Planning

How to Use the Return Planner: Simulate Your Corpus & Retirement

🕑 5 min read
Last updated June 2026
For informational purposes only
What this tool does: The Return Planner projects your corpus at the time you return to India, then simulates year-by-year how long that corpus survives based on your expenses, income, inflation, and investment returns.

Step 1 — Enter Your Savings Profile

Current Savings Abroad (₹ Lakhs): The total amount you have invested or saved today — NRE FDs, mutual funds, PPF, overseas savings converted to ₹. If you hold foreign currency, use today's exchange rate to estimate the ₹ equivalent.

Monthly Savings Rate (₹ Lakhs/mo): How much you add to this corpus every month. Include SIP, FD instalments, or any disciplined savings. Even ₹50,000/month (₹0.5L) makes a dramatic difference over 10 years.

As you type, the tool shows you the local currency equivalent (e.g., MYR, USD, AED) so you can quickly cross-check against your payslip.

Step 2 — Set Your Return Timeline

Years Until You Return: How many more years you plan to stay abroad and keep saving. The tool instantly shows you the projected corpus at return date, compounding your current savings and monthly contributions at your chosen ROI.

Try changing this number and watch the projected corpus update — this is the most powerful input. An extra 2–3 years abroad can add crores to your corpus.

Current SavingsMonthly SIPROI5 Years10 Years15 Years
₹50L₹1.5L/mo8%~₹1.9 Cr~₹4.0 Cr~₹7.0 Cr
₹1 Cr₹2L/mo8%~₹3.1 Cr~₹5.7 Cr~₹9.2 Cr
₹50L₹1.5L/mo10%~₹2.1 Cr~₹4.9 Cr~₹9.5 Cr

Step 3 — Set Your Post-Return Expenses

Monthly Expenses in India (₹/mo): Your expected spending after returning — rent/EMI, groceries, utilities, education, healthcare, travel, lifestyle. Be realistic. Most NRIs underestimate this because they forget how expensive children's education and healthcare become.

A practical benchmark: if you currently spend MYR 8,000/month abroad, a comfortable India equivalent is around ₹1.5–2L/month in a metro.

India Inflation Rate (% p.a.): Default is 6%, which is the historical average for India. Healthcare and education inflate faster (8–10%), so if those are major buckets for you, nudge this to 7%.

Step 4 — Set Corpus Return & Income

Investment Return on Corpus (% p.a.): The return your corpus earns after you return. Assume 8–9% for a balanced equity+debt portfolio, or 6–7% for a conservative FD-heavy approach. Do not use aggressive equity-only assumptions for money you'll actually be spending.

Expected India Income After Return (₹/mo): Any income you'll earn in India — consultancy, rental income, part-time work, pension, interest from FDs. This reduces how much you withdraw from the corpus each month. Even ₹30,000/month in rental income can add 5–7 years to corpus life.

Reading the Results

After clicking Calculate, you'll see four key outputs:

The Year-by-Year Table

Click ▼ Year-by-Year Table to expand the full simulation. Each row shows:

Pro tip — stress test your plan: Run the calculation twice. First with your "base case" numbers. Then increase expenses by 20% and reduce ROI by 1%. If the corpus still survives 30+ years in the stress case, your plan is solid. If it collapses to 15 years, you need a larger corpus or lower expenses.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Ignoring inflation: Many people enter today's expenses and use a 0% inflation assumption. At 6% inflation, ₹1L/month today becomes ₹1.8L/month in 10 years. The planner auto-escalates expenses by your entered inflation rate each year.

Over-estimating ROI: Using 12–15% equity returns for your post-retirement corpus is dangerous. You can't afford a 3-year market downturn when you're actually spending the money. Use 7–9% max.

Forgetting one-time costs: Children's higher education, medical emergencies, home purchase. Add ₹30–50L to your required corpus as a one-time buffer for these.

Open the Return Planner
Run your numbers with the interactive simulation