The most common question in retirement planning is: "How much is enough?" The answer depends on your lifestyle, city, health and inflation expectations. Here's how to calculate your retirement corpus for India.

The 25x Rule

A widely used rule of thumb: multiply your annual expenses by 25. This corpus, invested wisely, can sustain you for 30+ years using the 4% withdrawal rate.

If your monthly expenses are ₹50,000 today, that's ₹6 lakh per year. At 25x, you need ₹1.5 crore. But wait — you need to account for inflation.

Accounting for Inflation

India's long-term inflation averages 6-7%. If you're 30 and plan to retire at 60, your ₹50,000 monthly expense becomes roughly ₹2.87 lakh in 30 years (at 6% inflation). That means your retirement corpus needs to be around ₹8.6 crore, not ₹1.5 crore.

This is why starting early and investing in equity (which beats inflation) is crucial.

Retirement Costs by City

City Tier	Monthly Expenses (Today)	Corpus Needed (Retire at 60)
Metro (Mumbai, Delhi)	₹80,000 - ₹1,20,000	₹10-18 Cr
Tier 1 (Pune, Bangalore)	₹50,000 - ₹80,000	₹7-12 Cr
Tier 2 (Jaipur, Lucknow)	₹30,000 - ₹50,000	₹4-7 Cr
Tier 3 / Rural	₹20,000 - ₹30,000	₹3-5 Cr

Don't Forget Healthcare

Medical costs in India are rising at 10-14% annually — faster than general inflation. A single hospitalisation can cost ₹5-15 lakh. Plan for:

• Comprehensive health insurance (₹20-50 lakh cover)
• Separate medical emergency fund (₹5-10 lakh)
• Super top-up policy for catastrophic illness

Sources of Retirement Income

Your retirement corpus generates income through systematic withdrawal from mutual funds, FD interest, PPF maturity, EPF corpus, NPS annuity and pension. A diversified approach reduces risk.

Calculate Your Number

Use TheFinWay's free retirement calculator to get your exact retirement corpus based on your current age, expenses, expected returns and inflation rate. It takes 2 minutes and shows you exactly where you stand.