Required corpus · Savings gap · Inflation impact · Monthly SIP target · Smart Insights
Disclaimer: Results are estimates based on assumed constant inflation and return rates (FY 2026-27). Actual retirement outcomes may differ due to market volatility, changing expense patterns, tax implications, and policy changes. This tool is for educational and planning purposes only — please consult a SEBI-registered financial advisor for personalised retirement planning.
A retirement calculator estimates the corpus you'll need at retirement to maintain your current lifestyle, and tells you whether your existing savings and monthly investments are on track to reach it. It accounts for two forces that work against each other over a long timeline:
Set your current age, retirement age, and life expectancy to anchor the calculation.
Add your current monthly expense and expected inflation rate so future costs are estimated realistically.
Enter pre- and post-retirement return assumptions, plus your existing savings and monthly investment.
See your required corpus and any gap or surplus, then use Scenario Comparison to test different assumptions.
The calculator uses the standard real-rate-of-return method to size your retirement corpus:
| Variable | Meaning | How to find it | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current Expense | Your monthly household expense today | Bank statement or monthly budget | ₹50,000 |
| Years to Retirement | Retirement age − current age | Self-reported | 30 years |
| Inflation | Expected annual rise in expenses | Long-term India average is 5–7% | 6% p.a. |
| Post-Retirement Return | Expected return on corpus after retiring | Conservative debt-heavy portfolio assumption | 7% p.a. |
Inputs: Current age 30 | Retirement age 60 | Life expectancy 85 | Monthly expense ₹50,000 | Inflation 6% | Post-retirement return 7%
The exact corpus figure is sensitive to small changes in inflation and return assumptions — a 1% difference compounded over 30 years materially shifts the result. Use the SIP calculator to check what monthly investment closes any gap between your projected savings and this required corpus.
The single biggest lever in retirement planning. Starting 10 years earlier roughly halves the monthly SIP needed to reach the same corpus, because compounding has more time to work.
Inflation determines your future monthly expense, which drives the entire corpus calculation. Even a 1% underestimate of long-term inflation can leave the corpus significantly short by the time you retire.
Pre-retirement returns shrink the monthly SIP needed; post-retirement returns determine how long the corpus lasts. A higher equity allocation before retirement, shifting to debt after, is the typical approach.
The gap between your required corpus and projected savings is closed by increasing the monthly SIP. Increasing this contribution even modestly each year, in line with salary growth, closes large gaps over a long horizon.
The retirement gap is the difference between your required corpus and your projected savings at retirement (existing savings plus monthly SIP, both grown at your expected pre-retirement return). A positive gap means you're under-saving; a surplus means your current plan exceeds what you'll need. This single number answers the question every retirement plan eventually has to answer: is what I'm doing today actually enough? Closing a gap usually means increasing the monthly SIP, extending the retirement age by a few years, or some combination of both — the calculator's scenario comparison shows the trade-off between these options directly.
Building your retirement corpus typically means combining a few of these, rather than relying on just one:
Market-linked, government-backed, with additional tax deduction under Section 80CCD(1B) over and above the 80C limit. Mandates at least 40% of the corpus go toward an annuity at retirement. Use the NPS calculator for a detailed pension and lump-sum breakdown.
Mandatory for most salaried employees, with an equal employer match on top of your own 12% contribution. Government-backed and low-risk, though its fixed return alone rarely keeps pace with rising retirement expenses. Use the EPF calculator to project your maturity corpus.
Government-guaranteed, tax-free returns under the EEE regime, with a mandatory 15-year lock-in. Best suited as the safe, guaranteed portion of a retirement portfolio. Use the PPF calculator to project maturity value.
The primary growth engine for a long retirement horizon. Historically higher returns than debt instruments, with volatility that smooths out over 15–20+ years. Model contributions with the SIP calculator.
There's no fixed number — it depends on your current monthly expense, years left to retirement, expected inflation, and how long your retirement will last. The standard approach is to inflate your current expenses to retirement-year values, then calculate the lump sum needed to fund that inflation-adjusted expense for your entire retirement duration, factoring in the return your corpus will earn while invested.
Most Indian financial planners use 5.5–7% per year for general retirement planning, reflecting India's long-term average. However, healthcare costs — typically the largest expense category in retirement — tend to rise faster than general inflation, so many planners add a separate, higher inflation assumption for medical expenses.
Before retirement, with a longer horizon and equity-heavy allocation, 10–12% per year is a commonly used assumption in India. After retirement, with a more conservative, debt-heavy allocation prioritizing capital protection, 6–8% per year is more realistic. Using the same optimistic rate for both phases tends to overstate how long a corpus will last.
Starting age has an outsized effect because of compounding. A person starting at 25 may need to invest roughly a third to half of what someone starting at 40 needs to invest monthly, to reach the same retirement corpus by age 60 — purely because the earlier investor's money has 15 more years to grow.
A retirement gap is the shortfall between your required corpus and your projected savings at retirement based on current contributions. It's closed by increasing the monthly SIP, extending the retirement age, increasing the equity allocation to target a higher return, or a combination of all three — increasing the SIP gradually each year (step-up SIP) is usually the least disruptive option.
Most planners recommend using a life expectancy of 80–90 years rather than the national average, since underestimating longevity is the costlier mistake — running out of money is far worse than having a surplus. If you have a family history of longevity, planning toward the higher end of that range is the safer assumption.
EPF alone is usually insufficient for most salaried individuals because its return is fixed and conservative, while retirement expenses grow with inflation over decades. EPF works well as the guaranteed, low-risk portion of a retirement portfolio, but pairing it with equity-oriented instruments like NPS or mutual fund SIPs is necessary to keep pace with long-term inflation.
A retirement calculator is only as accurate as the inflation and return assumptions entered into it — actual markets don't deliver constant annual returns, and your real expenses will fluctuate year to year. Use it for directional planning and to compare scenarios, not as a guaranteed final figure, and revisit your inputs periodically as your circumstances change.
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