Retirement / FIRE Calculator
Calculate how much corpus you need to retire comfortably, the monthly SIP required to reach that goal, and when you can achieve Financial Independence (FIRE).
How Much Money Do You Need to Retire in India?
Retirement planning in India is fundamentally different from Western countries — we don't have universal social security, pension coverage is limited to government employees, and family structures are changing. The burden of retirement funding falls almost entirely on individual savings and investments. The good news: if you start early and invest consistently, retiring comfortably is very achievable.
The Retirement Corpus Formula
To calculate your retirement corpus, you need to account for three things: (1) How much will you spend per month in retirement (in future rupees, after inflation), (2) How many years will you need this money, and (3) What return will your corpus earn after retirement. The formula is: Corpus = Annual Retirement Expense / Post-Retirement Return Rate. For example, if you need ₹1 lakh/month at retirement (in today's money) and expect 30 years of retirement with 7% post-retirement return, your corpus requirement is approximately ₹1.5–1.7 crore in today's terms — which inflates substantially to future value depending on when you retire.
The FIRE Movement in India
FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) is gaining traction among Indian millennials. The core idea: accumulate 25–30 times your annual expenses (the 4% safe withdrawal rule), then live off investment returns. For an Indian with ₹60,000/month expenses, FIRE corpus = ₹60,000 × 12 × 25 = ₹1.8 crore (in today's money). Adjusting for Indian context — higher inflation, joint family support, lower healthcare costs in some cases — many Indian FIRE planners use a 3–3.5% withdrawal rate for more safety, implying 29–33x annual expenses.
Why Starting Early Makes All the Difference
Starting SIP at 25 vs 35 for the same retirement goal cuts the required monthly investment roughly in half. A 25-year-old needs ₹8,000/month (at 12% return) to build ₹5 crore by 60. A 35-year-old needs ₹25,000/month for the same goal. The 10-year difference means 3x more monthly investment — which is why financial advisors universally recommend starting retirement savings in your very first job.