What Does Delaying Your SIP by 5 Years Cost?

Delaying a ₹10,000 monthly SIP by 5 years shrinks a 30-year corpus from ₹3.49 crore to ₹1.88 crore at a 12% yearly return. You lose ₹1.62 crore, about 46% of the final amount, while investing only ₹6 lakh less.

Why five years cost so much

Compounding adds the most money in the final years. A delay does not cut your first five years. It cuts your last five, when the corpus is largest. That is why the loss is many times the money you skipped.

The cost of every year you wait

Target date fixed at 30 years from today, ₹10,000 a month, 12% return:

The last column is the monthly SIP you would need after the delay to still reach ₹3.49 crore on the same date.

The loss at different returns

A 5-year delay on a ₹10,000 SIP, 30-year target date:

The higher the return, the bigger the share you give up. Even at 8%, a 5-year delay costs a large slice of the final amount.

Starting at 25 versus 30

Say you want to stop at 60. A ₹10,000 SIP from age 25 grows to about ₹6.43 crore at 12%. Start at 30 and you reach about ₹3.49 crore. To close that gap from 30, you would need about ₹18,401 a month.

It matters at 40 too

A delay hurts at every age. Say you are 40 and plan to invest until 60. ₹10,000 a month from today grows to about ₹98.9 lakh at 12%. Wait until 45 and you reach about ₹50 lakh, roughly half. With a shorter runway, each lost year is a bigger share of the total.

Why people wait, and why it rarely pays

Common reasons are waiting for a market fall, a pay rise or a "better" fund. Markets can stay high for years, and a fall is only known in hindsight. A SIP already buys more units when prices are low. Starting small and adding later almost always beats waiting to start big.

If you have already waited

• Start now with what you can. A small SIP today beats a bigger one next year.
• Add a yearly step-up. Raising the SIP 10% a year recovers much of the lost time. Test it in the step-up SIP calculator.
• Invest lumpsums. Put bonuses and windfalls to work instead of waiting for a "better" month.
• Do not chase higher returns to catch up. Taking more risk than you can handle often ends worse.

Check your own delay

The cost of delay calculator shows the loss and the catch-up SIP for your numbers. The SIP calculator shows the corpus for any amount and period.

All figures assume a steady 12% yearly return, compounded monthly. Real returns vary, but the pattern holds: earlier is cheaper.