Inflation Adjusted SIP Calculator
See what your SIP savings will actually buy. Most calculators stop at the headline number. This one shows the future value, today's value after inflation, the money lost to inflation, and inflation defaults for your country, so you can plan honestly.
Inflation Adjusted SIP Calculator: quick answer
Quick answer: A $1,000/month SIP for 25 years at an 8% annual return grows to $957,367 on paper. After 3% inflation in a typical global scenario, that's really worth $457,244 in today's money, about 52% less than the headline. Adjust the inputs below for your own plan. See methodology →
What this number actually means
Most SIP calculators show what your money will become. This one shows what it will actually be worth. Read every result as a pair: the future value is the headline, and the today’s value is what you can really spend.
| Future value (on paper) | Today’s value after inflation | What it actually buys |
|---|---|---|
| ₹5 Cr in 30 yrs | ~₹87 lakh today | A 2-BHK in a tier-2 city, not a metro penthouse |
| $1M in 25 yrs | ~$478K today | A modest retirement, not financial independence |
| £500K in 20 yrs | ~£305K today | A house deposit, not the house |
How inflation eats away at your SIP savings
The big trap: mistaking the size of a future number for the size of what it can buy.
Inflation compounds over time, just like your returns. At 6% annual inflation, prices double roughly every 12 years. Over a 30-year SIP, prices roughly quadruple. So ₹5 crore in the future buys only about what ₹87 lakh buys today. The number on the screen is not wrong, it just isn’t the answer to the question you actually care about.
Every future-facing calculation on this site shows both numbers side by side for exactly this reason. The number you plan against should be today’s value after inflation, not the headline.
When today’s value matters more than the headline
Three planning situations where the gap between the headline and today’s value changes the right monthly SIP:
- Retirement. Over 30 years, inflation roughly quadruples the cost of the same lifestyle. Plan against today’s value after inflation, or use the FIRE calculator which builds it in.
- House purchase. Property prices usually keep pace with or beat inflation. Measure the down payment you save in today’s money. Try the target corpus calculator to work backwards.
- Child’s education. In most countries, education costs rise 2 to 4 percentage points faster than general inflation. Use a personalized rate from the personal inflation calculator, then feed it back here.
Default inflation rate for Other: 3.0% per year, based on long-run global CPI averages data (2026). You can override it in each calculator’s advanced options. See data sources for full citations.
How We Work It Out
An inflation adjusted SIP raises each monthly payment by the inflation rate, then works out what the resulting total is worth in today's money. Two formulas run side by side:
Worked example: a ₹10,000 a month SIP at 12% return, 6% inflation, over 30 years. The future value is about ₹3.53 Cr. After dividing by (1.06)30 ≈ 5.74, that is worth about ₹61.5 lakh in today's money. The big number is the one most calculators show. The smaller one is what you actually retire on.
Real-World Examples
Investing $1,000 a month for 25 years
A $1,000 monthly investment at a 8% expected return grows to $957,367. At 3% inflation, that money will buy only about what $457,244 buys today.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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