# Cost of Delay SIP Calculator: Price of Starting Late > Cost of delay SIP calculator: see how much smaller your corpus is if you start your SIP months or years later, and the bigger SIP you'd need to catch up. Source: https://trykosh.com/tools/sip-delay-cost-calculator Free tool - Investing # Cost of delay SIP calculator Find out what waiting to start a SIP really costs. Enter the SIP, the date you need the money and how long you plan to wait. Rules checked 25 October 2026Free - no sign-upRuns in your browser Cost of waiting 2 years INR 42,45,778 22.4% less at the finish line Start now**INR 1,89,76,351** Start after 2 years**INR 1,47,30,573** SIP needed later to catch up**INR 12,883/month** Value if you start late **INR 1,47,30,573**Lost to delay **INR 42,45,778** The price of each delay Delay Value at the end You lose You invest less by 6 months INR 1,78,18,047 INR 11,58,304 INR 60,000 1 year INR 1,67,26,872 INR 22,49,479 INR 1,20,000 2 years INR 1,47,30,573 INR 42,45,778 INR 2,40,000 3 years INR 1,29,58,959 INR 60,17,392 INR 3,60,000 5 years INR 99,91,479 INR 89,84,872 INR 6,00,000 10 years INR 50,45,760 INR 1,39,30,591 INR 12,00,000 Starting late means you skip 24 instalments (INR 2,40,000), but you lose INR 42,45,778, because the money you skip would have compounded the longest. Mutual fund investments are subject to market risks. Past returns don't guarantee future ones; the rate here is an assumption. ## Upload your statement and Kosh does this for you. Upload your statements and Kosh tracks every SIP, FD and deposit in one place, and shows how far you are from each goal. [Start free](/signup?via=tool-sip-delay-cost-calculator) ## How the cost of delay calculator works The calculator compares two versions of you who need the money on the same date. One starts the SIP now. The other waits, then invests the same monthly amount for the shorter period that's left. The gap between the two corpuses is the cost of delay. It's always much larger than the instalments you skipped, because the months you skip are the earliest ones: the instalments that would have compounded the longest. It also shows the higher SIP the late starter needs to finish level, and a table of the cost of common delays from six months to ten years, so you can see how the price rises the longer you wait. The assumed return drives the size of the gap. At higher returns and longer horizons, early instalments matter more, so delay costs more. Cost = FV(SIP, n months) − FV(SIP, n − d months) n months from now until you need the money d months of delay ## Worked example: Sneha, 26, thinks about waiting three years Sneha, 26, wants to invest INR 5,000 a month until she's 60, but is tempted to wait three years until her education loan is closed. At an assumed 12%, starting now could build about INR 2.88 crore; starting in three years, about INR 2 crore. The delay costs her INR 88.12 lakh while saving only INR 1.8 lakh of instalments. To catch up after waiting, she'd need INR 7,209 a month instead of INR 5,000. Cost of waiting 3 years INR 88,12,247 30.6% less at the finish line Start now**INR 2,87,64,269** Start after 3 years**INR 1,99,52,023** SIP needed later to catch up**INR 7,209/month** Value if you start late **INR 1,99,52,023**Lost to delay **INR 88,12,247** Starting late means you skip 36 instalments (INR 1,80,000), but you lose INR 88,12,247, because the money you skip would have compounded the longest. Mutual fund investments are subject to market risks. Past returns don't guarantee future ones; the rate here is an assumption. [Load this example into the calculator ->](?monthly=5000&years=34&delay=36#calculator) ## Good to know - Starting small now beats starting big later. Even INR 1,000 a month now keeps the habit and the compounding going while you sort out other priorities. - If you're clearing a high-interest loan, paying it off first can still be the right call: a credit card at 36% to 42% a year costs more than any SIP is likely to earn. - A missed year in the middle of a SIP costs less than a year's delay at the start, but more than the same year missed at the end. ## Frequently asked questions How much does delaying a SIP by one year cost? It depends on the horizon and return. For a INR 10,000 SIP over 25 years at an assumed 12%, a one-year delay reduces the final value by about INR 22 lakh, even though you skip only INR 1.2 lakh of instalments. Why is the cost of delay so large? The instalments you skip by starting late are the ones that would have been invested the longest. In a 25-year SIP, the first instalment compounds for 25 years; the instalment it's replaced with at the end compounds for a month. Can I make up for a late start by investing more? Yes, and the calculator shows how much more. The catch-up SIP is always higher than the original, and the gap grows with the length of the delay. Should I wait for the market to fall before starting a SIP? Nobody can reliably time the market. A SIP buys at many price levels over time, so waiting for a dip usually costs more in lost compounding than it saves. Mutual fund returns are not guaranteed either way. ## Sources and assumptions - [SEBI investor education](https://investor.sebi.gov.in/) Rules and rates last checked on 25 October 2026. Results are estimates for planning and education, not tax, legal or investment advice. Kosh is an educational financial planning tool by Primedepth Labs. It is not a SEBI-registered investment adviser and does not offer personalised investment advice, hold your money or execute trades. Markets carry risk; read scheme documents carefully and consult a registered adviser before acting.