A Systematic Withdrawal Plan, or SWP, lets you withdraw a fixed amount from an existing mutual fund investment every month, while the remaining balance stays invested and continues to earn returns. It’s commonly used by retirees or anyone wanting a regular income stream from a lump sum corpus, as an alternative to an annuity.
Enter your starting corpus, the monthly withdrawal amount, an expected annual return and the period you want the plan to run for. The calculator shows your total withdrawals and whether the corpus survives the full period or runs out earlier.
SWP Calculator
Plan a systematic withdrawal from an existing investment corpus.
Assumes constant monthly compounding return on the remaining balance. If withdrawals exceed growth, the corpus can run out before the chosen period ends.
How the SWP calculation works
Each month, the calculator grows the remaining balance by the monthly rate of return and then deducts the withdrawal amount, repeating this for every month in the chosen period. If withdrawals consistently exceed the growth the corpus is generating, the balance declines faster and can be exhausted before your target period ends — the calculator flags this by showing how long the corpus actually lasts.
Choosing a sustainable withdrawal rate
A widely used starting point is to withdraw no more than roughly what your corpus is expected to earn annually, so the principal isn’t eroded. Withdrawing well above the expected return, especially early in retirement, raises the risk of the corpus depleting faster than planned, particularly if actual market returns turn out lower than assumed.
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Frequently asked questions
Is SWP better than a Fixed Deposit for regular income?
SWP from an equity or hybrid mutual fund carries market risk that an FD doesn’t, but historically has offered better post-tax returns over long periods. The right choice depends on your risk appetite and how much income stability you need.
Are SWP withdrawals taxed?
Each SWP withdrawal is treated as a partial redemption and is subject to capital gains tax on the gain portion, based on the fund type and holding period, not tax on the full withdrawal amount.
What happens if my SWP withdrawal rate is too high?
The corpus balance will decline over time and can run out before your planned withdrawal period ends, as this calculator shows when you enter a withdrawal rate higher than the expected return can sustain.