A reader says, “You have repeatedly demonstrated how to deploy a retirement corpus into different buckets using the freefincal robo advisory tool. In all these examples, you assume the retiree will have or should have enough money in a safe income bucket to handle inflation-indexed expenses for the first 15 years of retirement. I find…

The number of equity investors (stocks + mutual funds) in the last 5-7 years has increased dramatically. Most of these investors are young and have much to learn about market risk vs reward. Meanwhile, there is a silent transformation underway. More and more Indians are retiring in their 50s with higher and higher capital market-linked…

Many state and central government employees are against the national pension scheme (NPS) and want to restore the old pension scheme. Some state governments have also reverted to the old pension scheme. Unfortunately, this is financially unsustainable. Take, for instance, the DA announcement on Sept 28th 2022. “The additional financial implications on account of this…

Recently, a reader shared his post-retirement investment strategy: Hold expenses for five years in a cash bucket (savings funds + liquid fund + money market funds + safe bank fixed deposits) at all times during retirement and invest the rest in equity! I do not share the reader’s enthusiasm and would prefer the approach adopted…

A reader recently asked  — in response to the article, Why are you recommending index funds but not investing in them yourself? — “What is the equity exposure of your retirement portfolio?”. I said, “It is currently about 62%.” He said, “is that not too much equity at your age (48, well, almost 49)?” There…

If you are interested in achieving financial independence in retirement, especially if you hope to retire early, you’ve likely encountered the concept of the safe withdrawal rate, with the 4% rule being particularly well-known. However, it’s unfortunate that this rule is often misunderstood and misapplied, so it may not be a useful tool for retirement…

A reader asks, “Can I manage with not more than 20% equity mutual funds in my retirement portfolio as I fear the equity market?” Equity or equity mutual funds are certainly not necessary for retirement planning. See, for example: How I achieved financial independence without mutual funds or stocks or How to invest without using mutual…

A reader asks, “Can we include our own living property/house in total net worth? I had some discussions with friends about a particular case – where the total net worth will be significantly higher than the required retirement corpus if the living house/property is included”. “It’s an independent house in Chennai (NOT a flat!) And…

When most people use a retirement calculator for the first time, they are shocked to see the corpus required and the amount they need to invest. See, for example, the results of a retirement planning exercise. Then they assume there is no hope for them and a financially independent retirement is out of reach. That…

This article discusses a retirement plan for a 30-year-old who wishes to retire by age 50. We shall use the robo-advisory tool to create this retirement plan. Let us outline the inputs and assumptions employed in this analysis. Kindly note that all the inputs and outputs in this research pertain to a situation (of a…

This article explains how a retirement bucket strategy can be combined with an income ladder in various ways. The goal is to reduce the management risks associated with a bucket strategy. In an income ladder, we use fixed-income instruments that mature periodically in future, providing income to the retiree. Let us consider an example. Suppose…

A reader inquires, “As I approach my 50th birthday this year, I’m contemplating retirement. What steps should I take to determine the necessary retirement corpus for 2023? My yearly expenses amount to approximately Rs. 6.5 lakhs.” As mentioned in a recent article – I thought a pension was unnecessary, but age taught me a retirement planning…

Last year, while preparing a retirement planning illustration based on laddered annuities, we listed the annuity rates of LIC Jeevan Akshay – an immediate annuity plan. These are the revised and higher annuity rates applicable from Feb 28th 2023. Additional resources Use this annuity ladder calculator to plan for retirement with multiple pension streams How…

A reader says, “In many personal finance forums, I see comments like I have accumulated 25X or 30X for retirement. Many claim that 30X is when one becomes financially independent and even ready for early retirement (FIRE). Can you please write an article explaining what this 30X refers to and how it signifies financial independence?” What is…