FIRE calculator for India
Financial independence, retire early. Tell us what you spend today and when you want to stop working. We work out the corpus you will need in future rupees, and the monthly SIP that gets you there.
How the FIRE number is worked out
First we grow your monthly expenses by inflation until the year you retire, because ₹60,000 a month today becomes about ₹1.71 lakh a month in 18 years at 6%. Then we divide that yearly spend by your withdrawal rate. At 3.5%, you need about 28.6 times your first year's spending.
Next we grow the savings you already have at your expected return and subtract them from the target. The rest is the gap, and the calculator finds the starting monthly SIP that closes it, rising each year by your step-up.
Three honest warnings
Health costs are the wild card. Medical inflation in India runs well above general inflation. Keep a separate, generous health cover and an emergency fund outside the FIRE corpus.
The early years carry the most risk. A market fall in the first few years of retirement does far more damage than the same fall later. A cash or short-term debt buffer of two to three years of expenses helps you avoid selling equity at the bottom.
Small changes in assumptions move the answer a lot. Try 10% returns instead of 12%, or 7% inflation instead of 6%. If your plan only works at the hopeful end, it is not a plan yet.
Questions people ask
What is a FIRE number?
Your FIRE number is the corpus that can pay your yearly expenses for the rest of your life without running out. It is your expected annual spending at retirement divided by a safe withdrawal rate. At a 3.5% withdrawal rate that works out to roughly 28.6 times your annual expenses.
Why use 3% to 3.5% instead of the 4% rule?
The 4% rule comes from US market history, where inflation has been lower than in India. Higher Indian inflation eats into a corpus faster, and an early retiree needs the money to last 40 years or more. Many Indian planners therefore use 3% to 3.5%. You can change the rate in the calculator.
Does this include inflation after I retire?
Indirectly. The withdrawal rate assumes you raise your withdrawals with inflation each year and keep the rest invested. A lower withdrawal rate leaves more room for high inflation or a poor run of market returns early in retirement.
What should I count as monthly expenses?
Everything you expect to spend in retirement at today's prices: household costs, rent if you will not own a home, travel, and a buffer. Count health insurance premiums separately and generously, because they rise faster than general inflation as you age.
Should my existing EPF and PPF count as current corpus?
Count them if they will be available to fund your retirement. Leave out money already set aside for other goals, like a child's education or a house deposit, so you do not count the same rupee twice.