Retirement Planning

Most of us work round the clock for happy life and to take good care of our family. Indeed we wish to have a stress free, wealthy and healthy retirement life. While marching towards that achievement, many of the time we forget our actual goal. Also we end up taking more stress and depression in life. To live a better and happy life and save the most for our retirement, I have identified and observed few ways which might suit most people to achieve happy retirement with minimum effort over time.

There are 2 pre-requisite which need to be identified before planning for the retirement

• At what age are we planning for retirement: Some may plan to get retire at the age of 30 and spend the rest of their life working towards their passion. Few many plan to get retired at 50. Those are entirely fine but this needs a clear fix in mind on what age are we planning for retirement

• How much money are we expecting to save for the retirement: This can defer from person to person. However, there needs a clear picture on how much we need to have for our retirement. You can consider below expenses as your reference (all the below to be planned considering the inflation Year-on-Year by 7%)
• Monthly expenses including rent / EMI, groceries / household, gas, electricity, internet, mobile, transport, shopping & entertainment
• Hospital Expenses
• Tour & Travel Expenses
• Term Insurance Premium
• Miscellaneous - 5% of all monthly expenses joined together

After we finalize the above 2 pre-requisite, below processes to be followed with high level of discipline to achieve the retirement peacefully. The processes are 

• Earn - This is the first and priority step to achieve the happy retirement. Earning can be done either by working for a company or it can be through a business. This depends on the specialization on our capabilities. We should consider to increase our earning on a periodic basis. Probably this can be monthly or it can be yearly. This is because to beat the inflation and to control our expenses.

• Control Expenses - The second and most important step is to control our expenses. This is advised by many financial experts for many centuries to achieve richness and to acquire huge wealth. A person can earn in millions but there is no use on those earning if he / she spends more than the earnings. So, controlling the expenses and keeping it as less than it can be is the second step to achieve happy retirement. In other words procrastinating the expenses is other way to reduce it. This gives time to think if this expense is really needed and there can be a way to avoid it.

• Save - After earning and controlling the expenses, we should save the money earned. We should not give access to the hard earned money to those who will try to destroy it. So, save the money from those people / events that will destroy the capital. For example, the hard earned money can be deposited in banks though we get less interest instead of putting that in a false returns giving scheme by unauthorized companies / person. These days people destroy their hard earned money through online gambling. So, we should protect our capital and save those.

• Invest - The final and most important process to achieve a wealthy retirement is through investing our hard earned money to multiply. There are various investment options like investing in real estates, investing in stockmarket by acquiring quality stocks, investing in gold and much more. It is better to consult a qualified and reputed financial expert before investing to get better returns. Whatever may be the investing way we choose, give it enough time to mature / compound and provide abundance wealth.

I wish everyone plan this as early in life and achieve happy, healthy and wealthy retirement.

B G Nareshkumar.