Lesson 15 of 28 · How long your money lasts · 3 min read · Reviewed 15 Oct 2026
It depends on how much you take out and how fast you raise it. ₹3 crore earning 8%, paying ₹1 lakh a month that rises 6% a year, lasts about 37 years. Take ₹1.5 lakh a month and it lasts about 21 years.
A systematic withdrawal plan (SWP) sells a fixed amount from a fund every month and pays it to your bank account.
The withdrawal rate is the key number: what you take out in a year as a share of the corpus. Small changes to it move the end date by years.
Key idea: Keep two to three years of withdrawals in debt or liquid funds, so you never sell shares in a crash to pay the bills.
Try the calculator and the one-question quiz on this page to check your own numbers.
Each withdrawal counts as selling units, so only the gain part is taxed, at capital gains rates. That is often less than tax on FD interest.
Many planners in India use 3% to 3.5% of the corpus in the first year, raised with inflation. Higher rates risk running out.
That hurts most, because you sell more units at low prices. A debt buffer and a lower withdrawal for a year or two help.
For learning only, not investment advice. Designed and built by people who have worked at India’s leading wealth management firms.