Goal-based investing means treating each major life expense as a separate investment goal with its own corpus target, time horizon, and fund selection. The alternative — a single undifferentiated investment portfolio — makes it impossible to know whether you are on track for any specific goal, and leads to premature withdrawals that derail long-term compounding.

Common financial goals for Indian families include: child's education (15–18 years away, ₹30–80 lakh depending on institution), child's marriage (15–25 years away, ₹15–40 lakh), home down payment (3–7 years away, ₹10–30 lakh), retirement corpus (20–35 years away, ₹2–10 crore), and emergency fund (immediate, 6 months of expenses in liquid funds).

Fund selection should match the time horizon of each goal. Goals 7+ years away: 70–80% equity (Flexi Cap, Large Cap, or Multi-Asset funds), 20–30% debt. Goals 3–7 years away: 50% equity, 50% debt. Goals under 3 years: 100% debt (short-duration or liquid funds). Never invest emergency fund money in equity regardless of return expectations.

Use this calculator to find the monthly SIP needed for any goal. Enter the goal amount, years to goal, and expected annual return. The calculator outputs the required monthly SIP. Run the calculation at both optimistic (12%) and conservative (9%) return assumptions to get a safe SIP range. All projections assume constant returns and are for educational purposes only. Mutual fund investments are subject to market risks.