Work out how much to invest every month, year or week to reach a target amount by a future date, in future or in today’s money.
Not sure of the future value? Enter the amount in today’s terms and turn on the inflation toggle below.
To reach your goal in 10 years
₹10,00,000
Per Month
₹4,304
Per Annum
₹51,649
Per Week
₹993
Total Investment
₹5,16,487
Wealth Gained
₹4,83,513
Press play or drag the slider to watch every installment flow into your fund and climb, year by year, until it meets your goal.
Before your first installment
₹0
Invested
₹0
Returns
₹0
To go
₹10,00,000
Your goal: ₹10,00,000 in 10 years. To get there, ₹4,304/month goes from your wallet into the fund. Press play to watch it climb.
| Year | Invested | Est. Returns | Total Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ₹51,649 | ₹3,483 | ₹55,132 |
| 2 | ₹1,03,297 | ₹13,959 | ₹1,17,256 |
| 3 | ₹1,54,946 | ₹32,313 | ₹1,87,259 |
| 4 | ₹2,06,595 | ₹59,546 | ₹2,66,140 |
| 5 | ₹2,58,243 | ₹96,783 | ₹3,55,026 |
| 6 | ₹3,09,892 | ₹1,45,292 | ₹4,55,184 |
| 7 | ₹3,61,541 | ₹2,06,504 | ₹5,68,045 |
| 8 | ₹4,13,189 | ₹2,82,030 | ₹6,95,219 |
| 9 | ₹4,64,838 | ₹3,73,684 | ₹8,38,522 |
| 10 | ₹5,16,487 | ₹4,83,513 | ₹10,00,000 |
Most investment calculators start from what you can invest and show where it could lead. A goal calculator works the other way round: you start from what you want — a sum of money by a certain year — and it tells you how much you need to invest every month or every year to get there.
That reversal makes planning concrete. Instead of a vague intention to save more, you get one clear number to automate, tied to something you actually care about, such as a home, a child's education or financial independence.
Because the goal usually lies years away, the calculator can also account for inflation: enter the cost in today's money, switch on Adjust for Inflation, and it works out what that goal is likely to cost by the time you need it.
The monthly SIP for every 1,000,000 of goal at a 12% return, invested at the start of each month. The first column treats the target as a future amount; the others first grow it with inflation, as Adjust for Inflation does:
| Years | No inflation | Inflation 6% | Inflation 8% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 years | 12,123 | 16,224 | 17,813 |
| 10 years | 4,304 | 7,708 | 9,292 |
| 15 years | 1,982 | 4,750 | 6,287 |
| 20 years | 1,001 | 3,210 | 4,665 |
For a goal 5 years away, you invest about 73% of the target yourself; for one 20 years away, only about a quarter, and returns supply the rest.
For fees spread over many years, the Child Education Planner is more precise. To see how much savings you already have cut the SIP, use the SIP + Lumpsum Calculator; to see what a goal will cost later, the Inflation Calculator.
Take a base case of a fixed target reached in 15 years through a monthly SIP, assuming 12% a year and no inflation adjustment. The first row of the table below is that base case; each row after it changes just one thing, so you can see how much each lever moves the required investment. Every figure is calculated with the same formula this calculator uses.
| Scenario | Required investment | Invested | Est. Returns | Total Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ₹1,00,00,000 in 15 years · monthly · 12% (base case) | ₹19,819 | ₹35,67,352 | ₹64,32,648 | ₹1,00,00,000 |
| Same target, 20 years to go | ₹10,009 | ₹24,02,047 | ₹75,97,953 | ₹1,00,00,000 |
| Same target, only 10 years to go | ₹43,041 | ₹51,64,865 | ₹48,35,135 | ₹1,00,00,000 |
| Base case at 10% instead of 12% | ₹23,928 | ₹43,07,000 | ₹56,93,000 | ₹1,00,00,000 |
| ₹1,00,00,000 in today's money, 6% inflation | ₹47,496 | ₹85,49,366 | ₹1,54,16,216 | ₹2,39,65,582 |
| Base case, investing once a year | ₹2,39,502 | ₹35,92,532 | ₹64,07,468 | ₹1,00,00,000 |
In the base case, returns supply almost two-thirds of the target — you contribute only about a third of it yourself.
Allowing 20 years instead of 15 roughly halves the monthly amount, while cutting the time to 10 years more than doubles it. Starting early is the cheapest way to reach any goal.
Assuming 10% instead of 12% raises the required monthly investment by about a fifth, so check that your plan still works at a more cautious rate.
Adjusting for 6% inflation makes the future target about 2.4 times today's figure, and the required monthly amount rises in the same proportion. Leaving inflation out is the most common way goal plans fall short.
Investing once a year needs an installment of roughly twelve monthly amounts, with slightly more invested in total, because each yearly sum compounds once a year rather than every month.
How far away a goal is should decide where the money goes, and therefore what return you can reasonably assume.
| Aspect | Short-term goal | Medium-term goal | Long-term goal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time to the goal | Up to about 3 years | About 3–7 years | 7 years or more |
| Typical examples | Emergency buffer, a gadget, a holiday | A car, a home down payment | Child's higher education, retirement |
| Suitable mix | Deposits and low-volatility debt funds | A balance of debt and equity, such as hybrid funds | Mostly diversified equity, shifting to safer assets near the date |
| Return to assume | Close to deposit rates | Moderate | Higher, but still conservative |
| Main risk | Inflation eating into low returns | A market fall just before you need the money | Stopping or cutting contributions along the way |
As a long-term goal gets closer, gradually move its money into steadier assets so a late market fall can't derail it.
At a 12% return, investing at the start of every month, each 1,000,000 of goal needs:
Use a lower return for near goals: at 7%, a goal 5 years away needs about 13,900 a month per million.
It raises the target first. For a goal that costs 1,000,000 today, with prices rising 6% a year and a 12% return:
The further away the goal, the more inflation matters: over 20 years it more than triples the SIP.
The calculator solves the standard SIP future value formula in reverse: instead of projecting what a fixed contribution grows into, it works out the contribution — monthly or yearly, compounded at your expected return rate — needed to grow into your target amount by the end of the tenure.
When enabled, your target amount is treated as today's value and inflated forward to its future value at the end of the tenure using the inflation rate you set, before solving for the required investment. This keeps your goal's real purchasing power intact rather than under-shooting it.
Only the tile matching your selected Frequency of Investment is solved directly from the compounding formula. The other two are simple multiples or fractions of that figure (×12, ÷12, ÷52), shown for convenience rather than solved independently.
This depends on where you invest — equity mutual funds have historically returned around 10–14% annually over the long run, while debt instruments and fixed deposits typically return less. Use a conservative estimate if your tenure is short or your goal is essential.
No — it assumes you're starting from zero. If you already have some savings earmarked for this goal, reduce the Target Amount by that sum first, so the calculator only solves for the remaining shortfall.
Any goal with a price tag and a date: a home down payment, a child's education or wedding, a car, a sabbatical, a business fund or a retirement corpus. Plan each goal separately, with its own tenure and return assumption, rather than lumping them together into one big number.
You have four levers: give the goal more time, start lower and increase the amount every year, add a lumpsum from savings you already have, or trim the target. Try them one at a time in the calculator to see which combination is realistic. Assuming a higher return just to shrink the number is not a real fix.
Use the rate at which the cost of that particular goal is likely to rise. General consumer inflation has averaged roughly 5–6% a year in India and closer to 2–3% in many developed economies, but costs such as education and healthcare often rise faster. When unsure, err on the higher side for essential goals.
Usually not. Equity can fall sharply in any single year, so money needed within about three years is better kept in deposits or low-volatility debt funds. For goals seven or more years away, equity's higher long-run return can meaningfully cut the amount you need to invest each month.
Once a year, or whenever your income, the goal's cost or its date changes. At each review, subtract what you've already built up from the target, enter the years left and recalculate — then adjust your contribution if you've fallen behind or moved ahead.
The Goal Calculator solves the standard SIP future value formula in reverse: instead of projecting what a fixed periodic contribution grows into, it works out the contribution needed to grow into your target amount.
If Adjust for Inflation is on, your target amount is first inflated forward from today's value to its future value at the end of the tenure using your expected inflation rate, so the corpus being solved for reflects what your goal will actually cost by then.
Future value of target
Target(future) = Target(today) × (1 + Inflation)^Tenure
Required monthly investment
Target(future) = P × [((1+i)^n − 1) / i] × (1+i), solved for P — i = monthly rate, n = months
Required yearly investment
Target(future) = P × [((1+i)^n − 1) / i] × (1+i), solved for P — i = annual rate, n = years
SIPCafe's calculators and guides are for education and planning only and are not investment, tax or legal advice. Results are estimates based on the assumptions you enter; actual returns vary and are not guaranteed. Consider speaking with a qualified financial adviser before making investment decisions. SIPCafe is not a registered investment adviser and does not recommend any specific security, fund or scheme. All investments carry market risk; read a fund's or scheme's official documents carefully before investing.
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