Use this free SWP (Systematic Withdrawal Plan) calculator to find out how much monthly income you can withdraw from your investment, how long your corpus will last and what happens when inflation is applied. Enter your total investment, monthly withdrawal amount, expected return rate and time period. The calculator runs month-by-month projections and shows a year-wise cash flow table so you can see exactly when your corpus may run out or how much remains at the end of your plan. No login required.

What This SWP Calculator Shows That Others Do Not

Most SWP calculators on competing sites show one output: final corpus value. The PlanMyReturns SWP calculator gives you the complete picture needed to actually plan retirement income or passive cash flow.

8 things this calculator offers that most competitors miss:

1. Month-by-month accuracy Calculations run month by month, not year by year. Interest is credited monthly and withdrawal is deducted monthly, exactly as mutual fund SWPs actually work. This eliminates the overestimation common in simpler tools.

2. Inflation-adjusted withdrawals Enable the inflation toggle and your monthly withdrawal increases automatically each year at the rate you set. This simulates rising living costs and shows whether your corpus can survive the full plan period under real-world conditions. Most competing tools either skip inflation entirely or treat it as an afterthought.

3. Corpus depletion warning If your withdrawal rate is too aggressive for the corpus and return rate you have entered, the calculator flags the year when the corpus runs out. You can immediately adjust inputs to find a sustainable withdrawal amount.

4. Year-wise cash flow table Every year of your plan is broken down showing withdrawal amount for that year, interest earned, and closing balance. You can see at a glance whether your corpus is growing, staying stable or depleting.

5. Total profit calculation The calculator shows total profit earned during the withdrawal period, the amount that the investment earned above and beyond what was withdrawn. This helps you understand the real cost and benefit of your SWP strategy.

6. Shareable plan link and CSV download Generate a personalised plan link to share with a financial advisor or family member. Download the full year-wise projection as a CSV file for further analysis in Excel or Google Sheets.

7. Custom time periods including 30 years Plan for 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 years or enter a custom number. The 30-year option is specifically useful for retirement planning where an investor retires at 55 or 60 and needs the corpus to last until age 85 to 90.

8. Completely free, no sign-up, no data stored No account needed. No email required. Your inputs stay on your device.

What Is SWP (Systematic Withdrawal Plan)? A Plain Explanation

A Systematic Withdrawal Plan, or SWP, is a facility offered by mutual fund companies that lets you withdraw a fixed amount of money from your investment at regular intervals, typically every month, while the remaining balance stays invested and continues to earn returns.

Think of it as the opposite of a SIP. With a SIP, you invest a fixed amount every month to build a corpus. With an SWP, you withdraw a fixed amount every month from a corpus you have already built.

Here is the fundamental mechanism:

You invest a lump sum in a mutual fund. You instruct the fund house to redeem a fixed number of units or a fixed rupee amount every month. The redeemed amount is credited to your bank account. The remaining units stay invested and continue to grow at the fund’s NAV.

The result is a predictable monthly income from your investment without needing to sell the entire corpus.

SWP is most commonly used for:

• Retirement income to replace a monthly salary
• Supplementing pension income for senior citizens
• Creating passive income from a large lump sum investment
• Funding recurring expenses like EMIs, school fees or rent
• Tax-efficient income generation compared to FD interest

How SWP Works: The Month-by-Month Mechanics

Understanding exactly how SWP works each month helps you interpret the calculator results correctly.

Month 1: Opening balance = your total investment Monthly return is applied to the opening balance (annual return rate divided by 12) The earned interest is added to the balance Your monthly withdrawal amount is deducted Closing balance = new starting point for Month 2

Month 2 onwards: The same process repeats. Interest is earned on the closing balance from the previous month, withdrawal is deducted, and the new closing balance becomes the next month’s opening balance.

When inflation adjustment is enabled: The monthly withdrawal amount increases by the annual inflation rate you set, once per year. So if you set a 6 per cent inflation adjustment, your withdrawal in year 2 is 6 per cent higher than year 1, year 3 is 6 per cent higher than year 2, and so on.

When does the corpus run out? If your monthly withdrawal exceeds the interest earned on the remaining balance, the corpus shrinks every month. Eventually the balance reaches zero. The calculator shows you exactly which year this happens so you can adjust your plan before committing.

The sustainable withdrawal principle: If your monthly withdrawal is less than or equal to the monthly interest earned on the corpus, the corpus never depletes and may even grow over time. This is the foundation of sustainable retirement income planning.

How to Use the PlanMyReturns SWP Calculator: Step by Step

Step 1: Enter your total investment amount

This is the lump sum you plan to invest (or have already invested) in a mutual fund. For example, 50,00,000 rupees (50 lakh) if you have built a retirement corpus of that size.

Step 2: Enter monthly withdrawal amount

This is the fixed amount you want to withdraw every month. For example, 30,000 rupees per month for living expenses in retirement.

Step 3: Enter expected return rate

This is the annual return rate you expect from your mutual fund. Reference points:

• Debt funds or liquid funds: 6 to 7 per cent
• Hybrid or balanced advantage funds: 8 to 10 per cent
• Equity funds (large cap): 10 to 12 per cent
• Conservative estimate for long-term retirement planning: 8 per cent

Use a conservative rate when planning for retirement. The calculator lets you stress-test different return assumptions.

Step 4: Select the time period

Choose 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 years, or enter a custom number. For retirement planning, use the number of years from retirement to your life expectancy. Many planners use 25 to 30 years as a safe estimate.

Step 5: Enable inflation adjustment (recommended for retirement planning)

Click Advanced Options and enter an inflation rate. India’s long-term average consumer price inflation has been approximately 6 per cent. Entering 6 per cent means your withdrawal amount increases 6 per cent each year, simulating rising living costs over time.

Step 6: Click Calculate

Results show instantly:

• Total investment
• Total amount withdrawn over the period
• Final corpus balance at the end
• Total profit earned during the plan
• Year-wise cash flow table with withdrawal, interest earned and balance for each year
• A visual chart showing corpus depletion or growth trajectory

SWP Calculation Formula Explained

The core formula the calculator uses each month is:

Closing Balance = (Opening Balance x (1 + monthly return rate)) minus Monthly Withdrawal

Where monthly return rate = Annual Return Rate divided by 12.

For a 8 per cent annual return, the monthly return rate is 8 divided by 12 = 0.667 per cent per month.

A worked example: Opening balance: 50,00,000 rupees Monthly return rate: 0.667 per cent Interest earned in month 1: 50,00,000 x 0.00667 = 33,333 rupees Monthly withdrawal: 30,000 rupees Closing balance after month 1: 50,00,000 + 33,333 minus 30,000 = 50,03,333 rupees

In this case, the interest earned (33,333 rupees) exceeds the withdrawal (30,000 rupees), so the corpus actually grows slightly. This is a sustainable SWP scenario.

Now compare with an aggressive withdrawal: Same opening balance at 8 per cent return, but monthly withdrawal is 50,000 rupees. Interest earned in month 1: 33,333 rupees Withdrawal: 50,000 rupees Corpus reduces by 16,667 rupees in month 1. Multiplied over 12 months and 20 years, the corpus depletes well before the plan ends.

Run both scenarios in the calculator above to see the difference visually.

SWP and the Safe Withdrawal Rate for Indian Investors

The safe withdrawal rate is the percentage of your corpus you can withdraw annually without running out of money over a 25 to 30 year retirement.

The 4 per cent rule (US origin, adapted for India): The widely cited 4 per cent rule states that withdrawing 4 per cent of your corpus annually (adjusted for inflation each year) has historically allowed portfolios to last 30 or more years. For a corpus of 1 crore rupees, this means 4,00,000 rupees per year, or approximately 33,333 rupees per month.

Does the 4 per cent rule work in India? The 4 per cent rule was developed for US market conditions with US inflation. For India, where inflation has historically been higher (5 to 7 per cent versus 2 to 3 per cent in the US), some planners recommend a more conservative 3 to 3.5 per cent annual withdrawal rate to account for higher inflation eroding purchasing power faster.

At a 3.5 per cent safe withdrawal rate:

• Corpus of 50 lakh: monthly income of approximately 14,583 rupees
• Corpus of 1 crore: monthly income of approximately 29,167 rupees
• Corpus of 2 crore: monthly income of approximately 58,333 rupees
• Corpus of 5 crore: monthly income of approximately 1,45,833 rupees

Use the calculator to test different withdrawal rates against your corpus size and see which scenarios are sustainable over your planned time horizon.

How Much Corpus Do You Need for SWP at Different Monthly Income Levels?

This is one of the most frequently searched SWP questions. Here are reference figures assuming 8 per cent annual return and 6 per cent inflation adjustment:

These are estimates. Actual corpus required depends on the exact return rate you achieve and the inflation rate over your plan period. Use the calculator to model your specific scenario with your own assumptions.

SWP for Retirement Planning: A Complete Guide for Investors

Retirement planning in India has changed dramatically. Fixed deposits, which once offered 9 to 10 per cent interest, now offer 6.5 to 7 per cent. Pension plans from government jobs are restricted to a shrinking set of employees. For most working Indians today, building a corpus and drawing from it via SWP is the most practical retirement income strategy.

Step 1: Calculate your retirement corpus target

Estimate your monthly expenses at retirement (in today’s rupees). Adjust for inflation to the year of retirement. Multiply by 12 to get annual retirement expenses. Use the 3.5 per cent safe withdrawal rate to back-calculate the corpus needed.

Example: Monthly expenses today are 40,000 rupees. Retirement is 20 years away. At 6 per cent inflation, 40,000 rupees today equals approximately 1,28,285 rupees per month in 20 years. Annual expense: 15.4 lakh. Corpus needed at 3.5 per cent withdrawal rate: approximately 4.4 crore.

Use the Retirement Calculator to compute your target corpus.

Step 2: Build the corpus

Invest systematically over your working years via SIP in equity funds. Use the SIP Calculator to find the monthly SIP amount needed to reach your corpus target.

Step 3: At retirement, shift to SWP

When you retire, switch the corpus to a more conservative fund mix (balanced advantage, hybrid or debt funds) and start SWP for monthly income.

Step 4: Use the SWP calculator to stress-test the plan

Enter your corpus, your expected monthly withdrawal, your assumed return rate (use the fund’s expected return post-retirement) and your expected inflation rate. Set the time period to 25 or 30 years. If the corpus survives, the plan is sustainable. If not, either reduce monthly withdrawal or target a larger retirement corpus.

SWP with Inflation: Why It Changes Everything

Most SWP calculators online ignore inflation. This is one of the biggest planning mistakes Indian retirees make.

Here is the problem: if you set a fixed monthly withdrawal of 30,000 rupees today and never increase it, then in 10 years at 6 per cent inflation, 30,000 rupees will have the purchasing power of approximately 16,754 rupees in today’s terms. In 20 years, it will feel like only 9,355 rupees in today’s purchasing power.

The solution is inflation-adjusted SWP, also called Step-Up SWP, where your withdrawal amount increases by a fixed percentage each year to maintain purchasing power.

Inflation adjustment comparison for 50 lakh corpus at 8 per cent return over 20 years:

The flat SWP looks better on paper but fails you in real life because 30,000 rupees in year 20 buys far less than it does today. The inflation-adjusted SWP maintains your lifestyle but requires a larger corpus or a lower starting withdrawal.

Enable the inflation option in the PlanMyReturns SWP calculator to test your specific scenario.

SWP vs Fixed Deposit: A Detailed Comparison

This is the most common comparison for senior citizens and retirees planning monthly income.

The hybrid approach: SWP plus FD

Many Indian financial planners recommend splitting the retirement corpus. Keep 1 to 2 years of expenses in a liquid fund or FD for immediate access (the emergency buffer). Invest the rest in a balanced or equity fund for SWP. This way, market downturns do not force you to redeem equity units at low NAV to meet monthly expenses.

SWP vs SIP: Understanding the Difference

SWP and SIP are two ends of the same wealth management journey. You build with SIP over your working years, then distribute with SWP during retirement.

Use the SIP Calculator to plan the building phase and this SWP calculator to plan the distribution phase.

SWP vs Dividend Option: Why SWP Wins

Before SEBI renamed dividend plans to IDCW (Income Distribution cum Capital Withdrawal) in 2021, many Indian investors used the dividend option of mutual funds as a source of regular income. Here is why SWP is a better alternative.

SWP gives you the predictability of a monthly salary while the IDCW option leaves timing and amount entirely to the AMC’s discretion.

SWP Risks You Must Understand Before Starting

1. Sequence of returns risk

This is the biggest risk in SWP. If markets fall sharply in the first few years of your SWP (when your corpus is largest), you redeem more units at low NAV to meet your fixed withdrawal amount. This permanently reduces the number of units you hold, meaning you benefit less from the subsequent market recovery.

Mitigation: Keep a 2-year expense buffer in a liquid fund or savings account. Draw from the buffer during market downturns and let the SWP pause or reduce temporarily. Replenish the buffer from SWP when markets recover.

2. Over-withdrawal risk

Withdrawing more than the interest your corpus earns each month depletes the corpus over time. Many investors set withdrawal amounts too high based on optimistic return assumptions and run out of money before their plan period ends.

Mitigation: Use the PlanMyReturns SWP calculator with a conservative return rate (2 to 3 per cent lower than your expected rate) to stress-test your plan. If the corpus still survives at the lower rate, your plan has a safety margin.

3. Inflation underestimation risk

Planning with 0 per cent inflation and a fixed withdrawal for 20 years means your real income halves in purchasing power over the period. India’s CPI inflation has averaged 5.5 to 7 per cent historically.

Mitigation: Always model with 5 to 6 per cent inflation adjustment enabled. Use the PlanMyReturns inflation toggle to see the realistic scenario.

4. Fund selection risk

Choosing a high-risk fund for SWP increases volatility and sequence-of-returns risk. A 30 per cent fund drawdown in a bear market followed by high unit redemptions can be irreversible.

Mitigation: Use balanced advantage funds or hybrid funds for SWP, not pure small-cap or mid-cap funds.

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