How much corpus do I need to retire in India?

It depends on your current monthly expenses, target retirement age, expected inflation, and how long you expect to live. As a rough rule, you need roughly 25× your annual post-retirement expenses if you plan to follow a 4% safe-withdrawal rate. Cockroach Money lets you run the exact year-by-year simulation for free at https://cockroachmoney.in/calculators/retirement-corpus.

What is FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) and is it possible in India?

FIRE means saving and investing aggressively (typically 40–70% of income) so you can stop depending on a paycheck by your 40s. It is possible in India, but high education and medical inflation mean Indian FIRE math requires a larger corpus than Western FIRE — typically 30–35× annual expenses. Try the India-specific FIRE calculator at https://cockroachmoney.in/calculators/fire.

How does Cockroach Money calculate my retirement corpus?

It runs a deterministic year-by-year simulation from your current age through your planning horizon (typically age 90), compounding returns monthly, inflating expenses annually, deducting milestones in their target year, switching from contribution mode to withdrawal mode at your retirement age, and (optionally) applying Indian LTCG, Section 80C, and slab-based income tax. The full methodology is at https://cockroachmoney.in/methodology.

Is Cockroach Money free?

Yes. All calculators and the full life-cycle simulator are free with no signup required. Auth0 sign-in is only offered if you want to save multiple named scenarios. There is also a free public calculation API at https://cockroachmoney.in/api/v1/calculate that anyone (including AI agents) can call without an API key.

How is inflation handled in the simulator?

A single annual inflation rate (default 6%, configurable) is compounded on all expenses and milestones year over year. You can stress-test your plan by setting it to 8% or 10% to see how it affects your freedom date and corpus longevity.

From the Cockroach Money Plan

The writing.

Name: Cockroach Money
Availability: InStock
Author: Cockroach Money

Long-form, India-specific, irreverent. The math the FIRE-bro Twitter doesn't do — because doing it would ruin the merch sales.

Retirement Planning·7 min read·2026-05-23

How much do I really need to retire in India? (₹X corpus, year-by-year math)

The honest, year-by-year math on the retirement corpus you actually need in India. Inflation, healthcare, lifestyle creep — no 25× hand-waving.

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FIRE Movement·8 min read·2026-05-23

FIRE in India is different — why ₹5cr isn’t enough

Western FIRE math says ₹5cr is plenty. Indian FIRE math says you’ll run out in your sixties. Here’s why, and what number actually works.

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Investment Vehicles·9 min read·2026-05-23

SIP vs PPF vs NPS: which one survives Indian inflation longest?

Side-by-side, after-tax, after-inflation: ₹10,000/month into SIP, PPF, and NPS over 30 years. The winner isn’t who you think.

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How much do I really need to retire in India? (₹X corpus, year-by-year math)

FIRE in India is different — why ₹5cr isn’t enough

SIP vs PPF vs NPS: which one survives Indian inflation longest?

More posts coming.