Corpus vs. Income Approach

A corpus approach starts with a lump-sum target ("I need ₹3 crore") and works backward to a monthly savings figure. An income approach starts with a target monthly income in retirement ("I need ₹80,000/month") and derives the corpus size needed to sustain that income at a safe withdrawal rate (see our safe withdrawal strategy article). Both are mathematically two views of the same underlying plan - some people find a monthly income number more intuitive to reason about (since it maps directly to a lifestyle), while others find a single corpus target easier to track as a savings goal. Either is fine, as long as the actual numbers behind it - expenses, inflation, withdrawal rate, retirement length - are grounded in reality rather than a round number.