Estimate the corpus you need at retirement to fund inflation-growing expenses, the monthly SIP to build it, your future monthly expense, and your FIRE number (25× annual expenses — the 4% rule).
Corpus needed at retirement
—
Monthly SIP needed to get there—
Your monthly expense at retirement—
FIRE number (25× today's annual expense)—
Current savings' value at retirement—
Shortfall / gap to fund—
FIRE number = 25× your current annual expense (the 4% safe-withdrawal rule). It is a today's-money target for financial independence; the corpus above is the inflation-grown amount you actually need at your chosen retirement age.
What a retirement plan really estimates
Retirement planning answers one question: how big a pot of money do you need so that, once your salary stops, the pot itself can pay your bills for the rest of your life? This calculator breaks that into four numbers — the corpus you need at retirement, the monthly SIP to build it, your inflation-grown monthly expense at retirement, and your FIRE number. It then grows whatever you have already saved and shows the shortfall you still need to close.
FIRE and the 4% rule
FIRE — Financial Independence, Retire Early — is the idea of accumulating enough that work becomes a choice rather than a necessity. The headline metric is the FIRE number = 25× your annual expenses in today's money. It comes straight from the 4% rule: research into long-run market history suggested that if you withdraw 4% of your corpus in year one and then raise that amount with inflation each year, the money has historically lasted around 30 years. Withdraw 4% a year and you need 25 times your annual spend (1 ÷ 0.04 = 25) — hence the 25× multiplier.
The 4% rule is a useful anchor, not a law. It is based largely on US data; Indian inflation has historically run higher and returns are different, so many planners in India use a more conservative withdrawal rate or a larger multiple. Treat the FIRE number here as a clean today's-money benchmark, and the corpus figure (which bakes in your own inflation and time horizon) as the working target.
Why inflation dominates the maths
Retirement is unusual because it sits decades in the future and lasts decades. Inflation therefore compounds twice — once until you retire, and again all through retirement. At 6% inflation, ₹50,000 a month today becomes roughly ₹2.87 lakh a month in 30 years; the corpus has to fund that higher figure and keep pace as prices keep rising. This is the single biggest reason retirement corpuses look enormous, and why this tool grows both your starting expense and every future withdrawal by the inflation rate rather than using a flat number.
The assumptions this tool makes
- Two return rates. Your savings earn the "before retirement" return while you are still investing, and a usually lower "after retirement" return once you retire and shift to safer assets.
- Inflation-growing withdrawals. Your annual expense at retirement is today's expense grown by inflation, and each year's withdrawal then keeps growing with inflation; the first withdrawal is a year into retirement.
- Drawdown to your life expectancy. The corpus is sized to be largely used up by the age you enter as life expectancy — it does not assume you leave a large estate.
- Existing savings count. The "current savings" you enter is grown to retirement and subtracted from the corpus needed, so the SIP shown is only the extra you need to invest.
It is a general estimate across all your investments, not a product-specific plan. For projections of a single instrument, use the dedicated EPF, NPS, PPF or SIP calculators, then feed their combined value back into the "current savings" field here.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is FIRE?
FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. The idea is to build a corpus large enough that the returns and withdrawals from it can cover your living expenses indefinitely, so paid work becomes optional. The common rule of thumb is the FIRE number = 25× your annual expenses (in today's money) — once your investments cross that, you are considered financially independent. It is a goal-setting framework, not a guarantee; the real number depends on your expenses, returns and how long you live.
What is the 4% rule?
The 4% rule (the Trinity-study safe-withdrawal rule) says that if you withdraw 4% of your retirement corpus in the first year and then increase that rupee amount with inflation each year, the corpus has historically lasted about 30 years. Withdrawing 4% is the same as needing 25× your annual expenses (because 1 ÷ 0.04 = 25), which is why the FIRE number is 25×. It is a rough guideline based on US market history; Indian inflation and returns differ, so treat 4% as a starting assumption, not a promise.
How much do I need to retire?
It depends on your monthly expenses, how many years you will spend in retirement, and inflation. This calculator grows your current monthly expense by inflation to your retirement age, then works out the lump sum needed at retirement to fund those (still inflation-growing) withdrawals until your life expectancy, assuming the corpus keeps earning a post-retirement return. For a 30-year-old spending ₹50,000/month who retires at 60 and plans to age 85, the estimate is around ₹7 crore — large because of 30 years of inflation. Change the inputs to fit your own situation.
Does this include EPF, NPS or PPF?
This is a
general corpus estimate, not a product-wise plan. The "current savings/investments" field is where you enter
everything you already have — EPF balance, NPS, PPF, mutual funds, FDs, stocks — and the tool grows that to retirement and subtracts it from the corpus needed. The monthly SIP it shows is the
additional investment required on top of those, across any mix of products. For product-specific projections, use the dedicated
EPF,
NPS,
PPF and
SIP calculators.
Why does inflation matter so much?
Because retirement is decades away and lasts decades more, even modest inflation compounds into a very large number. At 6% inflation, ₹50,000 a month today becomes about ₹2.87 lakh a month in 30 years — so the corpus has to fund expenses that are ~5.7× higher than today's. That is the single biggest reason retirement corpuses look "shockingly large". This is also why the calculator grows both your starting expense and your yearly withdrawals by inflation, rather than using a flat figure.
What assumptions does this tool make?
It assumes: (1) your expenses grow at the inflation rate you enter, both before and during retirement; (2) your investments earn the "before retirement" return until you retire and the "after retirement" return during retirement; (3) withdrawals happen once a year, growing with inflation, with the first withdrawal a year into retirement; and (4) the corpus should be drawn down to roughly zero by your life expectancy. The FIRE number uses a simpler 25× rule on today's annual expense. Real life — markets, health, lifestyle changes — will differ, so re-run it as your situation changes.
Estimates are for information and education only — not financial, tax or investment advice. Verify current rates and rules with official sources.