Should the SIP date follow the salary credit date?
The SIP calculator has no calendar. A debit on the 2nd and a debit on the 10th produce the same projection when all the instalments clear. The date matters because a mandate that runs before the salary arrives is the one that bounces.
Last updated: · 4 min read
One month, in order
Steps for a month: salary on the 7th, rent after that, then the SIP, then everything else.
- SalaryIn this sketch, ₹80,000 on the 7th.
- RentThe bill you will pay before you invest.
- SIPA date after the credit, not before it.
- The restFood and other debits from what remains.
The calculator treats every month as paid
The SIP calculator asks for an amount, a rate, and a number of years. ₹10,000 for 10 years at an assumed 10% invests ₹12,00,000 and ends near ₹20,65,520. There is no field for “salary arrives on the 7th”.
So the 2nd and the 10th are the same answer on the screen. They are not the same instruction to the bank. The screen assumes the instalment happened.
Put the debit after the credit
If the salary credit is the 7th, a SIP on the 2nd depends on last month’s leftover. Some months that leftover is there. The month it is not, the mandate returns. A date on the 10th, after the credit has landed, fails only if the salary itself did not arrive.
Rent that leaves on the 5th has the same problem when rent is due before payday. This article does not move your rent. It moves the SIP, which is the debit you control. Pay rent from the credit, then the SIP.
- Credit date first.
- Rent and any EMI that must not bounce.
- SIP a couple of days after that.
- Leave a small buffer so the same day as the credit is not the SIP day.
A bounce is not a shorter tenure
Missing one ₹10,000 instalment means ₹10,000 was not invested. The later value is lower by that instalment and by whatever it would have earned. Typing 9 years and 11 months into the calculator is a different, shorter plan. It is not a model of “month six bounced and the rest continued”.
The honest repair is to pay the missed amount as a separate lump sum if you still can, or to accept a smaller invested total. Changing the date prevents the next bounce. It does not rewrite the one that already happened.
A good date is a boring date
Nothing in the formula prefers the 1st, the 7th, or the 25th. People repeat those preferences because a chart once showed them. On this calculator they are identical if the count of paid instalments is identical.
Pick the date that clears. Then stop editing it. A mandate you move every quarter is another way to miss a month. The ₹20,65,520 is the prize for 120 quiet debits, at an assumed 10%, before tax.
Worked example: payday on the 7th
The projection is the same for any date that clears 120 times. The month below is why the 2nd is the wrong instruction.
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| SIP | ₹10,000 |
| Projection if all 120 months clear | about ₹20,65,520 at an assumed 10% over 10 years |
| Invested if all clear | ₹12,00,000 |
| Salary in this sketch | ₹80,000 on the 7th |
| SIP on the 2nd | Asks the account to pay before the credit |
| SIP on the 10th | Pays after the credit. Same projection if it clears. |
Use the 10th, or another date after the credit and after rent. The calculator will not show a difference until a month fails to go out.
Sources
Results from FinanceChacha are estimates for planning, not financial or tax advice. Read the disclaimer.
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Open the calculator this guide refers to and run your own numbers.