Cost of Delay Calculator: What Waiting to Start a SIP Costs You
Enter a monthly SIP, the return, the years to your goal and how long you might delay. You see the corpus lost and the SIP needed to catch up.
- Nothing you type is stored
- Free
- No signup
Cost of waiting
₹89,84,872
- If you start now
- ₹1,89,76,351
- If you start later
- ₹99,91,479
- SIP needed to catch up
- ₹18,993 a month
- Share of corpus lost
- 47.3%
Assumes the rate stays the same. Actual returns vary.
Effect of each year of delay
| Delay (years) | Corpus | Lost |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | ₹1,89,76,351 | ₹0 |
| 1 | ₹1,67,26,872 | ₹22,49,479 |
| 2 | ₹1,47,30,573 | ₹42,45,778 |
| 3 | ₹1,29,58,959 | ₹60,17,392 |
| 4 | ₹1,13,86,742 | ₹75,89,609 |
| 5 | ₹99,91,479 | ₹89,84,872 |
| 6 | ₹87,53,254 | ₹1,02,23,097 |
| 7 | ₹76,54,392 | ₹1,13,21,959 |
| 8 | ₹66,79,208 | ₹1,22,97,143 |
| 9 | ₹58,13,782 | ₹1,31,62,569 |
| 10 | ₹50,45,760 | ₹1,39,30,591 |
How to use
- Enter the monthly SIP and the expected return.
- Enter the years until your goal if you started today.
- Enter the delay in years and read the cost and catch-up SIP.
Good to know
Both cases end on the same goal date. Starting now gives the full period of compounding; starting later cuts the period by the delay. The cost of delay is the difference in final value, and most of it comes from the last years of compounding that you lose.
₹10,000 a month at 12% for 25 years grows to about ₹1.9 crore; starting 5 years later gives about ₹1 crore, a cost of about ₹90 lakh. To catch up you would need roughly ₹19,000 a month for 20 years.
The table shows the effect of each extra year of delay. Even starting with a small SIP now and stepping it up later usually beats waiting for a bigger amount.
Questions
What is the cost of delay in investing?
The corpus you give up by starting later, for the same goal date and the same monthly amount.
Why is the loss so large?
Compounding is strongest in the final years; a delay removes those years of growth on all your money.
How much more SIP do I need if I start late?
The catch-up SIP card shows it. A 5-year delay on a 25-year goal nearly doubles the SIP needed at 12%.
Are the returns guaranteed?
No. The figures assume a steady return to show the effect of time.
Is my data stored?
No. Everything is calculated on your device.