How much corpus do I need for a comfortable retirement?
Build retirement targets from inflated expenses and withdrawal maths, then solve for SIP—not the other way around.
Skip to the calculator below this article
Start from monthly expenses, not a round crore
List today’s retirement-like expenses—or a fraction of current spend.
Inflate them to retirement age.
Multiply by 25–30 for a rough corpus sketch if you like simple rules.
Or model an SWP with expected returns and longevity.
City, healthcare inflation, and whether the house is paid off change everything.
Two people saying “₹2 crore” can mean wildly different lifestyles.
Round crores are social media. Expenses are life.
₹50k/month today is not ₹50k at 55. Multiply, then multiply again.
Then reverse into SIP
Once you have a target range, use SIP and step-up calculators to see the monthly ask.
If it is impossible, the levers are: save more, retire later, spend less, or take more risk carefully.
“Carefully” does a lot of work in that sentence.
Taking more risk because the SIP number scares you is how scare becomes bigger scare.
Sometimes retiring at 58 instead of 55 is the kinder math.
Sometimes the smaller city is the kinder math.
Math without lifestyle honesty is fan fiction.
Does EPF/NPS count?
Yes—include projected balances.
Just do not double-count the same contribution as both SIP and EPF.
EPF is often a quiet hero for salaried folks.
NPS adds structure and some tax features depending on your regime.
Mutual fund SIP fills flexibility gaps.
Add them. Don’t tribalise them.
Tribes are for cricket, not retirement accounts.
EPF + NPS + SIP. Same rupee should not appear twice in the victory slide.
A sketch with fake-but-useful numbers
Say you want ₹75,000/month in today’s money for retirement lifestyle.
Retire in 25 years. Inflate at ~6%. That future monthly need is much higher than ₹75k.
Annualise it. Apply a 25–30x style multiple—or run SWP simulations.
You might land around multiple crores. Breathe.
Then subtract likely EPF/NPS. The gap is what SIPs must cover.
The gap is the real SIP target—not a random crore from a reel.
Reels are not actuarial reports. Shocking, I know.
Healthcare will try to eat your plan
Healthcare inflation often runs hotter than general CPI chatter.
Insurance helps; it does not delete every cost.
Keep a separate mental buffer for medical surprises.
People plan vacations in retirement down to the café and forget physiotherapy.
Boring buffers > pretty itineraries.
If parents’ health costs are in your future, say so in the plan.
Unspoken family obligations show up as “why is my corpus melting.”
Paid-off house changes the game
No rent/EMI in retirement is a massive effective raise.
If the house will still have a loan at retirement, fix that plan first.
Carrying EMI into retirement is a special kind of spicy.
Some spice is optional.
Also plan property tax, maintenance, society charges—they don’t retire.
Owners forget the “small” annual hits.
Small annual hits compound into “what happened.”
Comfort is personal—annoyingly so
Your comfort might be ₹50k/month quiet living.
Your friend’s comfort might be ₹2 lakh with travel.
Stop borrowing someone else’s corpus number.
Borrow their process maybe. Not their number.
Write your own expense list once without optimising for looking frugal.
Honesty first. Optimisation later.
Frugal cosplay underfunds real habits.
Yearly maintenance of the target
Every year, update expense assumptions and years left.
Update corpus progress across EPF, NPS, MFs.
If you are ahead, you can take less risk or retire earlier. Nice problems.
If you are behind, act—don’t just refresh NAVs harder.
Acting means SIP up, spend down, work longer, or relocate plans.
Pick one lever this year. Not all. Not none.
None is the default. Override it.
Change the numbers in the calculator above and see the result on this page.
Estimates only—not personalised financial, tax, or investment advice. Markets, loan rates, and tax rules change. Confirm numbers with your lender, CA, or advisor before acting.