SIP calculator online

How to use the SIP calculator

1. Enter your planned monthly investment amount.
2. Enter an expected annual return rate (a reasonable long-term estimate, not a guarantee).
3. Enter the investment period in years.
4. Read the estimated future value, total amount invested, and wealth gained, which update as you type.
5. Try a few different return rates to see how sensitive the result is to that assumption.

A SIP is a way of investing a fixed amount regularly (commonly monthly) rather than a single lump sum. This calculator assumes a constant monthly contribution and a constant annual return rate compounded monthly, which is a simplification of how real markets behave.

Supported formats

Monthly investment and return rate accept decimal values. Investment period accepts whole or fractional years greater than zero. There is no fixed upper limit, though very long periods (multiple decades) carry proportionally more uncertainty in the return-rate assumption.

What SIP is and how the future value formula works

SIP (Systematic Investment Plan) is a way of investing a fixed amount at regular intervals, most commonly monthly, into a fund or investment vehicle, rather than investing a lump sum all at once. The future value formula used here is FV = P × [((1+i)^n - 1) / i] × (1+i), where P is the monthly investment, i is the monthly rate of return (annual rate divided by 12, as a decimal), and n is the total number of months. This is the standard formula for the future value of an "annuity due" (a series of regular payments made at the start of each period), which is the typical structure most SIP calculators and providers use.

Best practices

• Use a conservative, realistic return rate based on the historical long-term average of your actual investment type, not an optimistic best-case number.
• Compare a few different tenures for the same monthly amount to see how much compounding benefits longer time horizons; the effect is not linear.
• Remember the "total invested" figure is your actual out-of-pocket contribution; the "wealth gained" figure is the projected return on top of that, which is not guaranteed.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Treating the projected return rate as guaranteed. This calculator computes what a constant assumed rate would produce; real markets fluctuate, and actual returns can be higher or lower than any single assumed rate.
• Ignoring inflation. A future value figure in today's terms may buy less in the future due to inflation; this calculator does not adjust for that.
• Ignoring fees and taxes that a real fund or investment product would charge, which reduce actual returns compared to this calculator's gross projection.

Real-world use cases

• Planning a long-term investment goal, like a retirement fund or a child's education fund.
• Comparing how different monthly contribution amounts affect a long-term goal.
• Understanding the effect of starting earlier versus later by comparing different tenure lengths.
• Sanity-checking a projection shown by a fund provider or financial advisor.
• Deciding between increasing your monthly contribution or extending your investment period to reach a specific target amount.

Worked example: the power of a longer time horizon

Investing 5,000 per month at an assumed 12% annual return produces dramatically different outcomes depending on how long the SIP runs:

Doubling the investment period from 10 to 20 years quadruples the total contribution but produces well over four times the wealth gained, illustrating how compounding accelerates over longer horizons.

Why the same annual rate produces different-looking results elsewhere

If you compare this calculator's output to another SIP calculator using the same inputs, small differences can come from a few sources: some calculators compound annually rather than monthly, some treat contributions as happening at the end of each month rather than the start (an "ordinary annuity" versus an "annuity due," which changes the result slightly), and some round intermediate values differently. This calculator uses monthly compounding with contributions at the start of each period, which is the convention most commonly used by SIP calculators from mutual fund providers, but it's worth checking which convention any other tool you compare against uses before assuming a discrepancy is an error.

Limitations

This calculator assumes a perfectly constant monthly contribution and a perfectly constant annual return rate compounded monthly, which real investments never exactly deliver. It does not account for fees, taxes, inflation, or contribution changes over time. Treat the result as an illustrative projection under a specific assumption, not a prediction or guarantee.

Privacy

All calculation happens locally in your browser as you type. Nothing is sent to a server. See the privacy policy for the site's full data handling approach.

Troubleshooting

• If the projected value seems unrealistically high, try a more conservative return rate; long compounding periods amplify the assumed rate significantly.
• If you want to model a one-time lump sum instead of monthly contributions, this calculator isn't the right fit, since it specifically models regular monthly investing.
• If you're comparing this to a loan rather than an investment, see the EMI calculator instead.

Conclusion

Use this calculator to get a realistic sense of how regular monthly investing can grow over time under a given return assumption, understanding it's a projection, not a promise. For borrowing calculations instead of investing, see the EMI calculator or loan calculator.