How Long Will Money Last?
Enter savings, monthly withdrawal and return rate โ find exactly how long money will last.
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Compound Interest Calculator
Example 1 โ Lump sum, no contributions
A = 1,00,000 ร (1.10)^10 โ โน2,59,374 โ more than 2.5ร growth
๐ What is the How Long Will Money Last??
This calculator answers a critical retirement question: given a lump sum, a fixed monthly withdrawal, an expected investment return, and an inflation rate that increases your withdrawal over time, how long will the money actually last? The answer is often surprisingly different from a simple division of savings by withdrawal amount.
โ๏ธ How Money Last is calculated
Why a simple division understates the real picture
Dividing your savings by your monthly withdrawal ignores that the remaining balance keeps earning a return throughout the withdrawal period โ but it also ignores that withdrawals typically need to increase with inflation to maintain the same purchasing power, which works in the opposite direction.
The interaction between return rate and inflation
If your investment return meaningfully exceeds your withdrawal's inflation adjustment, the corpus can last far longer than a naive calculation suggests โ sometimes effectively indefinitely. If inflation outpaces returns, the corpus depletes faster than expected, even though each individual year looks manageable.
The "forever" threshold
This calculator caps its calculation at 100 years โ if your corpus has not depleted by then, it is effectively sustainable indefinitely at the given assumptions, since your return rate is outpacing your inflation-adjusted withdrawals over the very long run.
Monthly depletion model
Balance next month = (balance ร (1 + monthly return)) โ withdrawal
Withdrawal itself grows each month by the monthly inflation rate
๐งฎ Worked examples
Example โ with inflation-adjusted withdrawals
โน50,00,000 corpus, withdrawing โน30,000/month, 6% annual return, 5% annual inflation on withdrawals.
โ Corpus lasts approximately 15.1 years โ inflation increasing the withdrawal amount over time depletes the corpus faster than a flat-withdrawal model would suggest
Example โ same corpus, no inflation adjustment, higher return
Same โน50,00,000 corpus and โน30,000/month withdrawal, but 8% return with withdrawals held flat (no inflation increase).
โ Corpus effectively lasts indefinitely (100+ years) at these assumptions, since the return rate alone outpaces the flat withdrawal amount
๐ก Original insights & how to use this calculator
Why this calculator matters more than a simple retirement corpus target
A large corpus calculated using the common 25x-expenses rule can still deplete faster than expected if withdrawals are not inflation-adjusted realistically โ this calculator stress-tests that assumption directly with your actual numbers.
Comparing a fixed withdrawal vs an inflation-adjusted one
Run the same corpus and return rate with 0% inflation versus a realistic 5โ6%, to see how much faster a corpus depletes once withdrawals are allowed to rise with the cost of living โ this is the scenario that actually matters for long retirements.
Adjusting your withdrawal rate if the corpus depletes too soon
If your result shows depletion sooner than your expected retirement length, reducing the monthly withdrawal amount even modestly often extends the corpus's life by years, due to the compounding effect working in your favour for longer.
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๐ก Expert tips
4% withdrawal rate: portfolio lasts indefinitely in most scenarios.
๐ Learn more on WellFiLab
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โ Common questions
What withdrawal rate is safe?
3.5โ4%/year for a 30-year retirement, based on historical data.
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