Plan systematic withdrawals from your retirement corpus. Models year-by-year drawdown with returns and inflation, flags depletion risk, and benchmarks against the 4% safe withdrawal rule.
A Systematic Withdrawal Plan (SWP) calculator for retirees and FIRE planners. Enter your initial corpus, monthly withdrawal, expected return, inflation, and duration — instantly see how long the money lasts, how much you will withdraw in total, what corpus remains at the end, and whether your withdrawal rate is sustainable versus the Trinity-study 4% rule. Toggle inflation-adjusted withdrawals to model real-world spending growth. Visualises corpus depletion against a sustainable benchmark line. Supports USD, INR, and AED.
Each month a fixed amount leaves your corpus. The remaining balance keeps earning returns at your expected rate. If returns exceed withdrawals, the corpus grows; if withdrawals exceed returns, it shrinks. With inflation toggled on, the monthly withdrawal scales up each year so your real spending power stays constant — but this also accelerates depletion. The math behind it is the same compounding equation as SIP, just running in reverse.
The 4% rule says: take 4% of your starting corpus in year one, then increase that rupee/dollar amount by inflation each year. Backtests show this survives 30 years in the vast majority of historical paths. Critically, it depends on real return — nominal return minus inflation. If your portfolio earns 8% and inflation is 3%, your real return is roughly 4.85%, which comfortably supports a 4% real withdrawal. We default to 8% because retirees typically shift toward a balanced debt-equity mix that lowers volatility and expected return.
First, ignoring inflation: a fixed nominal withdrawal feels safe but loses half its purchasing power in 20 years at 3.5% inflation. Second, withdrawing during a crash: forced selling at the bottom locks in losses — keep 1-3 years of expenses in cash or short-duration debt. Third, anchoring on average returns: a 7% average with high volatility behaves very differently from a steady 7%. Fourth, underestimating longevity: plan to age 90+, not life-expectancy median. Fifth, ignoring tax — net of tax, a 5% gross withdrawal might only be 4% in your hand.
SIP (Systematic Investment Plan) is the accumulation phase — you put money in monthly. SWP (Systematic Withdrawal Plan) is the opposite: you take money out monthly from a built-up corpus, typically post-retirement, while the remaining balance keeps earning returns.
It comes from the 1998 Trinity Study by three Trinity University professors who back-tested US stock-bond portfolios. They found a 4% initial inflation-adjusted withdrawal rate had a high probability of lasting 30 years. It is a rule of thumb, not a guarantee, and assumes a roughly 50/50 to 75/25 stock-bond mix.
Even if average returns match expectations, suffering big losses in the early years of retirement is far more damaging than the same losses later — because you are selling units when prices are low. A flat-average backtest can pass while a real bumpy sequence depletes early. Keep 1-3 years of cash buffer to mitigate this.
Tax depends on jurisdiction and product. In India, equity-fund SWPs after 1 year are LTCG (12.5% above ₹1.25L exemption); debt-fund SWPs are slab-rate. In the US, taxable-account withdrawals trigger capital gains; IRA/401(k) withdrawals are ordinary income. Each withdrawal includes both principal (no tax) and gains (taxed) — calculate carefully.
SWP keeps your principal invested and under your control, with potential for growth and inheritance, but exposes you to market and depletion risk. An annuity gives guaranteed lifetime income but locks up principal, typically yields lower returns, and carries insurer credit risk. Many retirees blend both: an annuity floor for essentials, SWP for flexibility.
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