How much do I actually need to retire?

Roughly 25 to 30 times your first year of retirement spending. The catch is that the first year is today's spending inflated forward to your retirement date, which over 25 years at 6% inflation is more than four times bigger.

Why is the corpus so much larger than my current annual spending?

Two effects multiply. Inflation raises your spending several times over before you retire, and the corpus then has to fund 20 to 30 years of that higher spending while it keeps rising. Because the real return in retirement is small, the corpus is mostly spent rather than lived off.

What share of my current spending will I actually need?

Usually 70% to 90%. Commuting, education and loan payments fall away, while healthcare, insurance and travel rise. 80% is a sensible starting point, but run 70% and 100% too, since the corpus moves a lot.

Why are there separate returns for before and after retirement?

Because the portfolio's job changes. While working you can ride out downturns; once you are withdrawing, a bad year forces selling at low prices. Most people move towards safer assets at retirement and accept a lower return, so using one rate for both understates the corpus you need.

What is this planner not telling me?

It assumes steady returns. In reality the order of returns matters hugely when you are withdrawing — an early crash does lasting damage. Holding two to three years of spending in cash, staying flexible on withdrawals, and not being all-equity at retirement all help.

The planner says I am on track. Can I stop worrying?

Being on track means the projection just reaches the target, and a fully funded plan spends down to exactly zero. Aim above the required figure, re-run it every few years, and check what happens if returns are two points lower or inflation one point higher.

I am starting in my forties or fifties. What actually helps?

Retiring later is the most powerful lever, since it adds saving years and removes years to fund. Then reducing planned spending, then raising contributions and increasing them annually. Chasing a higher return is the weakest option and adds risk when you can least afford it.

Should I include my EPF and NPS balances?

Yes, include the balances in existing savings and your contributions in the monthly figure. Consider a lower return if they dominate your savings, and if NPS annuitisation applies, model that portion as other retirement income instead.

RetirementUpdated August 1, 2026

Retirement Planner

Work out the corpus your retirement actually needs, see whether your current saving gets you there, and find the monthly amount that closes any gap — with an interactive timeline running from today to the end of your plan.

How to use this calculator

Step 1
Set your three ages
Your age now, the age you stop earning, and the age you are planning to. Longer is the safer error.
Step 2
Describe your spending, not your income
Retirement is funded against what you spend. Enter today's monthly household spending and the share of it you will still need.
Step 3
Enter what you have and what you add
Existing retirement savings plus the monthly amount you invest, including any annual increase.
Step 4
Compare the two numbers
The corpus you need against the corpus you reach. If there is a gap, the planner tells you the monthly amount that closes it.

Quick facts

Phases modelled: Saving, then drawing down
Expense inflation: Applied every year, before and after
Returns: Separate rates for each phase
Withdrawal timing: Start of each month

Your retirement plan

Three groups of inputs: when you stop working, what you will spend, and what you are putting away.

Timeline

Current age

yrs

Retirement age

yrs

Adjust retirement age

41 yrs75 yrs

Plan until age

yrs

Spending

Currency

Household spending now

Share still needed after retiring

Adjust share

40%120%

That is $192,428 a month by the time you retire, after 6% inflation.

Other retirement income

What you are saving

Retirement savings so far

Monthly investment

Adjust monthly investment

$0$200,000

Annual increase in your investment

Assumptions

Return before retirement

Return after retirement

Inflation

Adjust inflation

0%12%

Real return after inflation: 4.72% while working, 0.94% in retirement.

Projections assume steady returns and inflation. Real markets and real spending vary year to year.

Short by $5,020,695

$43,845,286

Your plan reaches $43,845,286 by age 60, but this retirement needs $48,865,981.

90%of the corpus you need

Corpus needed at retirement: $48,865,981
Savings you already hold: $1,500,000
Contributions from here on: $9,919,786
Growth on all of it: $32,425,500

Over 20 yrs of saving and 25 yrs of retirement.

Invest each month

$29,123

That is $4,123 a month more than you are investing now.

You invest now: $25,000
Shortfall: $4,123

Monthly spending at 60

$192,428

The same lifestyle costs this much once inflation has had 20 yrs to work.

Spending at 85: $825,877

The corpus is 21.2× your first year of retirement spending.

Your money runs out at age 82

On this plan the corpus is spent 2 yrs 11 mo before age 85, leaving those years unfunded. Raising the monthly investment to $29,123, retiring later or trimming the spending assumption all close the gap.

Your corpus across your whole life

It climbs while you are working and is drawn down through retirement. The dashed line is the same corpus in today's money.

Your plan hits zero at age 82. The second line shows the trajectory that would last the full plan.

Where the corpus comes from

Growth usually contributes more than contributions over a long horizon.

Savings you already hold3.4%
Future contributions22.6%
Investment growth74.0%

Growth accounts for 74% of the corpus. Starting earlier raises that share more than saving harder does.

Walk through your plan, year by year

Drag the handle or press play to see where you stand at any age.

Building the corpus40 to 60

Living off it60 to 85

Age 40Age 60Age 85

Corpus at age 60

$43,845,286

Still 0 years of saving to go.

Worth in today's money: $13,671,168
Invested this year: $758,085
A year of living costs then: $2,309,138
On-track plan would hold: $48,865,981

Jump to a milestone

Living costs are shown in that year's money, which is why they keep climbing even though your lifestyle does not change.

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How the corpus you need is calculated

Retirement planning is one calculation run twice. First your spending is inflated forward to the day you retire. Then every future withdrawal is discounted back to that day, and the total is the corpus you need standing there on your last day of work.

Corpus = Σ Wₖ ÷ (1 + r)ᵏ⁻¹, where Wₖ = E × (1 + i)ʸ

Corpus

Amount needed at retirement

The present value, at your retirement date, of every withdrawal you will make.

Wₖ

Withdrawal in month k

Your monthly spending need in that month, net of any pension or rental income.

First monthly withdrawal

Today's spending × the share you still need × (1 + inflation) raised to the years until you retire.

Monthly return in retirement

Your post-retirement annual return divided by 12 and by 100.

Annual inflation

Raises the withdrawal on every anniversary.

Years into retirement

Held constant within each year, so the withdrawal steps up once a year.

Discounting each withdrawal individually rather than using a textbook annuity formula matters more than it sounds. The usual annual annuity approximation overstates the corpus by roughly 5%, because withdrawing monthly leaves money invested longer than withdrawing a year at a time. Working the other way, the contribution needed is found by inverting the same arithmetic: the future value of a monthly contribution is linear in that contribution, so one division gives the exact amount that lands on the target.

Assumptions

Returns are steady rather than volatile. A bad first decade of retirement is far more damaging than the same decade later, and no steady-rate model can show that.
Your spending rises with inflation every year, both while working and throughout retirement.
Withdrawals are taken at the start of each month and revised once a year on the anniversary.
The corpus needed is the exact present value of your withdrawal schedule, so funding it spends the money down to zero at the end of your plan — nothing is left as a buffer.
Other retirement income is assumed to keep pace with inflation. A pension fixed in rupee terms would leave a larger gap than shown.
No tax is deducted on withdrawals, and no fund costs are applied. Both reduce what you actually get to spend.
Medical costs are treated as part of general spending, though healthcare inflation usually runs several points above headline inflation.

Frequently asked questions

Answers about the retirement planner.

There is no universal figure, because the answer depends almost entirely on what you spend rather than what you earn. A useful rule of thumb is 25 to 30 times your first year of retirement spending, but that first year is not today's spending — it is today's spending inflated forward to your retirement date, which over 25 years at 6% inflation is more than four times larger. This planner does that inflation step explicitly, then works out how large a corpus is needed to fund every year of drawdown, which is why the figure it produces is usually higher than people expect.

Related calculators

Continue exploring adjacent tools in this topic.

Guides that explain this

Background reading on the ideas behind these numbers.

Retirement

PPF, EPF or NPS: where should retirement money go?

The three schemes look interchangeable and behave very differently. One is chosen for you, one is entirely voluntary and one hands most of your corpus to an annuity provider. Understanding which is which decides how much you end up with, and how much of it you can spend.

Jul 28, 20269 min read

This tool is provided for educational purposes only. Results are estimates based on the values you enter and do not constitute financial advice.

Assumptions

Returns are steady rather than volatile. A bad first decade of retirement is far more damaging than the same decade later, and no steady-rate model can show that.

Your spending rises with inflation every year, both while working and throughout retirement.

Withdrawals are taken at the start of each month and revised once a year on the anniversary.

The corpus needed is the exact present value of your withdrawal schedule, so funding it spends the money down to zero at the end of your plan — nothing is left as a buffer.

Other retirement income is assumed to keep pace with inflation. A pension fixed in rupee terms would leave a larger gap than shown.

No tax is deducted on withdrawals, and no fund costs are applied. Both reduce what you actually get to spend.

Medical costs are treated as part of general spending, though healthcare inflation usually runs several points above headline inflation.