This is the archive of all our articles related to retirement planning
Anyone keen on financial independence after retirement, in particular early retirement, would have come across the safe withdrawal rate, in particular the 4% rule. Unfortunately, the 4% rule is misunderstood and misused that most of us are better off never using it for retirement planning! What is a safe withdrawal rate? The safe withdrawal rate…
Continue reading →Each time I publish an updated retirement asset allocation, I get asked this question: “At age 46, are you not holding too much equity?” In this article, I discuss a common misconception about asset allocation and how much equity is suitable for a middle-aged person. As we begin investing for retirement, say in our mid-thirties,…
Continue reading →All retirement planning discussions focus on beating inflation, investing enough and managing the corpus post-retirement. However, there is more to retirement planning than using calculators and investing right. As regular readers may be aware, I have been creating and using retirement calculators for more than 10 years now and have seen the results change from…
Continue reading →This is an update of my retirement portfolio. After almost 13 years of investing in equity, it took a crash and a disproportionate recovery to increase my equity allocation significantly for the first time. So I reset the equity allocation from 65% to 60%. The intention behind these articles is to emphasise the reality that…
Continue reading →It seems incredulous that I am writing this in 2021. It feels like 1921 when I see so many people complain that the govt does not want to help senior citizens or the middle-class or the lower-income group. Every govt regardless of who is in power, tries to do its best to those who need…
Continue reading →Most investors calculate the investment amount required for their retirement and in for a rude shock. Sleepless nights are quite common! Very few investors manage their finances right after such a shock and start investing with focus and conviction. In this episode of ‘reader audit’, we meet Mr Tinker (name withheld on request), who got…
Continue reading →How should funds in EPF be handled If we wish to quit our job and become self-employed or resign a few years before normal retirement or wish to retire earlier? Should we leave the EPF funds as is or should we withdraw? If we withdraw what are the alternative investment options? About the author: Sriram…
Continue reading →Rental income is immediately appreciated by one and all as a form of passive income – perhaps the oldest. Real estate has an undeniable charm associated with it and it is quite natural to ask if it can be used as a source of passive income particularly after retirement. We had discussed how passive income…
Continue reading →“How much money do I need to retire comfortably?” is the central question of retirement planning. Comfortably refers to (1) generating an income that will keep pace with inflation; (2) having some buffer in the corpus to handled unexpected expenses (recurring or one-time). However, there is more to retirement planning than just money and that…
Continue reading →This is a question posed by 35-year-old Prakash: “I would like to get Rs. one lakh a month pension when I retire. How should I invest to achieve this?” A pension after retirement is a necessary component of a post-retirement investment portfolio. However, it is not sufficient. A discussion.
Continue reading →Here is why one or more sources of passive income is an important part of our retirement plan. Not only can it boost our income and reduce capital market risk in retirement, but it can also keep us engaged and agile. Here is how we plan for it. With August 1st called “World Wide Web…
Continue reading →Retirement planning is the hardest exercise in financial planning or in other words making sure we are heading towards an adequate retirement corpus that will outlive us. There are many unknowns and uncertainties while planning for retirement. A good plan is essential to counter these. Also essential is a yearly review and recalculation of the…
Continue reading →We discuss the basics of portfolio rebalancing: why do it, how to do it and when to do it, to address some of the common questions that investors have.
Continue reading →These are the key features of the Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana (Modified- 2020) Scheme that launches today, May 26th 2020.
Continue reading →Falling interest rates and “risky” mutual funds have spooked senior citizens and their self-appointed advisors – their children. As always, wrong questions like “should I invest in “7.75% RBI bonds?”, “Should I buy PM Vaya Vandana Yojana?” are doing the rounds. A look at how senior citizens should invest in 2020.
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