How long will my retirement corpus last with FD and market investments?

How the FD and market buckets are created

The entered FD allocation is applied to the current corpus. The remainder becomes the opening market bucket. An allocation of 60% therefore places ₹2.40 crore of a ₹4 crore corpus in FD and ₹1.60 crore in the market model.

The FD rate is treated as a simple annual payout rate rather than a reinvestment rate. Monthly mode divides gross annual income into 12 cycles; quarterly mode divides it into four. Manual after-tax mode deducts the user-entered effective tax percentage from every gross payout before the income is used for expenses.

FormulaNet FD payout = current FD principal × annual FD rate ÷ payouts per year × (1 − estimated tax rate)

How automatic FD tax uses current slabs

Choose the automatic new- or old-regime option and enter annual taxable income from other sources after deductions. The calculator compares tax on that income with tax after adding annualised FD interest, so it captures the extra liability caused by this plan rather than taxing the FD in isolation.

The current new-regime calculation uses the slabs applicable from AY 2026–27 onward, the resident-individual Section 87A rebate up to ₹12 lakh with marginal relief, applicable surcharge with marginal relief, and 4% health and education cess. The old-regime option uses the selected resident age band, its existing slabs, the eligible rebate up to ₹5 lakh, surcharge and cess.

To avoid an artificial tax spike in the payout where a rebate or slab threshold is crossed, each cycle annualises the interest available at the current FD balance and spreads the resulting incremental annual tax across the chosen monthly or quarterly frequency. The estimate changes automatically as FD principal changes.

FormulaAutomatic FD tax per payout = [tax(other income + annualised current FD interest) − tax(other income)] ÷ payouts per year

How this differs from a retirement, SWP or FD maturity calculator

A conventional retirement calculator estimates the corpus you need to build before retirement. This calculator starts with money you already have and answers a different question: how many years can that corpus support inflation-linked living expenses?

A basic SWP calculator treats the full balance as one market investment and redeems units regularly. An FD maturity calculator usually compounds interest without spending it. This model instead keeps an FD income bucket and an equity or mutual-fund growth bucket separate, spends from the FD first, and records each after-tax market-to-FD refill.

Use it as a retirement corpus depletion, financial-runway or bucket-strategy calculator. It can also test an FD-interest-only plan that preserves both principal buckets until net FD income no longer covers expenses.

How each living-expense cycle is funded

Living expenses start from the entered monthly amount and grow at the selected inflation rate. FD interest pays the expense first. The chosen percentage of any surplus is added to the market bucket; when interest is insufficient, only FD principal funds the shortfall.

The market bucket is not withdrawn while FD principal remains. When the FD reaches zero, the market covers any remaining expense in that cycle and the after-tax balance is immediately split using the original FD percentage. The new FD starts the next cycle and the process repeats. Interest-only mode instead stops as soon as FD income alone is insufficient, without spending either principal bucket.

FormulaFD reset = remaining market corpus × original FD allocation percentage

How equity capital-gains tax is applied

Turn on the separate equity STCG/LTCG option when you want the market-return input treated as a pre-tax return. The calculator derives the opening cost basis from the current unrealised-gain percentage. Each reinvested surplus creates a new tax lot, and market sales use first-in, first-out cost basis.

At each expense withdrawal or market-to-FD reset, only the realised gain is taxed—not the full sale value. Lots held for at least 12 months use the entered equity LTCG rate; newer lots use the STCG rate. The available LTCG exemption is consumed by eligible gains and resets at the start of each model year. Enter zero if that exemption is already used by gains outside this plan.

The calculator estimates the equity-gain surcharge from annual taxable income at 10% above ₹50 lakh and 15% above ₹1 crore, capped at 15%, and then adds 4% health and education cess. Exact combined-income surcharge marginal relief still requires a full annual tax calculation.

The reset solver works from after-tax cash: it finds the gross market sale required to pay any remaining expense and rebuild the FD bucket at the selected ratio after estimated capital-gains tax, surcharge and cess.

FormulaRealised gain = gross sale proceeds − proportionate FIFO cost basis

Example: ₹4 crore split 60% into FD

These examples use the full FD payout and no separate market capital-gains calculation: 7.25% FD interest, 10% net expected market return, monthly payouts, 6% annual expense inflation and 100% reinvestment of surplus income. Expenses use FD income and FD principal before the remaining market corpus is reset into the same 60% FD and 40% market split.

With ₹2 lakh of starting monthly expenses, this smooth-return scenario lasts about 22 years 7 months and completes six market-to-FD resets. The annual ledger shows how the FD shrinks between resets while the untouched market bucket grows.

How long will ₹1 crore, ₹2 crore, ₹3 crore or ₹4 crore last?

There is no universal answer because monthly expenses, inflation, allocation, returns and tax interact. The scenarios below use 60% in FD at 7.25%, 40% in the market at a smooth 10% net return, 6% expense inflation, monthly payouts and 100% surplus reinvestment. Automatic current new-regime FD tax is enabled with no other taxable income; separate market capital-gains tax is off.

These are reproducible calculator examples, not promises or recommended retirement amounts. Change the inputs for your actual corpus, household spending, taxable income and assumptions.

Why the result is a scenario, not a safe-withdrawal promise

• The market bucket receives the same smooth expected return every cycle. Real returns arrive unevenly, and poor early returns can shorten longevity even when the long-run average is unchanged.
• The FD rate is held constant through the model. A renewed deposit may receive a different rate, and premature use of principal may have product-specific consequences.
• Inflation varies across years and households. Medical care, rent and other essential costs may rise faster than headline consumer inflation.
• The manual FD tax percentage is a flat planning adjustment. Automatic mode is more detailed but still assumes a resident individual, constant annual other income and today’s tax rules for the full projection. It does not model future slab changes, deductions, special-rate income, TDS timing or return filing.
• The equity tax mode assumes listed equity shares or equity-oriented funds with applicable STT. It excludes cess, surcharge, grandfathering, capital losses and set-off or carry-forward rules, fees and exit loads. Its annual exemption input is a planning allocation, not a tax-return computation.
• The 80-year result means the model did not run out during the test horizon; it is not a guarantee of permanent sustainability.

How to stress-test the plan

Run at least three versions instead of relying on the default: a conservative market return with higher inflation, a middle estimate, and an optimistic case. Compare the number and timing of market-to-FD resets because an early reset leaves less time for the market bucket to grow.

Compare the repeating FD-first cycle with interest-only mode. The latter answers a narrower question—how long FD income alone meets expenses—while preserving both principal balances. Also test a higher monthly expense than you currently expect so irregular costs are less likely to invalidate the scenario.