Wealth Growth Calculator

What Is Wealth Growth?

In the early years, your own contributions make up most of your corpus. As time passes, the accumulated returns become the bigger driver of growth. For a Rs 10,000 monthly investment at 12% annual returns with no starting capital, returns overtake total contributions by year 11.

This calculator projects that exact crossover point for your own numbers, along with a full year-by-year breakdown of contributions versus returns.

Wealth Growth Formula: How Compounding Is Calculated

Wealth growth combines two components: the future value of your existing wealth, and the future value of your regular monthly investments (a SIP annuity).

Worked example

For Rs 10,000 invested monthly at 12% for 30 years, with no existing wealth:

Of this Rs 3.53 crore, your own contributions total Rs 36 lakh (Rs 10,000 x 360 months). The remaining Rs 3.17 crore, nearly 90% of the final corpus, comes entirely from compounding.

The Power of Compounding

Compounding means your returns start earning returns of their own, on top of your original contributions. This creates a snowball effect where growth accelerates the longer you stay invested.

By year 30, returns make up 90% of the final corpus. This is why starting early matters more than the exact amount you invest: an extra 5-10 years in the market outweighs almost any increase in monthly contribution.

CAGR vs Wealth Growth: What Is the Difference?

CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) measures the annualised growth rate of a single lumpsum between two points in time. Wealth growth, as calculated here, measures the final corpus from a combination of a lumpsum and ongoing monthly contributions.

CAGR answers "what rate did my investment grow at," while a wealth growth calculator answers "how much will my regular investing habit be worth." If you already know a fund's CAGR, plug that rate directly into the return rate slider above to project your own contributions at that pace.

Wealth Growth Per Rs 1,000 Invested Monthly

The table below shows the corpus built from investing Rs 1,000 every month at a 12% annual return, across different time horizons. Multiply the figure by the number of thousands you invest monthly to estimate your own corpus.

Example: for a Rs 25,000 monthly SIP over 20 years, multiply 25 x Rs 9,99,148 = approximately Rs 2.5 crore, close to the calculator's exact figure of Rs 2.5 crore at the same inputs.

Impact of Existing Wealth on Your Corpus

Existing wealth compounds on its own from day one, independent of any new monthly investment, which is why it has an outsized effect on your final corpus.

Adding Rs 5 lakh of existing wealth to the same SIP does not just add Rs 54.46 lakh (what it would earn alone), it adds Rs 54.46 lakh to a base that is already compounding, which is exactly what the combined scenario shows.

Historical Returns by Mutual Fund Category

Different equity mutual fund categories carry different risk and return profiles. Use these as broad planning ranges, not guarantees, since actual fund performance (including specific funds like those from Nippon India, HDFC, Axis, SBI, or Kotak) varies by scheme and time period.

Small and mid cap categories carry higher return potential alongside sharper drawdowns in falling markets. A common approach is to check a fund's actual 10-year rolling CAGR using the CAGR Calculator, then use that verified rate here instead of a category-wide assumption.

SIP vs Step-Up SIP vs Lumpsum: Which Grows Wealth Faster?

A step-up SIP, where you increase your monthly investment by a fixed percentage every year, builds noticeably more wealth than a flat SIP of the same starting amount, since your later, higher contributions still get decades to compound.

The lumpsum wins here only because the entire amount gets 20 years to compound at once, which is rarely realistic for someone building wealth from salary income. Between the two realistic options, a step-up SIP nearly doubles the flat SIP's outcome for the same starting contribution. Use the Lumpsum Calculator if you are investing a one-time amount instead.

Rule of 72: Quick Way to Estimate Doubling Time

The Rule of 72 is a shortcut that estimates how many years it takes an investment to double at a given annual rate: divide 72 by the rate. It is accurate within a few months for rates between 6% and 20%.

At a 12% return, Rs 10 lakh doubles to Rs 20 lakh in roughly 6 years, then doubles again to Rs 40 lakh in the next 6, which is the same compounding effect the year-by-year table above shows in full detail.

Real (Inflation-Adjusted) Wealth Growth

The corpus shown by this calculator is in nominal rupees, not adjusted for inflation. Since prices rise over time, the real purchasing power of your final corpus is lower than the headline number.

At 12% nominal returns and 6% average inflation, a 20-year, Rs 10,000-a-month SIP builds a nominal corpus of Rs 99.91 lakh, but its purchasing power in today's rupees is closer to Rs 44.60 lakh. Use the Real Return Calculator to convert any nominal projection here into today's purchasing power for your own inflation assumption.

Tax Efficiency and Wealth Growth

Taxes on withdrawal reduce your effective corpus, so factor them in when comparing wealth growth across investment types.

ELSS is the only equity mutual fund category that combines Section 80C deduction with equity-level growth potential, though it comes with a mandatory 3-year lock-in. Use the ELSS Calculator to see how the tax saving changes your effective return.

DIY Wealth Growth vs Professional Wealth Management

This calculator gives you the maths, but a wealth management firm or financial advisor adds portfolio construction, tax planning, and behavioural discipline around it, which is worth paying for once your portfolio grows complex enough to need active oversight.

Wealth management services typically charge 0.5-2% of assets managed annually, or a flat advisory fee, and make the most sense once your investable corpus crosses roughly Rs 25-50 lakh, or when you are juggling multiple goals (retirement, a child's education, a home purchase) that need coordinated planning. Below that, a well-chosen SIP into a diversified fund, reviewed once or twice a year, captures most of the same growth without the fee drag.

Common Mistakes That Slow Wealth Growth

1. Stopping SIPs during a market fall: Pausing investments during a downturn locks in lower unit purchases and breaks the averaging effect that SIPs are built for.
2. Never increasing the SIP amount: A flat SIP ignores rising income. A 10% annual step-up on the same starting amount nearly doubled the 20-year corpus in the comparison above.
3. Chasing last year's best-performing fund: Category leadership rotates. A fund's trailing 1-year return says little about its next 10.
4. Ignoring taxes and inflation: A headline corpus figure overstates what you can actually spend once LTCG tax and inflation are accounted for.
5. Withdrawing early: Since returns only overtake contributions after roughly a decade at typical equity rates, withdrawing in years 1-10 sacrifices most of the compounding benefit still to come.

How to Use This Wealth Growth Calculator

1. Monthly Investment: Enter how much you invest every month, or plan to invest.
2. Expected Return: Set the annual return rate. Use 10-13% for large cap equity, 12-16% for mid/small cap, or a fund's actual CAGR if you have checked it.
3. Investment Period: Set how many years you plan to stay invested.
4. Existing Wealth: Enter any lumpsum you already hold that will keep compounding alongside your new contributions.
5. Year-by-Year Growth: Click to expand the bar chart and table showing exactly when your returns overtake your contributions.

Frequently Asked Questions