.
Does the planner account for expense ratio and tax?
No, and both matter. If your 12% is the index's return, your fund's expense ratio comes out of it, and the corpus you build is before capital-gains tax when you sell. Treat the monthly figure as the gross, best-case minimum, and round it up rather than down.
What if the monthly number is too high?
You have three honest levers: give the goal more time, trim the target, or start with what you can and raise it every year. A smaller SIP begun now, stepped up as your income grows, usually beats a bigger one you keep postponing. See what a step-up SIP does to the same goal.
How do I plan several goals at once?
Give each goal its own row, its own date, and its own return, then read the combined monthly total at the top. Fund them in the order you will need them, and never starve a need-goal (retirement, a child's education) to reach a want-goal (a bigger car, a longer holiday). Add a goal with the button below the rows, or remove one with the × on its row.
How long should I stay invested for a goal?
For a long goal, as long as you can. Equity rewards horizon more than timing, and the far goals are where compounding does most of the work. Over 25 years of the Nifty, no ten-year holding period ended in a loss. See the record. As a goal's date comes within about three years, start moving its money into safety so a bad month cannot undo the plan.
What if I already have the money for a goal?
Then you do not need a monthly SIP for it; you need a lumpsum left to compound. Put the money in at the right risk for the horizon and let it grow, or stagger it in over a few months so you are not buying everything on one day.
Should a goal keep the same return the whole way?
No. A sensible plan glides down. A goal fifteen years out can carry an equity-like rate for most of its life, then step to safer assets in the last few years. This planner uses one return for the whole horizon, so for a near-term goal choose the safer rate you will actually hold as the date approaches, not the higher one you start with.
Is a bigger goal or an earlier start better?
An earlier start, almost always. Time is the biggest lever you have. The same ₹50 lakh goal costs about ₹63,199 a month over five years and about ₹3,440 over twenty-five, roughly eighteen times less for the extra twenty years. Starting earlier is worth more than saving harder later.