Goal Planner

Turning a wish into a monthly number

A goal feels much more achievable once it becomes a monthly figure you can set up and forget. This planner does three things in order. It raises today's cost of the goal by inflation to find the future price, it grows any savings you already have, and it works out the monthly investment needed to cover the gap by your target date.

Here is a simple example. A goal that costs ₹20 lakh today will cost roughly ₹36 lakh in ten years if prices rise 6% a year. With no existing savings and an assumed 12% return, you would need to invest about ₹15,400 a month to get there. Seeing the future cost explains why goals planned in today's prices so often fall short.

Match the return assumption to the time you have. For goals five or more years away, an equity-heavy mix can be reasonable, though it will swing in value along the way. For goals within three years, choose a lower rate and safer investments, because there is little time to recover from a fall. As the target date approaches, many people move money gradually into debt funds or deposits to protect what they have built. If the monthly amount looks too high, you have three honest options: extend the deadline, reduce the goal, or start with what you can and increase it each year. Planning each goal separately keeps the trade-offs clear and stops one goal quietly eating into another. Once you have a figure you can manage, set it up as an automatic SIP so the plan runs without depending on willpower each month.