--- title: "Goal Planning in Future Rupees | RupeeCase Learn" description: "Goals in future rupees with dated Indian CPI, SIP and step up SIP maths by hand, lump sum versus SIP, buckets, sequence risk and a yearly review." source_url: "https://www.rupeecase.com/learn/path-20/module-20-8-goal-planning" --- [Path 20 8 of 11](/learn/path-20/)Goal Planning in Future Rupees[Next 20.9](/learn/path-20/module-20-9-retirement-maths) A goal is not a wish. It is three numbers: an amount, a date, and the price level the amount is written in. Most plans fail at the third. A fee of ₹25 lakh in today's rupees is a different sum in twelve years, and the saving that reaches the wrong sum is the wrong saving. This module turns a goal into a future rupee figure, then into a monthly amount, with the formulas worked by hand. It is education, not advice on your goals. 5.54% All India CPI inflation for September 2026, provisional, from the MoSPI release of 12 Oct 2026 ₹47.7 lakh What ₹25 lakh of today's cost becomes in 12 years at that rate ₹17,805 Monthly SIP that reaches it at an assumed 10% a year, worked below 5By the end you can 1. Turn a cost in today's rupees into a future cost with an inflation rate you can name and date. 2. Work the [SIP](/learn/glossary#sip) and step up SIP formulas by hand, and invert them to find the monthly amount a goal needs. 3. Say what the research found about [lump sum](/learn/glossary#lump-sum) against SIP, and why the answer depends on whether the money exists today. 4. Sort goals into buckets by date and flexibility, and see why a goal close to its date needs a different mix. 5. Run a yearly review with three numbers and a written rule for what to change first. ## A goal is an amount, a date and a price level Write each goal on one line: what it is, the cost in today's rupees, and the year it falls due. "Child's higher education, ₹25 lakh today, 12 years." "Down payment, ₹16 lakh today, 4 years." "Retirement, ₹7.2 lakh a year today, 20 years." Three goals, three dates, three different problems. Read one more paragraph, 101 words Two things sit under that line. First, a goal has a cost that changes with prices, and the longer the date, the more it changes. Second, a goal is either fixed in date or loose. A school fee cannot move. A holiday can. Fixed goals need the safest money; loose ones can wait out a bad market. [Module 4.6](/learn/path-4/module-4-6-asset-allocation-for-your-goals-and-risk-profile) sets the equity ceilings by horizon, 20%, 40%, 60% and up to 90%, and I do not repeat them here. This module is the arithmetic that comes before them: how big the goal is, and how much to put in each month. ## Indian inflation, with dates Inflation is the rate at which the price level rises. Over twelve years a gap of one percentage point in the assumption changes the answer by about 12 percent. So the assumption must be written down with its date and source, and replaced when the data change. | Group in the CPI | September 2026 | | --- | --- | | All India CPI | 5.54% | | Education services | 3.94% | | Early childhood and primary education | 4.81% | | Secondary education | 4.33% | | Higher education | 3.49% | | Health | 1.40% | | Actual rental payments for housing | 2.37% | MoSPI, Press Release of Consumer Price Index on base 2024=100 for September 2026, dated 12 Oct 2026. Year on year, provisional. September 2026: the largest is All India CPI at 5.54% The September 2026 column of the table above, drawn to scale. Source: Module 20.8, Goal Planning in Future Rupees, the table above. Read 3 more paragraphs, 234 words The latest all India number comes from the National Statistics Office, MoSPI, on the new base year 2024=100. Its press release of 12 Oct 2026 puts retail inflation for September 2026 at 5.54% over September 2025 (provisional), against 4.83% for August 2026 (final). Food inflation was 7.74% in September. These are one month each. The Reserve Bank of India's Monetary Policy Statement of 7 Oct 2026 projects [CPI](/learn/glossary#cpi) inflation at 5.2% for 2026-27, with quarterly paths of 4.9%, 6.0% and 5.7%, and 5.6% for Q1 2027-28. It calls the risks to the Q1 2027-28 figure evenly balanced. Inflation is not one number for every family. The same MoSPI release gives the year on year rate by division for September 2026, combined sector, provisional: Read the education rows with care. They measure the education component of a national basket of what households pay, one month against the same month a year before. They do not measure the fee of the institution you have in mind, which can be set far apart from the basket and can change in steps. I found no other verified series of education fee inflation for India, so the CPI group is the only education rate this module uses. For a specific course, use the fee schedule that institution has published and how it has moved, and treat the CPI group as a floor for the comparison and not a forecast. ### Worked example: ₹25 lakh of today's cost, 12 years away Future cost = cost today x (1 + inflation) to the power of the years. One multiplication, done twelve times. Cost at the goal date F = C x (1 + p)^n C = cost today p = yearly inflation n = years to the goal Inflation is assumed constant for the arithmetic. It will not be. | Inflation used | Where it comes from | Cost in 12 years | | --- | --- | --- | | 3.94% | Education services, Sep 2026 | ₹39.7 lakh | | 4.0% | A low case, my assumption | ₹40.0 lakh | | 5.2% | RBI projection, 2026-27 | ₹45.9 lakh | | 5.54% | All India CPI, Sep 2026 | ₹47.7 lakh | | 6.0% | A high case, my assumption | ₹50.3 lakh | ₹25 lakh x (1 + p) to the power 12. The spread between the low and high case is ₹10.3 lakh, 41% of today's cost, from nothing but the assumption. Read one more paragraph, 66 words That spread is the honest message. A goal 12 years away has an uncertain size, and a plan that picks one number hides it. The way I handle it is to plan on the middle case and name what happens at the ends: at the high case the monthly amount rises, and at the low case there is a surplus to put to the next goal. ## SIP maths by hand A SIP is a fixed amount invested every month. Each instalment grows for the months left after it is paid. The first grows longest; the last hardly at all. Add them up and you have a geometric series, and it has a closed form. Watch in the terminal: why do the hero, key figure and XIRR differ? A short tutorial on sample data. Value of a monthly SIP i = (1 + r)^(1/12) - 1 FV = P x ((1 + r)^N - 1) / i P = monthly amount r = yearly return N = years Each instalment is paid at the end of its month. Because (1 + i)^12 = 1 + r, the number of months drops out of the top line. Work it for ₹10,000 a month, 10 years, 10% a year. The 10% is an assumption for the arithmetic, not a forecast. 1 The monthly rate i = 1.10 to the power 1/12, minus 1 = 0.0079741, or 0.797% a month. It is a little less than 10 / 12 because it is the rate that compounds to exactly 10% over twelve months. 2 The growth over the years (1.10) to the power 10 = 2.59374. Take one off: 1.59374. 3 The value ₹10,000 x 1.59374 / 0.0079741 = ₹19,98,639. The money put in was ₹12,00,000, so the gain is ₹7,98,639. | Return a year | ₹10,000 a month, 12 years | Money put in | Multiple | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 6% | ₹20.79 lakh | ₹14.4 lakh | 1.44x | | 8% | ₹23.60 lakh | ₹14.4 lakh | 1.64x | | 10% | ₹26.82 lakh | ₹14.4 lakh | 1.86x | | 12% | ₹30.52 lakh | ₹14.4 lakh | 2.12x | Illustration with constant returns. The gap between 6% and 12% over the same 12 years is ₹9.7 lakh on ₹14.4 lakh put in. Read one more paragraph, 83 words Conventions matter. Many calculators divide the yearly rate by 12 and assume the instalment is paid at the start of the month. Both choices raise the answer. For ₹10,000 a month at 12% for 15 years, the convention used above gives ₹47.15 lakh, and the divide by 12, start of month version gives ₹50.46 lakh. The difference, about ₹3.3 lakh, is arithmetic and not performance. Before comparing two results, find out which convention each used. The Learn [SIP calculator](/learn/tools/sip-calculator) uses the one above. ### Inverting it: the monthly amount a goal needs Goals come as a sum to reach, so the useful form runs the other way: P = F x i / ((1 + r)^N - 1). Take the ₹47.75 lakh cost of the education goal at 5.54% inflation. At an assumed 10% a year for 12 years, i = 0.0079741 and (1.10) to the power 12 = 3.13843. So P = ₹47,74,689 x 0.0079741 / 2.13843 = ₹17,805 a month. At an assumed 8%, the same goal needs ₹20,235 a month. Over the 144 months the money put in is ₹25.6 lakh at 10%. Read one more paragraph, 74 words Notice how much the return assumption matters: two percentage points move the monthly figure by ₹2,430, or 14%. A SIP does not create a return. It fixes the amount and timing of what goes in, and leaves the return to the market. The right use of the formula is to see the range: what is needed if returns are 8%, 10% and 12%, and whether the high end of that range can be afforded. ## Step up SIP Income usually rises. A SIP that rises with it starts smaller and ends larger. In a step up SIP the monthly amount is raised by a fixed percentage g every year. Year k pays P x (1 + g) to the power (k - 1) each month. Step up SIP value R = 1 + r A = (R - 1) / i FV = P x A x (R^N - (1+g)^N) / (R - (1+g)) A is the value of ₹1 a month for one year, taken to the end of that year. Each year's A is carried forward with R and raised by (1+g). The sum is a geometric series. It fails if g equals r exactly. The term this section turns on: Step up SIP From the module glossary; every term is in the Learn glossary too. Source: Module 20.8, Goal Planning in Future Rupees. Read 3 more paragraphs, 171 words With P = ₹10,000, g = 5%, r = 10%, N = 10: i = 0.0079741, so A = 0.10 / 0.0079741 = 12.5405. The bracket is (2.59374 - 1.62889) / (1.10 - 1.05) = 19.2970. So FV = 10,000 x 12.5405 x 19.2970 = ₹24,19,942. The flat SIP of the same starting amount gave ₹19,98,639. The step up version puts in ₹15,09,347, against ₹12,00,000, and ends with ₹4.2 lakh more. The inverse gives the starting amount for a goal. For the ₹47.75 lakh goal at 10% over 12 years: the flat SIP is ₹17,805; a 5% yearly step up starts at ₹14,180; an 8% step up starts at ₹12,277. The lower start is real, and it is paid for later. In year 12, the 8% step up SIP pays 12,277 x 1.08 to the power 11, about ₹28,600 a month. The plan works only if income rises as fast as the step up does. The Learn [step up SIP calculator](/learn/tools/step-up-sip-calculator) and [goal planner](/learn/tools/goal-planner) run the same sums with a chart. ## Lump sum or SIP If you hold a sum today, is it better to invest it at once or spread it over twelve months? The research is old and fairly one sided. Constantinides (1979) showed that dollar cost averaging, in which a fixed amount goes in at set times from a sum already on hand, is a suboptimal policy in a model where asset returns do not depend on the past. The reason is plain arithmetic. If the expected return is positive, money waiting in cash earns less than money invested. Read 3 more paragraphs, 243 words Put numbers on it. You have ₹12 lakh today and expect 10% a year. Invested at once, it is ₹13.2 lakh after twelve months. Spread as ₹1 lakh a month over those twelve months, with the unspent part earning nothing, it is ₹12.54 lakh, which is ₹66,000 less. Carry both for the rest of 12 years and the lump sum is ₹37.66 lakh against ₹35.78 lakh. The cost of waiting is about ₹1.9 lakh, 16% of the ₹12 lakh, by year 12. It is that large because the unspent part earned nothing; money parked in a deposit meanwhile would narrow the gap. That expected gain is not a free gain. A lump sum put in just before a large fall loses more than one spread through it. For someone who will find a 30% drop in the first year impossible to sit through, spreading is not a return decision. It is a decision about regret and about the chance of acting badly. It costs something on average, and it buys something in the bad case. The two are worth stating separately. Most salaried people do not face the question. Their money arrives monthly, and the SIP is the schedule on which it exists. For them the practical question is not lump sum or SIP but whether the monthly amount is the right size, which the formulas above answer. The Learn [lump sum against SIP](/learn/tools/lump-sum-vs-sip) tool shows the two paths for your own inputs. ## Buckets by horizon A bucket is a pot of money with one purpose and one date. Two questions assign a goal to a pot: when is it due, and can the date or the amount move? | Goal | Due in | Can it move? | What that means for the pot | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | School fee | 18 months | No | Capital safety first; 20% equity is the Module 4.6 ceiling at this horizon | | Down payment | 4 years | Partly | Mostly debt; some equity only if a delay is acceptable | | Child's degree | 12 years | Fixed date, amount can flex | More equity early, glide down in the last 5 years | | Retirement | 20 years | Date flexes by a few years | Long horizon, mostly equity, with debt from EPF and PPF | Illustration. The equity share per horizon is set in Module 4.6; this table only shows how date and flexibility sort a goal into a pot. Read 2 more paragraphs, 102 words Two mistakes sit here. The first is one pot for everything, so the fee due next year shares money with retirement. The second is a pot with no owner: money that was meant for the down payment gets spent because nothing says what it is. Name each pot, write the amount and the date, and keep the pots in separate accounts or folios where the platform allows it. The bucket also tells you where a shortfall should be fixed. A goal that can move can wait out a bad market. A fixed goal cannot, so it gets the earlier and larger saving. Two terms to hold on to from 20.8 From the module glossary. Source: Module 20.8, Goal Planning in Future Rupees. ## Sequence of returns for goals near their date Return assumptions hide an order effect. Take two portfolios with the same average return over the years. If the bad year comes at the start, there is little money in it and time to rebuild. If it comes at the end, it hits the whole accumulated sum with no time to recover. For a goal with a date, the last years carry the most risk. **The worked cost of a late shortfall.** Suppose a ₹17,805 SIP is on plan and the portfolio is 10% short of plan. Found at year 3, the gap is ₹73,907, and repairing it over the remaining 9 years at 10% takes ₹1,023 more a month. Found at year 10, the gap is ₹3.56 lakh, and with 2 years left the repair takes ₹16,350 more a month. The same 10% shortfall costs sixteen times more to fix. Early shortfalls are cheap, which is the case for checking early and often. Read 3 more paragraphs, 208 words An illustration, not a forecast. A portfolio stands at ₹15 lakh a year before the goal date. The last year brings +30%, or -30%. The first lands at ₹19.5 lakh and the second at ₹10.5 lakh, a gap of ₹9 lakh, with the same size of move in either direction. The ₹1.2 lakh that a ₹10,000 SIP adds in that last year cannot close it. The remedy is a glide path, which lowers the equity share as the date nears. Take a teaching stress in which equity falls 40% in a year and debt gains 6%. On that rule a 90% equity portfolio falls 35.4% (90% x -40% plus 10% x 6%), a 60% equity portfolio 21.6%, 40% equity 12.4%, and 20% equity 3.2%. That is the logic behind the horizon ceilings in Module 4.6: the nearer the goal, the less equity the date can bear. A glide path also has a cost. Lower equity earns less on average, so a goal that glides is funded by a higher monthly amount than one that stays in equity. That is the price of lowering the chance of a ruined date. Whether to pay it depends on how fixed the goal is, which is why the bucket table comes first. ## Reviewing goals A plan is a set of assumptions, so it needs a date on which they are tested. Once a year is enough for most people, with a written date and the same three numbers each time. 1. **Funded ratio.** Current value of the goal's pot, divided by what the plan said it should be today. Below 90%, look at why. 2. **Required monthly amount.** Recompute P from today's value, the years left and the current inflation and return assumptions, and compare it with what you are paying. 3. **Assumption drift.** Has the inflation rate moved? CPI rose to 5.54% in September 2026 from 4.83% in August, and the RBI's projection for 2026-27 is 5.2%. A plan written at 4% is now short. ₹100 in Dynamic Asset Allocator became about ₹388 in the model Dynamic Asset Allocator, the strategy this path applies, rebased to 100, after charges. The Nifty 50 TRI is drawn as its CAGR line, not the daily index. Model, back tested, not actual client returns. Source: RupeeCase published model record (lineup.json), monthly. As of 31 Jul 2026. Read 2 more paragraphs, 155 words A worked review. The education goal has run 3 years on ₹17,805 a month. The plan assumed 10% a year and the pot should be ₹7.39 lakh. Weak markets left an average of 4% a year over those 3 years, and the pot is ₹6.79 lakh, a funded ratio of 92%. The goal is still ₹47.75 lakh at 12 years. With 9 years left and the pot growing at the plan's 10% from here, the monthly amount needed is ₹18,635, which is ₹830 more, 4.7%. If the same average had come with a full 3 years at 0% return, the pot would be ₹6.41 lakh and the need ₹19,163. Change the saving first, the date second and the return assumption last. Raising the monthly amount is in your hands. Moving the date is possible for loose goals. Lifting the return you expect because you need it is the one change that has nothing behind it. ## Where goal planning goes wrong * **Planning in today's rupees.** A saving that reaches ₹25 lakh in 12 years has bought about ₹13 lakh of today's goods at 5.54%. * **One return for every goal.** A 10% assumption fits a 12 year goal in equity. It does not fit a fee due in 18 months in a deposit. * **Ignoring tax and cost.** The formulas above are before tax and expenses. Both lower the net return, so the monthly amount needed is higher. * **Treating the step up as free.** It lowers the first year and raises the later ones. If income does not rise, the plan breaks. * **Reviewing only after a fall.** A plan checked once at the bottom of a market turns a spreadsheet into an emotion. A date fixed in advance keeps the review to arithmetic. ## How this fits with the rest of the path Goals first, then the mix This module sizes the goal and the saving. [Module 4.6](/learn/path-4/module-4-6-asset-allocation-for-your-goals-and-risk-profile) decides how much of each goal can sit in equity, debt and gold. [Module 20.9](/learn/path-20/) applies the same maths to the largest and longest goal, retirement. The Learn [inflation calculator](/learn/tools/inflation-calculator), [real return calculator](/learn/tools/real-return-calculator) and [SIP delay calculator](/learn/tools/sip-delay-calculator) help test the assumptions used here. ## Key takeaways * A goal is an amount in today's rupees, a date and a price level. Future cost = cost today x (1 + inflation) to the power of the years. * MoSPI's CPI inflation for September 2026 was 5.54% (12 Oct 2026), and the RBI projects 5.2% for 2026-27 (7 Oct 2026). At 5.54%, ₹25 lakh of today's cost becomes ₹47.7 lakh in 12 years. Between 4% and 6%, it ranges from ₹40.0 lakh to ₹50.3 lakh. * The CPI education services group ran 3.94% in September 2026. It is a basket rate, not a fee at any one institution. * SIP value = P x ((1 + r)^N - 1) / i, with i = (1 + r)^(1/12) - 1. ₹10,000 a month for 10 years at 10% is ₹19,98,639 on ₹12 lakh put in. * A 5% yearly step up on the same SIP gives ₹24,19,942. The goal that needs ₹17,805 flat can start at ₹14,180 with a 5% step up, and the plan needs income to rise to match. * A lump sum beats spreading on average when expected returns are positive (Constantinides, 1979). Spreading buys protection from bad timing at a cost. * A late shortfall costs far more to repair: a 10% gap is ₹1,023 a month at year 3 and ₹16,350 at year 10 for the same goal. * Review each goal on a written date with three numbers: funded ratio, required monthly amount and assumption drift. Watch in the terminal: what does "Same money in NIFTY 50" mean? A short tutorial on sample data. ## Questions readers ask What inflation rate should a goal use?One that you can name and date. The all India CPI rate of 5.54% for September 2026 and the RBI's 5.2% projection for 2026-27 are two dated reference points. Run a low and a high case beside the middle one, since the gap over 12 years can be 40% of today's cost. Why does my SIP calculator show a different value?Conventions. Dividing the yearly return by 12, or placing the instalment at the start of the month, lifts the result. At 12% for 15 years on ₹10,000 a month the gap is about ₹3.3 lakh. Compare like with like. Is a lump sum better than a SIP?If you hold the money today and expect a positive return, investing at once has done better on average in the research, since cash waits at a lower return. Spreading lowers the chance of a bad entry and costs expected return. If the money arrives monthly, the SIP is the schedule. What if the goal date moves?Rerun the formulas with the new years left. A date moved later lowers the monthly amount and raises the future cost; a date moved earlier does the opposite and also lowers the equity the money can carry. Rules and figures in this module were last verified on 31 Oct 2026. Tax and regulatory rules change; check the source before acting. What does Goal Planning in Future Rupees cover?A goal is an amount, a date and a price level. How to turn a cost in today's rupees into a future figure with dated inflation, then into a monthly SIP, with every formula worked by hand. It works through A goal is an amount, a date and a price level, Indian inflation, with dates, SIP maths by hand, Step up SIP and more. It is module 20.8 of Path 20, Personal Finance for India, about 17 minutes of reading, free. AApply it on RupeeCase ## Dynamic Asset Allocator One fixed equity core, two regime switches. The machine decides how much risk to carry. An index built on the rules this path teaches, equity, debt and gold sleeves under one published rule, held stock by stock in your own demat. Risk band: Moderately High. [See the strategy](/strategies/dynamic-asset-allocator)[Sign up for RupeeCase](https://invest.rupeecase.com/signup?strategy=dynamic-asset-allocator) [CAGR45.2%Sharpe2.32Max DD−10.6%Minimum₹5,00,000Model figures back tested, as of 27 Apr 2026. Minimum as of 3 Nov 2026. Not client returns, not a promise.](/strategies/dynamic-asset-allocator) QQuick check ## 10 questions, 7 to pass. Pick an answer to each question; every answer is explained when you check. A pass gives this module's Certificate of Completion. Your result stays on this device and counts towards the Path 20 certificate. 7 of 10 correct passes module 20.8 Every answer is explained when you check; a retake is always free. Source: RupeeCase Learn quiz rules (70% to pass). Passed ### Certificate ID Download PNG[Check the ID](/learn/certificates/verify) Self paced and unproctored. A record of completing free education by RupeeCase; not a NISM certificate and not endorsed by NISM, NSE, BSE or SEBI. It qualifies no one to deal, advise or publish research. [Try it in the product](https://invest.rupeecase.com/signup?strategy=dynamic-asset-allocator) CCheck yourself ## Path 20 so far. Your quick check results on this device, stop by stop. Stop 8 of 11 on Path 20 Personal Finance for India: every live stop, this module ringed. Source: RupeeCase Learn, Path 20. 1. [20.1Cash Flow and the Emergency FundNot yet](/learn/path-20/module-20-1-cash-flow-and-emergency-fund) 2. [20.2Insurance First: Term and Health CoverNot yet](/learn/path-20/module-20-2-insurance-first) 3. [20.3Debt and Credit: EMIs, Cards, ScoresNot yet](/learn/path-20/module-20-3-debt-and-credit) 4. [20.4EPF, VPF and PPFNot yet](/learn/path-20/module-20-4-epf-vpf-and-ppf) 5. [20.5NPS: Tiers, Charges, Exit and TaxNot yet](/learn/path-20/module-20-5-nps) 6. [20.6Old vs New Tax Regime for FY 2026-27Not yet](/learn/path-20/module-20-6-old-vs-new-tax-regime) 7. [20.7Owning or Renting a Home: The Maths in RupeesNot yet](/learn/path-20/module-20-7-home-buy-or-rent) 8. [20.8Goal Planning in Future RupeesNot yet](/learn/path-20/module-20-8-goal-planning#quiz) 9. [20.9Retirement Maths: Corpus, Longevity and IncomeNot yet](/learn/path-20/module-20-9-retirement-maths) 10. [20.10Nominees, Wills and EstateNot yet](/learn/path-20/module-20-10-nominees-wills-and-estate) 11. [20.11Putting It Together: Order, Plan and ReviewNot yet](/learn/path-20/module-20-11-putting-it-together) 12. [TPath test, 33 questionsNot yet](/learn/path-20/module-20-11-putting-it-together#pathTestSection) Path 20 in reading time: 205 minutes over 11 modules Minutes of reading per module, this one in amber. Source: RupeeCase Learn, Path 20. Community ## Join my WhatsApp group. Scan the code, fillFill one short form, and join my WhatsApp group. Slides, sources, factsheets and the rebalance logs live there, and members join a daily Google Meet with me. New to RupeeCase? [Getting started](/getting-started) [See the terminal](/terminal) [Sign up for RupeeCase](https://invest.rupeecase.com/signup) [Join the WhatsApp group](https://forms.gle/C6HMtM1Z2GfeocQV7) [One form, one group](https://forms.gle/C6HMtM1Z2GfeocQV7)Scan with your phone camera SSources ## Where the figures come from. 3 sources, MoSPI the most cited The publisher of each source listed below. Source: Module 20.8 source list. 1. [Constantinides, G. (1979), "A Note on the Suboptimality of Dollar-Cost Averaging as an Investment Policy", Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 14(2), 443-450](https://doi.org/10.2307/2330513) 2. [MoSPI, National Statistics Office, Press Release of Consumer Price Index on base 2024=100 for September 2026, 12 Oct 2026](https://www.mospi.gov.in/uploads/latestreleasesfiles/1791801549227-Press%20Release%20for%20the%20month%20of%20September,%202026.pdf) 3. [RBI, Monetary Policy Statement 2026-27, Resolution of the Monetary Policy Committee, 5 to 7 Oct 2026 (CPI inflation projected at 5.2% for 2026-27)](https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx?prid=63742) Up next: 20.9 Retirement Maths: Corpus, Longevity and Income, 17 min GTerms ## 9 terms from this module. Future costWhat a goal costs on its due date: today's cost grown by inflation for the years in between. Step up SIPA SIP whose monthly amount is raised by a fixed percentage each year, so it starts smaller and ends larger than a flat SIP that reaches the same sum. Funded ratioThe current value of the pot for a goal divided by what the plan said it should be worth today. Below 90% is a prompt to find out why. Glide pathA planned fall in the equity share as a goal date nears, so a late market fall does less damage to money that is about to be needed. Sequence of returns riskThe risk that the order of returns, not their average, decides the outcome. A loss just before a goal date or early in retirement hurts far more than the same loss in the middle. BucketA pot of money with one purpose and one date, so that each goal is funded with money suited to when it is due. Dollar cost averagingInvesting a fixed amount at set times from a sum already on hand. Constantinides (1979) showed it to be a suboptimal policy in a model where returns do not depend on the past. Rupee cost averagingThe effect of investing a fixed rupee amount each month: more units are bought when prices are low and fewer when they are high. Real returnThe return above inflation: (1 + nominal return) / (1 + inflation) minus 1. [All 230 terms in the glossary](/learn/glossary) [The podcastThe Tanmay Edge archive124 episodes, kept as a dated archive, not advice](/podcast/)[Pillar guidePortfolio Construction24 modules across paths 4, 10, 20](/learn/portfolio-construction) Education only, not investment advice. RupeeCase (QC Alpha Technologies Pvt Ltd) is not a fund, a PMS or a SEBI registered investment adviser. Model returns are back tested, not a promise; figures carry the date checked.