Savings Goal Calculator

From a goal to a monthly number

Everyone has financial goals — a car, a wedding, a home down payment, a child's education fund. The hard part is translating "I want ₹10 lakh in five years" into a concrete action you can take this month. That is exactly what this calculator does. It reverses the standard SIP growth formula: instead of asking how much a monthly investment will become, it asks how much you must invest monthly to reach a chosen target by a chosen date.

The result turns a distant ambition into a single, manageable figure you can automate and forget.

The power of compounding

Notice that in the worked example — ₹10 lakh in five years at 8% — you contribute only about ₹8 lakh of your own money, with the remaining ₹2 lakh coming from returns. That gap is compounding at work: your money earns returns, and those returns earn further returns. The longer your horizon and the higher your rate of return, the more of the heavy lifting the market does and the less you need to contribute from your own pocket.

This is why starting early matters so much. A goal 10 years away requires a far smaller monthly saving than the same goal 5 years away, because compounding has twice as long to work.

Choosing the right return assumption

The rate you assume should match your time horizon:

• Short goals (under 3 years) — use a conservative 6–8% from debt funds, recurring deposits or fixed deposits, prioritising safety over growth.
• Medium to long goals (5+ years) — equity-oriented funds have historically delivered 10–12%, though with more year-to-year volatility.

Being realistic here is crucial. An over-optimistic rate makes the monthly saving look deceptively small, and you risk falling short when the goal date arrives.

Keeping the plan on track

Two refinements make this far more powerful in practice. First, adjust the target for inflation — a ₹10 lakh goal today may cost ₹13–14 lakh in five years, so aim for the future price. Second, consider a step-up SIP, raising your contribution by around 10% each year as your income grows; this lets you start smaller and still hit the target comfortably.

Finally, keep a separate investment for each goal and review progress once a year. If returns have drifted from your assumption, nudge the monthly amount up or down to stay on course. Mapping money to goals this clearly is one of the simplest habits that separates people who reach their targets from those who merely hope to.