Retirement Calculator India

About the retirement calculator

The retirement calculator works backward from the life you want to the corpus you need, then to the monthly saving that gets you there. It uses your real return during retirement, so the pot keeps pace with rising costs. Below the tool is why the number runs to crores, how it relates to the 3% rule, and what to do if the gap looks large.

How much do I need to retire?

Enough to fund your expenses, which inflation keeps raising, for every year after your salary stops. On the calculator's default, a ₹50,000 monthly lifestyle for someone aged 30 retiring at 60 needs about ₹7.71 crore, because by 60 that lifestyle costs about ₹2.87 lakh a month. Enter your own expense, ages and returns above for your number; it is personal, and seeing it early is the whole point.

How does the calculator work it out?

In four steps. It inflates today's monthly expense to your retirement age; it finds the corpus that funds that expense, still rising with inflation, across your retirement years, using your real return after inflation; it grows your current savings to retirement at your pre-retirement return; and it sizes the monthly SIP needed to close whatever gap is left.

Why is the number so large?

Because inflation eats twice, once before you retire and again all through retirement. A ₹50,000 expense becomes about ₹2.87 lakh a month by 60 and about ₹12.33 lakh by 85, and the corpus has to cover decades of that with no salary coming in. The figure looks frightening at first; it is far easier to fix at 40 than at 58, which is exactly why the tool shows it to you now.

How does this relate to the 25x or 33x rule?

The rule of thumb, 25 to 33 times your annual expense, assumes you live off the corpus forever at a safe withdrawal rate of 3 to 4%. This calculator instead does a finite drawdown to your life expectancy, spending the pot down by then, so its figure can be a little lower. If you retire early, or want the corpus to outlast you and leave something behind, lean to the 33 times, 3% number. The 3% rule guide walks through why 3% is the sturdier starting point in India.

What return should I assume before and after retirement?

Usually a higher one while you are still invested for growth, and a lower, safer one once you are drawing down, for example 12% before and 7% after. What actually matters is the real return after inflation, which is why the calculator uses it for the drawdown rather than the headline rate. Set both to your own comfort; a cautious plan uses slightly lower numbers.

What if I live longer than 85?

The corpus is sized to the life expectancy you set, so raise it if longevity runs in your family, or aim for the perpetual 33 times, 3% number instead so the pot never fully empties. Planning to a longer life means a long one is funded rather than feared, and the cost of over-planning here is far smaller than the cost of running out.

Does starting early really matter that much?

Enormously, and this is the one lever you cannot get back. The same ₹50,000 lifestyle needs a SIP of about ₹20,000 a month if you start at 30, about ₹29,000 at 35, and about ₹42,000 at 40. Compounding does the heavy lifting, but only if you give it the years; every year you wait, the monthly number climbs faster than you expect.

What if the gap looks impossible?

You have three levers: save more, retire a little later, or plan to spend a little less later. Small moves on all three usually beat a heroic move on one. Then count the EPF, PPF and NPS you already build, which close more of the gap than most people expect once you add their projected value to your current savings.

Where should the retirement SIP go?

Into equity through a SIP while retirement is far away, shifting toward safer assets as it approaches. NPS and EPF are tax-efficient retirement add-ons that sit alongside your own SIP rather than replacing it, and each has its own calculator here.

How do I draw it down without running out?

Draw a safe share each year, about 3% in India, through a systematic withdrawal from a balanced corpus. Building the pot and spending it down are two separate steps; the SWP calculator and the 3% rule guide cover the second one, so the corpus this tool sizes actually lasts.

Should I count my EPF and PPF in this?

Yes. Either add their projected retirement value into the current-savings box, or run the EPF and NPS calculators separately and treat this tool's SIP as the top-up that fills the remaining gap. What you do not want is to double-count or to ignore them, because both distort the real number.