Freedom Number

The day your money earns more than you spend.

Your Freedom Number is the corpus large enough for your investments to pay your bills, so work becomes a choice. Set your expenses and your monthly SIP, and see how many years stand between you and freedom.

Watch the video: Your Freedom Number, Explained in 8 Steps →

Correction, 26 Sep 2026. Viewers caught two gaps in our video How Much You Need Invested to Never Work Again in India. Health cover: the video said to count the insurance in your bank statement, but if your employer pays for your health cover, it isn't there, and it usually stops when you stop working. Add it below. Inflation while you build: the video's timelines assumed prices stand still. At 6% inflation, starting from zero and raising your SIP as your spending rises, investing as much as you spend takes about 16 years, not 12. Investing half takes about 25, not 16; investing double, about 10, not under 8. Thank you to everyone who pointed these out.

One more: 25× comes from US market history. India's own studies put a safe withdrawal at 3–3.5% a year over a 30-year retirement, about 30–33× your yearly expenses. Stop working much earlier and you need more.

Your numbers

Monthly expenses today

Everything your household spends in a month. Count yearly bills (festivals, repairs, other insurance) as a monthly share; health insurance goes in the next box.

Health insurance you'll pay yourself

Your yearly premium for a family floater plus a super top-up, left out of monthly expenses above. Employer cover isn't in your bank statement, and in most private-sector jobs it ends when the job does, so get a real quote. Buy it young: pre-existing illnesses can wait up to 3 years for cover (IRDAI, May 2024).

Health cost inflation

Applies only to the health insurance above. Hospital bills have been rising about three times faster than groceries (industry estimates, 2026).

Safety multiple

25× annual expenses = the classic 4% rule, from US data. India's own studies point to about 30–33× for a 30-year retirement; stop earlier and you need more.

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 other expenses — and that part of 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

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 Freedom Number

Videos on money, freedom and buying back your time — every week.

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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