📚 Financial Education Library › Article #25
Published: 2026-06-21 · By Bhanuprakash Sardesai
25. The Magic of Starting Early: A Real-Life Case Study
Picture three friends — Aarav, Bhavna, and Chirag — making very different calls about when to begin their SIPs. Their three trajectories show, in hard rupees, why the year you start matters more than the amount you start with.
Aarav starts investing at age 25. He puts ₹5,000 per month in an equity SIP earning 12% annually for 35 years until age 60. Total investment: ₹21 lakh. Corpus at age 60: approximately ₹3.53 crore.
Bhavna waits until age 35 to start. She invests the same ₹5,000 monthly at 12% for 25 years until age 60. Total investment: ₹15 lakh. Corpus at age 60: approximately ₹94.8 lakh.
Chirag also starts at 25 like Aarav, but only invests for 10 years (until age 35), then stops contributing entirely. His ₹5,000 monthly for 10 years totals ₹6 lakh invested. But he leaves the corpus untouched, compounding at 12% for another 25 years until age 60. His corpus at 60: approximately ₹1.02 crore.
The shocking revelation: Chirag invested only ₹6 lakh – less than a third of Aarav's ₹21 lakh – yet ended up with more than Bhavna! You can instantly estimate your future returns using our free online SIP Calculator – try entering different starting ages and see the dramatic difference it makes.
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