For a person who has been investing in equity (directly/indirectly) for several years, the question, “how much equity exposure should I have after retirement?” is not so hard to answer. However, that is not the case for most 50+ investors heading towards retirement. They would have little or no experience with equity or any market-related…

‘Can I invest in such a way that my capital is protected?’ is a question that many ask. Especially those who are retired, or about to retire. The answer is contextual. The term capital protection can take two meanings depending on how we use it. In this post, I discuss the disadvantages of capital protection,…

A catch-22 situation is one from which there are no easy solutions. Any move we make will be associated with significant disadvantages and risk. Such situations are often found in retirement planning. Whether you are a middle-aged employee heading towards retirement or a young earner trying to manage their parents’ retirement fund, understanding when a…

Given a lump sum, how do we invest it in order to create a reliable income stream that is risk-free and has the ability to keep pace with inflation? This is the most crucial question that concerns every person who is retired, nearing retirement, or planning for someone else’s retirement (a client or a parent…

Ever wondered why the retirement corpus we need is so large? Often unbelievably so. Is this a mistake in the math, in the assumptions or in the inputs? In this post, let us a discuss a simple illustration of a retirement calculation in order to understand why the corpus required is so large. Any calculation…

I see more and more young earners trying to manage the retirement corpus of their parents. In a way, this is healthy and in a way dangerous. Let us face it. Most retirement corpuses are not healthy enough. In the sense that one cannot wield them to generate an inflation-protected post-retirement income. This is especially…

Here is a compilation of past posts on how and when to generate inflation protected income with a lump sum for financial independence. This e-book can be used by early retirees, senior citizens and young earners who are trying to optimise income for their parents  from their retirement benefits. This is the fourth such compilation. The…

All long-term financial goals require periodic review to ensure that they are on track and in line with expectations and assumptions made while planning for the goal. Here are seven easy steps to review the health of your financial freedom or retirement portfolio. First posted on Mar 25 2014, now republished with updates. Retirement is…

Anyone who has used a retirement calculator would tell you the primary input is current expenses that are likely to persist in retirement. I have always maintained that one should not assume expenses will decrease after retirement! Therefore, I will only exclude cash outgo like EMI and expenses related to children from current expenses. This is all that one can do…

Budget 2016 has made annuity plans popular thanks to proposed taxation on EPF and the NPS. In its clarification about Changes made in the Tax Treatment for Recognised Provident Fund & National Pension System, the government claims It is expected that the employees of private companies will place the remaining 60% of the Corpus in…