Rs 5,000 SIP for 15 Years vs Rs 15,000 for 5: How time beats amount in wealth creation at 12% annualised return

SIP Returns at 12% Annualised Return in Different Durations: Which SIP option would you choose? A Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) allows investors to direct their surplus cash steadily in their mutual fund scheme of choice.

Its popularity stems from the fact that it doesn’t force the investor to arrange a huge cash pile at once to start setting financial goals. This enables an investor to not only stay committed to their long-term investment strategy but also to maximise the benefit of compounding.

For the unversed, compounding grows investments exponentially over time, helping in creating substantial wealth over the years. At times, compounding yields surprising results, especially over longer periods.

In this article, let’s compare three scenarios to understand how time matters in compounding. Can you guess which SIP option gives the highest return at an expected annualised rate of 12 per cent: Rs 5,000 for 15 years, Rs 10,000 for 7.5 years, or Rs 15,000 for 5 years?

SIP Return Estimates | Which suits you best: Rs 5,000 monthly SIP for 15 years, a Rs 10,000 SIP for 7.5 years or a Rs 15,000 SIP for 5 years?

Scenario 1: Rs 15,000 monthly SIP for 5 years

Calculations show that at an annualised 12 per cent return, a monthly SIP of Rs 15,000 for 5 years (60 months) will lead to a corpus of approximately Rs 12.37 lakh (with a total investment of Rs 9 lakh and a return of about Rs 3.37 lakh).

Scenario 2: Rs 10,000 monthly SIP for 7.5 years

Similarly, at the same expected return, a monthly SIP of Rs 10,000 for 7.5 years (90 months) will accumulate wealth of around Rs 14.63 lakh, show calculations (a principal of Rs 9 lakh and an expected return of Rs 5.63 lakh).

Scenario 3: Rs 5,000 monthly SIP for 15 years

A monthly SIP of Rs 5,000 for 15 years (180 months) will lead to a corpus of around Rs 25.23 lakh (a principal of Rs 9 lakh and a return of Rs 16.23 lakh).

Now, let’s look at these estimates in detail (figures in rupees):

SIP Estimates at 12% Expected Annualised Return | Scenario 1

YearInvestmentReturnCorpus
11,80,00012,1401,92,140
23,60,00048,6484,08,648
35,40,0001,12,6156,52,615
47,20,0002,07,5239,27,523
59,00,0003,37,29512,37,295


SIP Estimates at 12% Expected Annualised Return | Scenario 2

YearInvestmentReturnCorpus
11,20,0008,0931,28,093
22,40,00032,4322,72,432
33,60,00075,0764,35,076
44,80,0001,38,3486,18,348
56,00,0002,24,8648,24,864
67,20,0003,37,57010,57,570
78,40,0004,79,79013,19,790
7.59,00,0005,63,11914,63,119

SIP Estimates at 12% Expected Annualised Return | Scenario 3

YearInvestmentReturnCorpus
160,0004,04764,047
21,20,00016,2161,36,216
31,80,00037,5382,17,538
42,40,00069,1743,09,174
53,00,0001,12,4324,12,432
63,60,0001,68,7855,28,785
74,20,0002,39,8956,59,895
84,80,0003,27,6338,07,633
95,40,0004,34,1089,74,108
106,00,0005,61,69511,61,695
116,60,0007,13,07413,73,074
127,20,0008,91,26116,11,261
137,80,00010,99,65618,79,656
148,40,00013,42,09021,82,090
159,00,00016,22,88025,22,880

SIP & Compounding | What is compounding, and how does it work in SIPs?

Simply put, compounding in SIPs means earning ‘returns on returns’. The interest you earn gets added to your investment, and so on.

Over longer periods of time, this combined amount keeps growing, helping your money multiply faster.

This power of compounding leads to exponential growth, especially in long-term SIPs.

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