Are we ready for sunset years....

Hello


Make hay while the sun shines but never loose sight of the sunset years.
India is witnessing rising life expectancy at birth since last many years. It now stands at 71 years as compared to 53 years in 1997.
Life expectancy goes up with age. At the official retirement age of 58 or 60 years as the case may be, the average people can expect to live beyond 75 years. And with the advancement in medical science on regular basis, we have to concede that it will not come as a surprise to live beyond 85 years in the near future.
But the million dollar question is whether we are in a position to live so long ?
Generally we plan our retirement till 75 but are now likely to live longer. So let us be ready to spend our sunset years in penury if we do not plan properly right from the very beginning, when we start earning.

Another important factor to be considered due to the risk of living longer is shorter working lives. In the earlier days people used to start working at the age of 20 to 21 years. But with the advent of higher education system for better prospects, younger generation starts working at 24 to 25 years.
Now a days people are unwilling to adopt 9 to 5 working and reporting to somebody else. They are aspiring to be their own bosses which is perfectly fine and should be encouraged.
They are also exposed to the concept of passive income through business on e commerce platform and want to retire early This apart other reasons like health issues, inability to cope with work pressure and redundancy compels many of us  to quit before the official retirement age of 60.
The fact of the matter is that practical working life is shrinking due to early retirements, both aspirational and forced. So in this situation careful financial planning becomes critical and needs immediate attention of all concerned.

Another stark reality is that the family safety net has also shrunk and children may not take care of their parents in future. Even if the next generation is willing to take care of parents, the burden on them will be high.
At the same time the assurance of pension is vanishing. Even government employees who joined after March 2004 will get a pension that is linked to their contribution to their National Pension Scheme.
Others too need to think about their retirement plans as their retiral benefits may not see them through more than two decades at best. Worse off will be those outside the formal retirement planning structure, like contract workers, self employed professionals and employees in similar units.
Many people live with the misconception that their expenses will come down drastically after they retire. While expenses like transport will certainly reduce but medical costs etc will take a surge depending upon how we have  maintained ourselves in our younger days.
Retired individuals have to maintain their health and there is no choice here. And also no insurance company will give you cover at 70. Even if they do through co-pay products, premiums will be very high.
All other expenses will also go up exorbitantly due to inflation. Hence, Retirement planning is most critical because all other goals can be met through loans.
But what is to be done to accumulate an adequate corpus ?
The first and foremost requirement is to understand and fall in the habit of saving. We must save 30% of our earning to start with and increase it as we catch up with our age. As a matter of thumb rule it should gradually increase to a percentage which is same as our age.
This means a 40 year old person should save 40% while a 50 year old should save 50%. Start planning for retirement early in life to make the most of the power of compounding.

However, planning early has its own limitations as the calculations may throw up a very large requirement. But there is no need to get overwhelmed by large numbers and give up. Allocate whatever you can as your income is bound to increase in future.
Dedicated pension plans, mostly from insurance companies, cost a lot and come with myriad restrictions like compulsory buying of annuities using 67% of corpus. Since investors have to buy annuities from the same companies, pension plans don't make sense for accumulation.
Whether one should buy annuities at the time of retirement or continue with a SWP kind of structure is a perennial question because the risk of managing one's own portfolio at a later age becomes difficult because the investment landscape changes totally in 30-40 years. It's always better to delay annuity purchase which may help to get better rates.
It's always better to go for mutual funds wherein the flexibility allows us to manage the new options that may come in future. Mutual funds with SIP should be resorted to to the maximum possible extent.
Investing in products like senior citizen savings scheme  is mandatory for newly retired persons. Another option is to invest in tax efficient debt mutual funds and withdraw through systematic withdrawal plans.
Diverting retirement corpus is a candid mistake. Instead of withdrawing provident fund when changing jobs, it is always better to shift it the new company.
One way to make sure that investment grows faster than inflation is by investing more in equities.
But this requires learning and lots of patience and perseverance.
Though all of us want to enjoy a retired life, to stop working at 60 may be a costly proposition. This is because life expectancy is increasing and your retirement corpus will deplete all too soon.

Right after retirement we must go easy on spending. withdrawing heavily from the corpus in the initial years can be suicidal.
But if one can go into e commerce, there are ways and means to have passive earning which makes it completely feasible to retire early. This however needs mindset, attitude and determination.
Let us remember only 3% of the population is rich, holding 97% of the wealth whereas this should be the other way round.

So make the right decisions and enjoy life to the fullest......

Please view my blogs on

kumarskumar.blogspot.com
My blogs @ SK1955 on fb
@skumar272010 on twitter

https://ad.admitad.com/g/d852xizwhgdf57e284d25d4e7f42d4/

Get $10 off your flight to Atlanta with promo code:FC834A2E210

Are we ready for sunset years....

Hello


Make hay while the sun shines but never loose sight of the sunset years.
India is witnessing rising life expectancy at birth since last many years. It now stands at 71 years as compared to 53 years in 1997.
Life expectancy goes up with age. At the official retirement age of 58 or 60 years as the case may be, the average people can expect to live beyond 75 years. And with the advancement in medical science on regular basis, we have to concede that it will not come as a surprise to live beyond 85 years in the near future.
But the million dollar question is whether we are in a position to live so long ?
Generally we plan our retirement till 75 but are now likely to live longer. So let us be ready to spend our sunset years in penury if we do not plan properly right from the very beginning, when we start earning.

Another important factor to be considered due to the risk of living longer is shorter working lives. In the earlier days people used to start working at the age of 20 to 21 years. But with the advent of higher education system for better prospects, younger generation starts working at 24 to 25 years.
Now a days people are unwilling to adopt 9 to 5 working and reporting to somebody else. They are aspiring to be their own bosses which is perfectly fine and should be encouraged.
They are also exposed to the concept of passive income through business on e commerce platform and want to retire early This apart other reasons like health issues, inability to cope with work pressure and redundancy compels many of us  to quit before the official retirement age of 60.
The fact of the matter is that practical working life is shrinking due to early retirements, both aspirational and forced. So in this situation careful financial planning becomes critical and needs immediate attention of all concerned.

Another stark reality is that the family safety net has also shrunk and children may not take care of their parents in future. Even if the next generation is willing to take care of parents, the burden on them will be high.
At the same time the assurance of pension is vanishing. Even government employees who joined after March 2004 will get a pension that is linked to their contribution to their National Pension Scheme.
Others too need to think about their retirement plans as their retiral benefits may not see them through more than two decades at best. Worse off will be those outside the formal retirement planning structure, like contract workers, self employed professionals and employees in similar units.
Many people live with the misconception that their expenses will come down drastically after they retire. While expenses like transport will certainly reduce but medical costs etc will take a surge depending upon how we have  maintained ourselves in our younger days.
Retired individuals have to maintain their health and there is no choice here. And also no insurance company will give you cover at 70. Even if they do through co-pay products, premiums will be very high.
All other expenses will also go up exorbitantly due to inflation. Hence, Retirement planning is most critical because all other goals can be met through loans.
But what is to be done to accumulate an adequate corpus ?
The first and foremost requirement is to understand and fall in the habit of saving. We must save 30% of our earning to start with and increase it as we catch up with our age. As a matter of thumb rule it should gradually increase to a percentage which is same as our age.
This means a 40 year old person should save 40% while a 50 year old should save 50%. Start planning for retirement early in life to make the most of the power of compounding.

However, planning early has its own limitations as the calculations may throw up a very large requirement. But there is no need to get overwhelmed by large numbers and give up. Allocate whatever you can as your income is bound to increase in future.
Dedicated pension plans, mostly from insurance companies, cost a lot and come with myriad restrictions like compulsory buying of annuities using 67% of corpus. Since investors have to buy annuities from the same companies, pension plans don't make sense for accumulation.
Whether one should buy annuities at the time of retirement or continue with a SWP kind of structure is a perennial question because the risk of managing one's own portfolio at a later age becomes difficult because the investment landscape changes totally in 30-40 years. It's always better to delay annuity purchase which may help to get better rates.
It's always better to go for mutual funds wherein the flexibility allows us to manage the new options that may come in future. Mutual funds with SIP should be resorted to to the maximum possible extent.
Investing in products like senior citizen savings scheme  is mandatory for newly retired persons. Another option is to invest in tax efficient debt mutual funds and withdraw through systematic withdrawal plans.
Diverting retirement corpus is a candid mistake. Instead of withdrawing provident fund when changing jobs, it is always better to shift it the new company.
One way to make sure that investment grows faster than inflation is by investing more in equities.
But this requires learning and lots of patience and perseverance.
Though all of us want to enjoy a retired life, to stop working at 60 may be a costly proposition. This is because life expectancy is increasing and your retirement corpus will deplete all too soon.

Right after retirement we must go easy on spending. withdrawing heavily from the corpus in the initial years can be suicidal.
But if one can go into e commerce, there are ways and means to have passive earning which makes it completely feasible to retire early. This however needs mindset, attitude and determination.
Let us remember only 3% of the population is rich, holding 97% of the wealth whereas this should be the other way round.

So make the right decisions and enjoy life to the fullest......

Please view my blogs on

kumarskumar.blogspot.com
My blogs @ SK1955 on fb
@skumar272010 on twitter

https://ad.admitad.com/g/d852xizwhgdf57e284d25d4e7f42d4/

Get $10 off your flight to Atlanta with promo code:FC834A2E210