Retirement Calculator 2026
Calculate your inflation-adjusted retirement target corpus, monthly SIP savings needed, and safe withdrawal rate (SWR)
Counter-intuitive heads-up: a lower SWR is more conservative and means you need a bigger corpus. See the water-tank diagram below for why.
You need a corpus of
₹8.62 Cr
by age 60 to maintain today's lifestyle, adjusted for 6% yearly inflation.
Monthly SIP needed
₹22,709
for 30 years at 12% expected return.
The breakdown
Your trajectory to the corpus
Blue line = how your savings grow. Dashed line = the corpus you need.
Why a lower SWR needs a bigger corpus — the water tank analogy
Think of your retirement corpus as a water tank, and your annual expenses as a tap that drains it at a fixed rate. The Safe Withdrawal Rate (SWR) is how fast you're willing to drain the tank — a smaller percentage means a slower drain, which means the tank can be smaller and still last forever, right? Wrong. It's the opposite. The slower you want to drain, the bigger the tank you need.
Here's why: the tank isn't draining toward empty. It's also being refilled by investment returns. A bigger tank produces more rupees of return per year — so you can afford to drain a smaller % of it and still cover your expenses. With a tiny tank, the returns are tiny too, so you'd have to drain a much larger % of it, which is risky.
The math, in one line: Corpus = Annual expense ÷ SWR. At ₹12L/year expense: 4% SWR needs ₹3 crore; 3% SWR needs ₹4 crore; 5% SWR "needs" ₹2.4 crore but is much riskier through bad market sequences.
SWR
Corpus needed
₹11.49 Cr
to safely drain ₹34.46 L/year
SWR
Corpus needed
₹8.62 Cr
to safely drain ₹34.46 L/year
SWR
Corpus needed
₹6.89 Cr
to safely drain ₹34.46 L/year
The hidden assumption
The SWR rule only works if your post-retirement portfolio earns at least SWR + inflation on average. If you keep retirement money in a 6.5% FD while inflation runs at 6%, the corpus shrinks in real terms and even a 3% SWR can fail over 30+ years. Stay invested in a balanced equity-debt mix; don't flee to FDs the day you retire.
The Retirement Capital Equation: Sustaining Decades of Post-Career Financial Independence
A successful retirement strategy must solve three mathematical variables: longevity risk (outliving your capital across a 30+ year retirement), inflation risk (a ₹50,000 monthly lifestyle today will require over ₹2.15 Lakhs/month in 25 years at 6% inflation), and asset allocation.
The 25X to 33X Rule
Your target retirement nest egg should equal at least 25 to 33 times your estimated annual living expenses at retirement age to ensure a safe 3%–4% withdrawal rate.
Post-Retirement Equity Exposure
Shifting 100% of your corpus into fixed deposits at retirement guarantees wealth erosion due to inflation. Retaining 30%–40% in broad equity indices sustains portfolio longevity.
Retirement Planning FAQs
Essential answers for early and traditional retirement planners in India.
What inflation rate should I assume for retirement planning in India?
A conservative planning baseline assumes 6.0% to 6.5% general retail inflation, with healthcare and medical inflation projected at 8% to 10% per annum.
What is a "Bucket Strategy" for managing retirement corpus?
The bucket strategy divides your corpus into three buckets: Bucket 1 (immediate 2–3 years of expenses in cash/liquid funds), Bucket 2 (expenses for years 4–8 in short-term debt and banking funds), and Bucket 3 (remaining capital in equities to beat long-term inflation).
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Safe Withdrawal Rate (SWR) for Indian Retirement, Explained
Why lower SWR requires a bigger corpus, the water tank analogy, inflation-adjusted retirement models, and a worked ₹12L cash-flow example.