How much do I need to retire?
Enough that what you withdraw each year, rising with inflation, doesn't outrun what the corpus earns. Put in your monthly spending and see the number at each withdrawal rate — and, if you add what you already have, how long it would actually last. It's all worked out in your browser: nothing you type is sent to us.
The pot you REALLY need if you were to retire today, at each withdrawal rate
The money coming out is the same in every row — your spending. Only the pot each standard wants behind it changes.
Corpus needed by monthly spending
At a 3% withdrawal rate — the defensible assumption for India — retiring on ₹1 lakh a month takes about ₹4 crore. At the American 4% rule it's ₹3 crore; at a cautious 2.5% it's ₹4.8 crore.
| You spend | 2.5% (40×) | 3% (33×) | 3.5% (29×) | 4% (25×) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ₹25,000/month | ₹1.2 crore | ₹1 crore | ₹85.7 lakh | ₹75 lakh |
| ₹50,000/month | ₹2.4 crore | ₹2 crore | ₹1.71 crore | ₹1.5 crore |
| ₹75,000/month | ₹3.6 crore | ₹3 crore | ₹2.57 crore | ₹2.25 crore |
| ₹1 lakh/month | ₹4.8 crore | ₹4 crore | ₹3.43 crore | ₹3 crore |
| ₹1.5 lakh/month | ₹7.2 crore | ₹6 crore | ₹5.14 crore | ₹4.5 crore |
| ₹2 lakh/month | ₹9.6 crore | ₹8 crore | ₹6.86 crore | ₹6 crore |
| ₹3 lakh/month | ₹14.4 crore | ₹12 crore | ₹10.3 crore | ₹9 crore |
| ₹5 lakh/month | ₹24 crore | ₹20 crore | ₹17.1 crore | ₹15 crore |
Corpus = a year's spending ÷ the withdrawal rate. A 4% rate is 25× your annual spending, 3% is 33×, 2.5% is 40×.
SWP: how long does the money actually last?
Withdrawal calculators usually assume you take out the same rupee amount forever. You don't — you spend to live, and living gets dearer. These are years-until-empty with the withdrawal rising at 6% a year, which is what changes the answer.
| Withdraw each year | if returns are 8% | if returns are 10% | if returns are 12% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3% · 33× corpus | 58 years | 60+ years | 60+ years |
| 4% · 25× corpus | 37 years | 60+ years | 60+ years |
| 5% · 20× corpus | 27 years | 43 years | 60+ years |
| 6% · 17× corpus | 21 years | 29 years | 60+ years |
| 7% · 14× corpus | 18 years | 22 years | 35 years |
| 8% · 12× corpus | 15 years | 18 years | 25 years |
Read the row you're planning on, then read the column to its left. A 4% withdrawal outlives 60 years at 10% returns and empties in 37 years at 8% — the plan didn't change, the returns did. That gap is the argument for a lower rate.
Where these numbers come from
The arithmetic
The corpus figure is a year's spending divided by the withdrawal rate — the standard rule-of-thumb inversion, nothing more. The duration table runs a year-by-year loop: the balance earns the return, then the year's spending is withdrawn, and that spending rises with inflation each year. No tax is modelled, so every figure here is somewhat optimistic.
Why 3% and not 4%
The famous 4% rule comes from the Trinity study — US stocks and bonds over 1926–1995, a 30-year retirement, roughly 3% inflation, with Social Security underneath it. India matches none of those: general inflation runs nearer 6%, healthcare costs rise faster still, the reliable return history is shorter, and there is no state pension floor to catch you. 2.5–3% is the defensible range here, which means 33–40× your annual spending rather than 25×.
What this can't tell you
Averages, not sequences. A retirement that meets a 10% average return but takes its bad years first can fail where the same average in a kinder order succeeds — and nobody gets to choose the order. Treat these as the floor of what you need, not a target to just reach.
Estimates for planning, not a retirement plan. Networthy HQ isn't financial advice — see Terms.
Then check it against your real numbers
This works off two figures you typed. Networthy HQ tracks the actual ones — every asset priced live, your real spending by category, and a year-by-year projection to 95 that counts your goals along the way.
Also useful: where your net worth ranks among adults in India and worldwide.