Many on the verge of retirement ask us, “how much equity should I hold after retirement?” This is a tough question to answer as it depends on the individual, but some general guidelines are possible. Asking this question on the verge of retirement with no prior market experience can be harmful. It is essential to…

A reader asks, “What are the best options for Income bucket investments?” This a reference to our retirement bucket strategy. So we shall list all possible investments suitable for building retirement buckets. A bucket strategy is a post-retirement investment plan to manage inflation-protected withdrawals (income) and investment for the near-term and long-term. So we have…

A reader asks, “I am 50 years old and plan to retire next year. My yearly expense is Rs. 12 lakhs. What is the corpus required to sustain 35 years in retirement?” The Rs. 12 lakhs annual expense (or Rs. one lakh a month) is only for the first year of retirement. For each subsequent…

A reader writes, “There are many investment options for senior citizens. However, today many people retire or are forced to well before 60. Where can such people invest for regular income and cash preservation and wealth creation?” Today even those above 60 are forced to look beyond traditional savings instruments to protect their money from…

A reader asks, “I am 28 years old and wish to retire by 45. My monthly expenses are about Rs. 40,000. My current net worth is essentially zero as I just started to work. How much should I invest to retire by 45? I do not intend to get married. I can manage to invest…

A reader writes, “One of the big unknowns is the real expense during retirement. We can make an educated guess based on current living expenses etc, however, the surprises are likely to come and disrupt. Medical expenses are a big surprise – post a certain age, insurance is also not available. While hospitalization and treatment…

A member of the armed forces writes, ” Hello sir, I am a continuous follower of your financial advice and financial-related methods(YouTube and web).. thankful to you for all these practical and fact-based reviews and advice”. “Sir all of your retirement corpus planning or savings required for retirement are not mentioned whether they have a…

SEBI registered fee-only investment advisor Sriram Jayaram discusses how senior citizens should manage their money holistically in 2022. About the author: Sriram Jayaraman is a SEBI registered fee-only Investment adviser. After 27 years of working in large IT companies in India, he achieved financial independence and retired early to become a fee-only advisor. You can contact…

Many readers are shocked to see the results of a retirement planning exercise. The target corpus required is too high relative to what they imagined and so is the required investment amount. This leads to sleepless nights and panic. “Is there any hope for me?” asks one such reader. If you are not shocked at…

There is a lot of hullabaloo about glass ceilings and pay gaps based on gender across industries. However, the debate often fails to recognize that this leads to a disparity in retirement savings. About the author: Smriti is an author, artist, freelance content writer and avid reader. She quit her six-year-long IT career to embrace…

Here is a simple thumb rule young earners can follow for retirement planning. If this rule is implemented immediately after starting a job, the chances of achieving financial freedom by age 50 or even earlier are exceedingly bright! We would like to emphasise the following suggestions are only applicable to those below the age of…

A reader writes, “Congratulations on freefincal’s 10th anniversary. Looking at the body of work the site has published over the years, I wonder if there is any new ground left for you to cover in personal finance or will you only rehash old content for new audiences?” Although a touch insinuating, it is an interesting…

Use this annuity ladder calculator to find out how to beat inflation after retirement using multiple income streams. We all appreciate the importance of a secure income (pension) after retirement. However, inflation also has to be factored in. The primary requirement for fighting expenses increasing in retirement is a robust corpus. To accumulate this, we…

In this article, we shall explain what is income laddering or annuity laddering and how to use it for retirement planning. In preparation for this article, we had earlier published a series of introductory texts. We recommend that new readers go through these first. Part 1: What are the annuity rates of LIC Jeevan Akshay VII…

Yesterday we addressed the first part of a reader’s question: I need a pension: Should I buy an annuity or a govt bond? Today we will consider the second part: “how to buy a pension? Which option offers the best return?” As mentioned in the first part, a bond is a better choice for those…