A reader writes, “I have now been reading your articles on the importance of asset allocation for a few months now. The impact of inflation is scary! I have no equity holdings in my portfolio and have never planned for retirement in a systematic way. Is there any hope for me or is it too…

A reader wants to know why a retiree needs to complicate life with multiple retirement buckets when all he needs is a single portfolio with equity and debt after retirement which is much easier to manage. About 10 years ago, I would have probably thought the same. Age and experience change perspective. See: I thought a…

In this article, we explain how we can use the freefincal robo advisory tool to track the progress of our financial goals. The robo tool as many readers would know is a financial planning tool. It automates the process of systematic risk management and suggests a variable asset allocation schedule with step-wise equity reduction. The…

A reader who prefers anonymity, asks, “I have been following your retirement bucket strategy illustrations with interest. While I have no issues with the plan and see the necessity for dividing a corpus into an income bucket, low risk, bucket, high-risk bucket etc. I wonder how practical all this is for a retiree. How many…

A reader asks, “I will turn 50 this year and am considering retirement. How do I find out the corpus required for retirement in 2022? My annual expenses are about Rs. 6.5 lakhs ” As mentioned in a recent article – I thought a pension was unnecessary but age taught me a retirement planning lesson! –…

In this article, we discuss the pros and cons of using a reverse mortgage as an income source after retirement. How does a reverse mortgage work? Suppose you live on your own property with your spouse. You mortgage the house to a bank in exchange for a lump sum or periodic payment. That is, you…

I have been making retirement planning tools for more than 11 years now. During this time, thanks to a combination of luck and discipline, I have been able to achieve financial independence. While my risk appetite has increased, I have also become more conservative in planning for retirement. I have come around to see the…

Many readers have asked me this common question: “Where do I enter the value of my second house in the calculator while planning for retirement?”. The answer to this “depends” on one’s circumstances. Most people who have second property get rental income from it and would like such an income to continue into retirement. We…

Suman asks, “Sir, What return should I use while planning for retirement? I wish to retire by age 50. I am currently 30 years of age”. Many people make two mistakes while planning their finances. The most common mistake is to assume equity mutual funds offer a 12% return and use that to compute the…

A reader asks, “I am 39 yrs old. I am planning to take early retirement in the next 15 months. I have a savings corpus of 1 Cr INR. My monthly requirement is 50 K INR. I need help with two things: 1) advice if this can be done  and 2) If yes, then investment…

A reader asks, “how can I regularly withdraw every year, say 7 per cent per year, from the corpus in my 18-year-old PPF account towards my yearly expenses”. There are two aspects to consider here: technical feasibility and practical feasibility. Once a PPF account has completed 15 years, there are two ways to keep it…

A reader who prefers anonymity writes, “I am 50 and have just started thinking seriously about financial planning for retirement. From reading your articles, I see that you recommend keeping it simple – invest in Nifty 50/Next Nifty 50 index funds and a gilt fund”. “I can invest about Rs. 1.5 lakh per month. Is…