A reader asks, “If there is a Real estate component (physical) in a retirement planning portfolio, what is the best way to consider this during the rebalancing of assets? Or when considering the equity vs debt allocation”. “For example. Without considering RE investment, my portfolio is at 65: 35. ( 65 % equity). However, if…

A reader sent us the following message: “This article – Can I Achieve Financial Independence and Retire Early by 45? – it was, as always, a good read, like most of your articles. I have been a reader of freefincal for quite some time. My rant/question may be long, so please bear with me. I would…

In this article, we discuss the idea of annuity laddering (also known as income laddering) and how it is helpful in retirement planning. Annuity/Income laddering generally means a series of cash flows that become available at different points in the future. Typically, bonds or fixed deposits are used for income laddering. A series of FDs…

One of the common retirement planning mistakes is to underestimate monthly expenses. If someone asks me about my monthly expenses, I list the usual big-ticket items, like groceries, vegetables, petrol, medicines, etc. If pushed a little harder, I recognise that it is better to consider annual expenses and compute an “average monthly expense.” The most…

I recently spoke to a group of employees about retirement planning. I was told that the group would mostly comprise young people in the 30-45 age bracket, but as always, there was a good chunk of older people in the audience. They were left shell-shocked to see some sample retirement plans – the corpus required…

A reader wants to know, “Can I find out how much I need to invest for retirement without a calculator? Is there any thumb rule for this? Similarly, can I determine how much equity exposure I can have after retirement without a calculator?” We will discuss the first part of his question in this article…

A 35-year-old reader asks: “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. Nothing beats the comfort and security of a guaranteed pension payout each…

A freefincal robo advisory user shared an interesting situation with us. Both the husband and wife were senior citizens with at least 27 years in retirement to plan for. The robo-advisory tool allows users to input three different sources of post-retirement income, each growing at a different pace. This couple had an income source almost…

These are a set of slides on retirement planning that I have used at investor workshops and corporate meets. The aim is to quickly convey the importance of retirement planning to young earners. 1. Imagine how your monthly income will evolve in the future The abrupt stoppage in income represents retirement. 2. Now imagine how…

LIC’s Jeevan Akshay – VII (UIN – 512N337V05) is an Immediate Annuity plan. You can purchase a pension (annuity) by paying a lump sum. The annuity rates applicable from Feb 2024 are listed in this article. According to LIC’s online purchase portal, the rates are the same as last year. Additional resources Use this annuity…

Many who use our retirement calculators often are shocked to see the results. Some lose sleep, and some think the math is wrong. Eventually, many recover and start investing. See, for instance, this reader story: We lost sleep after using a retirement calculator! This is how we recovered. Here is a detailed explanation of the…

A retirement planning calculation is defined by its inputs and assumptions. This article discusses what portfolio return we should assume while planning for retirement. A return has little meaning as it has to be benchmarked to inflation. Also, we should not forget to factor in taxes. Another common mistake investors make while planning is using…

A reader writes, “I am a subscriber to the freefincal newsletter. They have been very insightful. Portfolio rebalancing is very easy to understand but equally difficult to implement, it needs a lion’s heart to move from equity to debt. I have one question about what can be treated as debt”. “I have been investing in…

In this article, we discover what a 35-year-old reader who wishes anonymity should do to retire by age 55. He is married to a homemaker aged 30. We shall plan for retirement income from when he reaches 50 to when his wife (or, generally, the younger spouse) reaches 90. Therefore, he has 15 years to…