Retirement

Retirement Planner

Work out the corpus you need at retirement in future money, what you are on course for, and the gap between them

About the Retirement Planner calculator

Work out the corpus your retirement actually needs in future rupees, what your current savings will grow to, and the gap between the two. Inflation and post-retirement returns are both modelled.

How the maths works

Corpus needed, in three steps

Future monthly expense = Today's expense x (1 + inflation)^years. Corpus = Future annual expense x withdrawal multiple. Gap = Corpus - future value of what you already have and keep adding.

Years to retirement

Retirement age minus current age

Inflation

The rate your cost of living rises at - 6% is a common Indian assumption

Withdrawal multiple

About 25x annual expenses for a 4% withdrawal rate; 30x or more for a retirement lasting beyond 30 years

Pre-retirement return

What your portfolio earns while you are still accumulating

Post-retirement return

What it earns once you have shifted towards safety - usually several points lower

A worked example

Aged 32, retiring at 60

₹60,000 today becomes about ₹3.07 lakh a month at 60. The corpus needed lands near ₹9.2 crore. Existing savings grow to roughly ₹3.3 crore, leaving a gap that needs about ₹34,000 a month invested from now.

How to use it

1. Enter your age, target retirement age, and expected life expectancy
2. Enter your current monthly expenses in today's money
3. Set an inflation assumption and the returns you expect before and after retiring
4. Enter what you have already accumulated and what you currently invest each month
5. Read the corpus needed, the projected shortfall, and the monthly top-up that closes it

What it accounts for

• States the corpus in future rupees, which is the only figure that means anything
• Separates pre- and post-retirement returns rather than assuming one rate throughout
• Shows the monthly investment needed to close the gap
• Lets you test retiring earlier or later and see the cost of each year
• Accounts for existing EPF, NPS and portfolio balances

Why it is worth working out

• Replaces a vague worry with a specific monthly number
• Shows how expensive each year of early retirement really is
• Makes the effect of a 1% difference in returns impossible to ignore
• Reveals whether the gap needs more saving or a later date - often both

Questions people ask

How much do I actually need to retire?

Roughly 25 to 30 times your annual expenses at the point you stop working — in future rupees, not today's. Spending ₹60,000 a month now and retiring in 28 years at 6% inflation means an expense of about ₹3.07 lakh a month then, and a corpus somewhere near ₹9 crore. The inflation step is the one people skip, and it is the one that matters most.

Is the 4% withdrawal rule reliable in India?

Treat it as a frame rather than a rule. It came from long US market histories with lower inflation and a 30-year horizon. For a retirement that might run 35 to 40 years, or in a higher-inflation environment, 3% to 3.5% is the more defensible starting point.

Does EPF and NPS count towards my retirement corpus?

Yes, and they should be entered as existing savings — but with a caveat. NPS forces at least 40% into an annuity at 60, so that portion is not freely withdrawable capital. Count it, but do not count on being able to spend it as a lump sum.

What does retiring five years early cost?

More than most people expect, in two directions at once: five fewer years of contributions and compounding, and five more years the corpus has to fund. It commonly increases the required corpus by 30% to 50%. Test both dates in the calculator before committing to a number.

Read more on this

• FIRE in India: the numbers behind retiring at 45 — The Western FIRE playbook assumes 4% withdrawal rates and no inflation above 3%. In India, you need a different set of numbers — and the corpus is larger than most online calculators suggest.

This calculator is for information and education. It is not financial advice — see the disclaimer.