Retirement Corpus Calculator
The corpus you need to retire and the monthly SIP that gets you there.
A retirement corpus is the lump sum you need on your last working day to fund every month of expenses after it. This retirement calculator works backwards from the life you want: it inflates today's monthly spending to your retirement date, works out the corpus that can sustain those rising withdrawals for the rest of your life, and tells you the monthly SIP required to build it.
The number it produces is usually larger than people expect, because two forces compound against you. Inflation multiplies your expenses before retirement, and it keeps multiplying them for another 20 to 30 years afterwards. This calculator handles the second part properly by using an inflation-adjusted real return during retirement instead of the nominal one.
How is the retirement corpus calculated?
First, today's expense is carried forward to retirement: expense at retirement = current monthly expense × (1 + inflation)^years to retirement. Next, the corpus is the present value at retirement of an inflation-linked withdrawal stream, discounted at the real return — real rate = ((1 + post-retirement return) ÷ (1 + inflation)) − 1. With rr as the monthly real rate and n the months in retirement, corpus = expense × (1 − (1 + rr)^−n) ÷ rr × (1 + rr). Finally, existing savings grow at the pre-retirement return, and the shortfall is converted into a monthly SIP.
Take a 30-year-old retiring at 60, living to 85, spending ₹50,000 a month today, with 6% inflation, 12% returns before retirement and 7% after, and no savings yet. The monthly expense at 60 becomes ₹50,000 × 1.06³⁰ = ₹2,87,175. The real return in retirement is only (1.07 ÷ 1.06) − 1 = 0.94%, so the corpus required over 300 months of withdrawals is ₹7,67,80,212. Building that from zero in 30 years at 12% needs a SIP of ₹21,751 a month. Adding ₹10,00,000 of existing savings — which grows to ₹2,99,59,922 by 60 — cuts the required SIP to ₹13,264.
How to use this calculator
- Enter your current age and the age you want to stop working — every year of delay shrinks the SIP substantially.
- Set life expectancy conservatively. Planning to 85 or 90 is safer than running out of money at 80.
- Enter what you actually spend each month today, excluding EMIs that will end before retirement and one-off costs like children's education.
- Use 6% as a long-run inflation assumption for general expenses; raise it if a large share of your spending is healthcare.
- Keep the pre-retirement return equity-oriented (11–12%) and the post-retirement return conservative (6–7%), since the corpus should move to safer assets as you age.
- Add whatever you have already earmarked for retirement — EPF, NPS, PPF and mutual funds — to see the shortfall and the SIP that closes it.
Retirement planning realities in India
India has no universal state pension, and the old-style employer pension has all but disappeared from the private sector. For most people, retirement will be funded entirely by EPF, NPS and personal investments. At the same time medical inflation runs well ahead of headline CPI, and family structures that once made retirement a shared responsibility are steadily giving way to nuclear households — which is why a self-funded corpus matters more for this generation than it did for the last.
The most effective lever in this calculator is time, not return. Starting a ₹21,751 SIP at 30 builds the same corpus that would demand well over ₹50,000 a month if you began at 40, because you lose the decade in which compounding does the heaviest lifting. Two practical habits help: step up the SIP with every annual increment, and keep a separate health insurance cover so a medical emergency never forces you to break the retirement corpus. Also treat the number as a moving target — revisit it every two or three years as your income, expenses and life plans change.
Frequently asked questions
How much money do I need to retire in India?
It depends entirely on your spending, not on a round number. As a rule of thumb, most people need 25 to 30 times their annual expenses at retirement, which for a ₹50,000-a-month lifestyle today works out to roughly ₹7.5 crore in 30 years. This calculator computes it precisely from your own inputs.
Why is the required corpus so large?
Because inflation acts twice. It multiplies your expenses over the years before retirement, and then keeps raising them through two or three decades of retirement. A ₹50,000 monthly expense at 6% inflation becomes about ₹2.87 lakh a month after 30 years, and the corpus must sustain that rising figure for life.
What is a real rate of return and why use it?
The real rate strips inflation out of your nominal return: (1 + return) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1. Using it during retirement is what allows the calculator to keep withdrawals rising with inflation each year. It is deliberately conservative — 7% returns against 6% inflation leaves under 1% of real growth.
Does EPF and NPS count towards this corpus?
Yes. Any money you will not touch before retirement belongs in the savings input, including your EPF balance, NPS Tier-I corpus, PPF and dedicated mutual fund investments. Exclude your emergency fund and money set aside for nearer goals like a home or a child's education.
What if I start planning late, at 45 or 50?
You have three levers left: save a much larger amount each month, delay retirement by a few years, or plan for a lower retirement expense. Delaying retirement is the most powerful of the three because it both adds contributing years and removes withdrawal years from the corpus.
How often should I revisit this calculation?
Every two to three years, and after any major change such as a large salary jump, a new home loan, or a child entering school. Inflation and return assumptions drift over time, and reviewing regularly turns an intimidating one-time number into a manageable, adjustable plan.
Related tools
SIP Calculator
Future value of monthly mutual-fund SIPs, with annual step-up.
Lumpsum Calculator
One-time investment growth and maturity value over the years.
SWP Calculator
Monthly withdrawals from a corpus and how long it lasts.
FD Calculator
Fixed deposit maturity value and interest with bank-style compounding.
RD Calculator
Recurring deposit maturity value and interest with quarterly compounding.
PPF Calculator
Public Provident Fund maturity value, interest and year-wise growth.
Salary Slip Generator
Create a professional payslip and download a white-label PDF — free.
Disclaimer: results are estimates based on the inputs and published rules/rates, for information only — not investment, tax or legal advice. Verify important decisions with a qualified professional. See our full disclaimer.