SWP Calculator
Estimate how long a lump sum investment will last if you withdraw a fixed amount from it every month through a Systematic Withdrawal Plan (SWP), based on your starting corpus, an assumed annual rate of return, and your monthly withdrawal amount. The result is a projection based on the return you enter — actual mutual fund returns are market-linked and are never guaranteed, and your corpus can deplete sooner than shown here.
Fill in the form and select "Calculate" to see your results here.
What is the SWP Calculator?
A Systematic Withdrawal Plan (SWP) lets an investor withdraw a fixed amount from a mutual fund investment at regular intervals — commonly monthly — while the remaining corpus stays invested and continues to grow, or shrink, depending on whether the fund's returns outpace the withdrawals. It's the mirror image of a SIP: instead of building up a corpus with regular contributions, an SWP draws a regular "income" stream down from a corpus you already hold, which is why it's commonly used by retirees and anyone else who wants a predictable payout from a lump sum. This calculator projects, month by month, how your balance behaves and tells you clearly if your chosen withdrawal amount would exhaust the corpus before your requested period ends.
How to use this calculator
- Enter the initial corpus you're withdrawing from — the lump sum currently invested.
- Enter the annual rate of return you want to assume for the projection. This is not a guaranteed figure — it's typically based on the historical long-term average of the fund category you're considering.
- Enter the fixed amount you plan to withdraw every month.
- Enter how many years you intend to keep withdrawing. Select "Calculate SWP" to see the result.
- The calculator will report whether your corpus lasts the full period you entered. If it doesn't, it will tell you exactly which month the balance is projected to reach zero, instead of showing a misleading final result.
Methodology
Unlike a plain compound-interest projection, there's no single closed-form formula for an SWP, because a fixed amount is both compounding and being withdrawn every single month. Instead, this calculator works month by month:
This loop is repeated for every month in the withdrawal period you enter. Like the SIP Calculator, the annual return you enter is converted to an effective monthly rate — the 12th root of 1 plus the annual rate — rather than simply divided by 12, matching the convention used by Groww's SIP/SWP calculators. If the corpus reaches zero before the period ends, the simulation stops early and the calculator reports the month at which that happened, along with the total amount withdrawn up to that point.
Example
Suppose you start an SWP with an initial corpus of ₹20,00,000, assume a constant 8% annual return, and withdraw ₹15,000 every month for 20 years (240 months). Simulating the balance month by month, the corpus is not depleted — after all 240 withdrawals, the remaining balance works out to approximately ₹7,86,928, while the total amount withdrawn over the 20 years is exactly ₹15,000 × 240 = ₹36,00,000. In other words, the corpus's own growth more than made up for the amount taken out, so it not only funded every withdrawal but also grew.
Now compare that with a smaller starting corpus. Keeping the same 8% return and the same ₹15,000 monthly withdrawal, but starting with only ₹10,00,000 instead of ₹20,00,000, the corpus is fully depleted at month 88 (roughly 7.3 years), having paid out a total of only about ₹13,10,356 before running out. The withdrawal rate and return assumption are identical in both cases — only the size of the starting corpus changed — which shows how sensitive SWP sustainability is to the ratio between your corpus and your withdrawal amount.
Factors that affect how long your SWP lasts
- Your withdrawal rate versus your assumed return. If your monthly withdrawal consistently exceeds the growth the corpus earns that month, the balance shrinks and will eventually reach zero. If the growth consistently exceeds the withdrawal, the corpus can keep growing even while paying you an income.
- Market volatility. Actual mutual fund returns don't grow at a smooth, constant rate the way this calculator assumes — a few weak years early in the withdrawal period can deplete a corpus faster than a steady average return would suggest.
- Inflation-adjusted withdrawals. This calculator assumes your monthly withdrawal amount stays constant for the entire period. In practice, many people increase their withdrawal over time to keep pace with rising costs, which would deplete a corpus faster than shown here.
- Taxation on withdrawals. Part of every SWP withdrawal is typically treated as a capital gain and taxed accordingly. This calculator does not model that tax, so your effective, spendable amount from each withdrawal will usually be lower than the figure shown.
Frequently Asked Questions
If your monthly withdrawal amount is consistently larger than the return your corpus earns each month, the balance shrinks over time and can reach zero before your requested period is complete. This calculator detects that and tells you the month in which the corpus is projected to run out, along with the total amount withdrawn up to that point, instead of showing a negative or misleading balance.
No. An SWP withdraws from a mutual fund investment, and mutual fund returns are market-linked. The regular payout amount you choose can be fixed, but the fund's underlying growth is not — in a weak market your corpus can deplete faster than a constant-return projection like this one would suggest, and in a strong market it can last longer.
A savings account typically pays a low, relatively stable interest rate, while an SWP draws from a mutual fund whose returns are usually higher on average but fluctuate with the market. An SWP also automates the process — a fixed amount is redeemed and paid out on a set schedule, such as monthly, rather than requiring a manual withdrawal each time you need funds.
No. Each SWP withdrawal is typically part return of your original capital and part capital gain, and the gain portion is subject to capital gains tax based on the fund type and how long the units were held. This calculator does not model that tax, so your actual post-tax cash flow will usually be lower than the withdrawal amount shown here.
Yes, most mutual funds allow you to modify, pause or stop an SWP at any time. This calculator assumes a constant monthly withdrawal for the full period you enter — increasing your withdrawal later, for example to keep pace with inflation, would deplete the corpus faster than shown here.
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Calculations are estimates based on the information entered and an assumed constant rate of return. Actual mutual fund returns are market-linked and never guaranteed, and this calculator does not account for tax on withdrawals, exit loads, or real-world market volatility. It is not a substitute for professional financial advice. See our full disclaimer.