Are we out of touch with reality to advise 10% step-up SIP?

Summary: Step-up SIPs can double your wealth over 20 years, which means they are the real turbochargers of long-term investing. But is this strategy practical? In this story, we run the numbers, check the latest salary trends and ask: are we being too optimistic about your increment? Let’s start with this: step-up SIPs are brilliant. They can turbocharge your wealth, like no one’s business. Instead of just investing the same Rs 10,000 every month for 20 years, you gradually increase that amount each year, say by 5 or 10 per cent. The difference? Huge. Here’s an example: A plain Rs 10,000 monthly SIP for 20 years at 12 per cent annualised growth = Rs 99.9 lakh A 5 per cent step-up every year = Rs 1.37 crore A 10 per cent step-up every year = Rs 1.99 crore So, a 10 per cent annual bump in SIP can earn you almost double the wealth. But—and this is where the story changes—we started wondering: is it a little out of touch to recommend a 10 per cent step-up to everyone, every year? When advice meets real life

This article was originally published on July 23, 2025.