The Freedom Number

Your numbers

Monthly expenses today

Everything your household spends in a month

Safety multiple

25× annual expenses = the classic 4% rule; 30–33× is safer for India

Monthly SIP

What you invest every month

Annual SIP step-up

Raise your SIP as your income grows

Current investments

Mutual funds, stocks, EPF, NPS — everything already invested

Expected return

Nifty 50 with dividends: about 12% a year over the last 10–20 years (NSE, to Aug 2026). Before tax and fund costs — past, not promised.

Inflation

Your expenses — and your target — grow at this rate

Your age

Your Freedom Number

—

In today's money. By the year you reach it, inflation makes it —.

Years to Freedom

—

You'll be free at age —, in —

Not reachable in 60 years at this SIP. Inflation is outrunning your investing pace — raise the SIP or the step-up to bring freedom into range.

Your corpus Freedom Number (inflating)

What a bigger SIP buys you

Monthly SIP	Years to freedom	Free at age	Years saved

1Your stage

Age at retirement

Children

2Weights out of 100

= 100

Editorial starting weights, not research-validated standards. Health, disability, caregiving and personal priorities override them.

3Score the cities

Pick a city. Where our research has scored it, the lens scores load automatically — move any slider to override them. The hard filters are yours: tap one to change it. We pre-mark ✗ only where our research found a fatal weakness — one fatal weakness should not hide inside a strong average.

About the research scores. Lens scores are our editorial judgement over government data — CPCB annual PM2.5 and PM10, AAI passenger counts (June 2026), NIRF Medical 2025, HCES 2023-24 household spending, state power tariffs and hospital rosters checked in September 2026 — for a household retiring on ₹4 crore. Belonging is held at 5 everywhere: it is yours. Not an official ranking.

Can't find your city?

The list only has cities we have actually researched — each one checked against the same government data on air, hospitals, airports and living costs. Tell us which city to study next.

The verdict

Who leads at each age

>10 pts materially stronger fit 5–10 meaningful advantage <5 effective tie — assumptions can reverse it

Rent before you buy. Test the least pleasant season, hospital travel time, the school run and an ordinary working week — not a holiday.

Define the geography precisely. Compare Pune with Panaji–Porvorim or Margao — not with “Goa” as a whole. Neighbourhood choice can change healthcare access, school commute and monthly burn.

Watch the video →

The flat

Flat price

Down payment

Home-loan interest rate

The video used 9.25%. SBI, HDFC Bank and ICICI quote about 7.25%–9.65% to salaried borrowers (Sep 2026); your credit score decides.

Loan tenure

The rent

Rent for the same flat

What the same home would cost you to rent, per month

Your assumptions

Flat price growth

The video assumed 7%. RBI's house price index: Bengaluru up about 6% a year over the past decade, all-India about 4% (to Jun 2026).

Return on investments

The video assumed 12%. Nifty 50 with dividends: about 12% a year over the last 10–20 years (NSE, to Aug 2026). Before tax and fund costs.

Compare after

What the video left out

Rent increase each year

The video held rent flat. The official CPI rent index rose 2.1% for urban homes (Aug 2026) — existing leases India-wide, not new listings in your city. Maintenance rises with rent here.

Stamp duty, registration & other buying costs

Paid once, on top of the price; the renter invests the same amount instead. In Bengaluru (2026) stamp duty plus registration is about 7.6% of the price.

Maintenance & property tax

Society charges, repairs and property tax the owner pays and the tenant doesn't

Buy · after 10 years

—

Rent & invest · after 10 years

—

If this money weren't locked into an EMI, would you really invest the difference — every month?

Share of the difference you'd actually invest

Buy: flat value minus loan Rent: investments

At a glance

	Buy	Rent & invest

Already bought? Run both.

The EMI builds a flat, not wealth. On the day it goes out, send a second, smaller amount into an index fund — automatically. One system for the bank, one for yourself.

SIP alongside the EMI

A poor investment, a strong habit. A home loan takes the monthly decision away — the EMI leaves on the same date every month, whether you feel disciplined or not. A plan you actually follow beats a better one you abandon by month three.

The worst outcome is neither. It isn't buying, and it isn't renting. It's paying an EMI for years and having nothing else to show for it.

The day your money earns more than you spend.

What a bigger SIP buys you

There is no single best retirement city.

Who leads at each age

The spreadsheet may say rent. Your habits may say buy.

At a glance