How to use this planner
- About you: your age, when you want to retire, how long to plan for, and what you would spend each month in today's money.
- Saving for retirement (blue): what you have saved, your monthly SIP and how much you raise it each year, and how it is invested.
- In retirement (orange): any pension or rent, and how the money is invested once you stop working.
- Read the verdict, then the row of squares: your retirement replayed through every real market history since 1992.
How it is worked out
Saving: your savings grow month by month at the expected return; each month's SIP is added at the start of the month, and the SIP rises once a year.
Retiring: your expenses grow with inflation every year until you retire and every year after. Each month's expenses, less any other income, are withdrawn at the start of the month; the rest keeps growing at the retirement return. Needed at retirement is the amount that pays every withdrawal until the age you plan for.
Real markets: the retirement is replayed once for every start year from 1992 to 2025, using that year's and the following years' actual returns of your retirement mix (Sensex with dividends, gold and the S&P 500 in rupees, and PPF rates) and actual inflation. When a run reaches 2025 it carries on from 1992, so every start year gets a full retirement. Sources are listed on the investment mix page.
Example: aged 35 with ₹5,00,000 saved and a ₹15,000 SIP rising 5% a year in the Balanced mix, you reach ₹5,35,39,105 at 60. You need ₹5,03,46,283 to spend ₹60,000 a month in today's money until 85.
Frequently asked questions
How much money do I need to retire?
Enough to pay your expenses, rising with inflation, until the age you plan for. Spending ₹60,000 a month today with 6.5% inflation, you will need ₹2,89,662 a month at 60. To keep that up until 85 with the money earning 11.5% a year, you need about ₹5.03 crore on the day you retire.
Why can a plan that looks fine still run out?
Because the order of returns matters once you are withdrawing. A bad year early in retirement forces you to sell more when prices are low, and that money never recovers. In the example, the plan has enough at the average return, yet replayed through real markets since 1992 it lasted in 26 of 34 histories — retiring into the markets of 2008, the money ran out at about 78. A safety margin, or a lower-risk mix in retirement, helps.
What does starting late cost?
A lot, because the early years compound the longest. With the same savings, SIP and expenses, starting at 45 instead of 35 leaves you with ₹1.32 crore at 60 instead of ₹5.35 crore.
What return should I assume?
The planner suggests each mix's actual average since 1992: Conservative 11.5%, Balanced 13.1%, Aggressive 14.2% a year. Those years included 12% PPF rates and fast growth, so the future may be lower. If returns before retiring were 2% lower, the example would reach ₹3.92 crore instead of ₹5.35 crore.
Are EPF, NPS and taxes included?
Add what is already in EPF, PPF or NPS to "Savings so far", and what you add to them each month to the SIP. NPS rules (part of the money must buy an annuity) are not modelled yet. Everything is before tax: withdrawals from equity funds and interest from deposits may be taxed.