Retiring with Rs 1 crore corpus: Will it be sufficient to get Rs 70,000 monthly for 25 years?

Rs 1 crore is quite a large amount for many Indians, and it may be the corpus size you may want to retire with. But can it give you a lifelong income? The answer lies in your monthly income expectation from the Rs 1 crore corpus. Do you want to withdraw Rs 30,000, Rs 50,000 or a higher amount from the corpus? Do you want to withdraw at a fixed or an increasing rate? A high-amount withdrawal may lead to an early erosion of the corpus. But if you choose a low withdrawal amount, it may not be sufficient to cover your expenses. So, what’s the right amount that helps you withdraw monthly expenses from a Rs 1 crore retirement corpus for at least 25 years?

Monthly income from Rs 1 crore corpus at different withdrawal rates

You can set any withdrawal rate, but if you want your corpus to last longer, it should be lower than the rate of return you get from the corpus. But when it comes to a retirement corpus, you can’t just chase high returns. The corpus should be invested in a low-risk instrument from which you can get stable returns in the long run.


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Many experts advise investing a retirement corpus in liquid funds or money market debt funds, where returns may not be high, but returns are much more stable compared to high-risk aggressive hybrid funds or equity funds. Looking at the Value Research data, the money market mutual fund category has delivered over 6.04% annualised return in 10 years. The liquid fund category’s annualised return in 10 years, meanwhile, has been 5.77%.

A conservative investor should stay away from high risk-investments and opt for low-risk instruments.

Expecting a 6% annualised return from your Rs 1 crore corpus and assuming that you will withdraw the amount required in a year at the beginning of the year, we will see how long your Rs 1 crore corpus can last at 4%-8% withdrawal rates.

Annual return	withdrawal rate	Annual withdrawal	Monthly withdrawal	year corpus will end
6%	4%	₹ 4,00,000	₹ 33,333	Lifetime
6%	5%	₹ 5,00,000	₹ 41,667	Lifetime
6%	6%	₹ 6,00,000	₹ 50,000	49 years
6%	7%	₹ 7,00,000	₹ 58,333	28 years
6%	8%	₹ 8,00,000	₹ 66,667	21 years

In the calculations, you can see that at a 6% annualised return and at 4%-7% withdrawal rates, the corpus will last more than 25 years. But the maximum amount you can withdraw in a month at those rates will be approximately Rs 58,333.

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If you opt for a higher withdrawal rate of 8%, you can withdraw a monthly amount of Rs 66,667, but the corpus will last just 21 years.

Today, Rs 58,333 per month income may be sufficient for you, but its value may be much lower 20 years later. At a 5% inflation rate, the value of Rs 58,333 will be equal to Rs 21,985. Can you sustain on that monthly income 20 years from now?

What’s an alternative way to withdraw monthly income from Rs 1 crore corpus then?

To counter that effect, you may choose a method where you increase your withdrawal rate every year at the rate of inflation. If you take 5% as the long-term inflation rate and expect a 6% annualised return from your Rs 1 crore corpus, let’s see how long it will last.

Year 1 monthly withdrawal	Increase in withdrawal rate/year	Return from corpus	How long corpus will last
₹ 30,000	5%	6%	33 years
₹ 35,000	5%	6%	27 years
₹ 40,000	5%	6%	24 years
₹ 45,000	5%	6%	21 years
₹ 50,000	5%	6%	19 years

In the table, you can see that if your monthly expense is Rs 30,000 or Rs 35,000 in today’s terms, a Rs 1 crore corpus can last more than 25 years. But if expenses are Rs 40,000 or higher, the Rs 1 crore corpus will be insufficient for 25 years.

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Will Rs 30,000 or Rs 40,000 monthly expenses be sufficient for you?

Calculations suggest that a Rs 1 crore retirement corpus is sufficient only when your monthly expenses are low today and will remain the same when you retire. But if you have high monthly expenses and expect the same when you retire, you need a higher retirement corpus to begin with.

Bucket strategy is another way to invest Rs 1 crore corpus

You may also follow a bucket strategy if you want higher returns. In the bucket strategy, you allocate corpus to different buckets based on your immediate, medium and long-term requirements.

For the immediate needs, you can invest in liquid funds or a savings account where returns may be low but are stable. For the amount that you need in 2-3 years, you can invest in debt funds, where returns may be slightly higher than liquid funds. You may invest in equity savings funds for the amount required in 4 to 5 years. The money you need in 6-7 years will go to aggressive hybrid funds. The largest allocation will be in equity funds that will remain untouched for seven years.

The equity fund allocation will be used for the next seven-year cycle, and the cycles will go on.

The bottom line is that if you keep your withdrawal rate low, your money can last a lifetime, but if you want a high withdrawal rate, it’s better to start with a higher corpus amount than Rs 1 crore.