[kushagra452]

I have accepted the fact that I will never ever reach FIRE and that I may never ever retire. Most likely I will have to work till my very last days on this planet. The soaring cost of living combined with stagnant salaries and a general gloomy job market (barring the hotshot tech superstars/nerds earning $1 million+ in India) retiring might never be an option for me.

At 40 yrs now, most of my teenage dreams of driving a luxury car and foreign vacations might just remain dreams. However, despite the tough times, I am trying to upskill/ reskill to increase the monthly cashflow.

More importantly, I am trying to remain healthy and fit. The ever increasing and exorbitant medical bills, combined with the health insurance scams are very concerning.

I do invest in the stock market but the returns have been modest at best. Hope things turn around. As the saying goes - "Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst!".

All the best everyone!

[DigitalOne]

Originally Posted by Ananthang

So when we calculate expenses, should we remove these items and add a slight premium for Medicine expenses and medical insurances....
So if I earn 2L monthly and can I assume my monthly expense is 1L and build /plan corpus based on that.

Why assume? if you are not tracking your expenses, this might be a good time to start tracking in detail, since the year has just about started. Even a bit of backtracking will not be difficult for the last year to get an approximation.

As for your question, this is right to start off with one caveat. Apart from medical expenses, your vacation expenses post-retirement will most likely go up. There are growing options for group travels catering especially to senior citizens. Healthy senior citizens always seem to be travelling these days. Travel expenses will also increase if kids are abroad.

[Ananthang]

Originally Posted by DigitalOne

Why assume? if you are not tracking your expenses, this might be a good time to start tracking in detail, since the year has just about started. Even a bit of backtracking will not be difficult for the last year to get an approximation.

Thanks DigitalOne. I was not tracking my expense in life 5 years ago, but that made me what I am today. I know exactly where each penny is going, what are my strengths and where I waste money. So yes it is happening, but I just wanted to confirm my hypothesis while I plan my retirement savings. Obviously I am saving the max I can do, plan my expenses every month, postpone unwanted buying, restrict to 1 credit card EMI at any point of time, diversify investment into stocks, gold, ppf and mutual funds(even though it is small amount in each) and understand money more at 42 which made me raise this point.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by kushagra452

I have accepted the fact that I will never ever reach FIRE and that I may never ever retire. Most likely I will have to work till my very last days on this planet. "Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst!".

All the best everyone!

Keep at it. It may just take some time to get where you want to get.
The other goals of getting fit and being happy, are commendable.
Keep a focus on happiness and use your Time well in pursuits you love most.
TIME and Freedom after all, are the Greatest Luxuries known to Man.
Money is not an end in itself but it helps you to buy yourself some Freedom and TIME.

[Mystic]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Money is not an end in itself but it helps you to buy yourself some Freedom and TIME.

I like this. Thanks. This is the reason I like to visit teambhp pages as we get some original thoughts here and not some random quotes picked up from internet.

I have contributed multiple times in this thread and my views as a living example who quit everything in the prime of life and took volunteer retirement. Money planning is good for retirement and I am sure many readers on this thread look forward to it.

I reiterate again, getting spirituality aligned is very important for a happy retirement. This belief has been cemented further after spending 9 days in Kashi recently and seeing what happens at Manikarnika ghat etc. Man proposes and God disposes. I know many people who planned their retirement with a huge bank balance after saving for 40 years and lived only for one year after retirement.

I initially thought my views are of old school but many GenZ s I know in our family including my son wants to retire as early as 35 years. These kids are seeing success so early in their life and money is no more a reason why they need to work.

[gururajrv]

Originally Posted by kushagra452

At 40 yrs now, most of my teenage dreams of driving a luxury car and foreign vacations might just remain dreams. However, despite the tough times, I am trying to upskill/ reskill to increase the monthly cashflow.

More importantly, I am trying to remain healthy and fit. The ever increasing and exorbitant medical bills, combined with the health insurance scams are very concerning.

I do invest in the stock market but the returns have been modest at best. Hope things turn around. As the saying goes - "Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst!".

All the best everyone!

I couldn't agree more to this. I am in the same boat. Whatever is earned will go into commitments and I'm mostly in debt throughout. Although it might sound like bad financial planning (agree to an extent), circumstances have kept me this way.

Regardless, I have come to terms that I have to work throughout my life till the end for sustainability and not be dependent on kids and burden them.

Like you mentioned, investing in HEALTH is a great investment right now for us to be WORK-READY beyond 55!

All the best to those who are in same boat as me

[KL01toKA03]

I am 40 with 2 kids who are 9 and 7 years old. Not considering PF, I own two apartments in Bangalore (combined value should be around 4 crores) and 2 houses and land in Kerala. My wife and I earn around 3.5 lakhs after tax per month. In addition to that we have savings of around 75 lakhs. We have been living well within our means and have no loans pending.

My current dilemma is whether we should continue in the same path, or whether we should start spending some money on things like international trips or buying another house in Bangalore. I think retirement alone is not a big concern for me. If we move to Kerala and rent out the apartments, we should have enough to lead a comfortable life.

However, like my parents, I would also like to help my children's education till graduation and help with their wedding expenses. I feel we might need some more money for that. We can easily achieve that if we work for another 10 years. However, both of us have reached a stage of our careers where we wouldn't easily find another job if we were to lose our current jobs.

The question is whether I should focus on the present and go on expensive vacations with kids at a time when they love traveling with us, or should we save money to help them in case the kids need something later in life.I can find arguments to support either side, but making a decision isn't very easy in this case.

[summerisland]

Originally Posted by KL01toKA03

I own two apartments in Bangalore (combined value should be around 4 crores) and 2 houses and land in Kerala. My wife and I earn around 3.5 lakhs after tax per month. In addition to that we have savings of around 75 lakhs. We have been living well within our means and have no loans pending.


The question is whether I should focus on the present and go on expensive vacations with kids at a time when they love traveling with us, or should we save money to help them in case the kids need something later in life.I can find arguments to support either side, but making a decision isn't very easy in this case.

You both are earning well and have no liabilities. Have saved good amount so why not enjoy both worlds? Once or twice a year, go for an international holiday and keep saving the rest. India itself provides huge tourism opportunities so few trips can be national which will be less expensive but still full of fun.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by KL01toKA03

My current dilemma is whether we should continue in the same path, or whether we should start spending some money on things like international trips or buying another house in Bangalore. I think retirement alone is not a big concern for me. If we move to Kerala and rent out the apartments, we should have enough to lead a comfortable life.

However, like my parents, I would also like to help my children's education till graduation and help with their wedding expenses. I feel we might need some more money for that. We can easily achieve that if we work for another 10 years. However, both of us have reached a stage of our careers where we wouldn't easily find another job if we were to lose our current jobs.

Given the above a few points from me:

1. You are already over-concentrated on real estate. I don’t feel you should try to buy another house for sure.
2. Given how you feel about further employment prospects given age profile etc, I think you should definitely focus on trying to invest but perhaps more on the equity biased side for now, given you already own property, don’t have fixed liabilities like loans etc. This could help boost the corpus somewhat at the time you actually call it a day from work.
3. By all means do spend something on experiences as well, whether that is via foreign travel or domestic. If anything, this is easier done while there is running income than it is if you were to completely retire for good (although it should be manageable then as well).
4. Given your kids are still schooling and somewhat young, it would be advisable to still be careful with budgeting and try to build the corpus through your 40s - the next 8 - 10 years should be worked through carefully to achieve that.
5. Hopefully you have also invested suitably in health insurance plans from the right age onwards to avoid undue shocks on this front.
6. Also hope you have some term life insurance policies for both of you to suitably cushion the family in any unfortunate (god forbid) eventualities.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by KL01toKA03

My current dilemma is whether we should continue in the same path, or whether we should start spending some money on things like international trips or buying another house in Bangalore. I think retirement alone is not a big concern for me. If we move to Kerala and rent out the apartments, we should have enough to lead a comfortable life.

The question is whether I should focus on the present and go on expensive vacations with kids at a time when they love traveling with us, or should we save money to help them in case the kids need something later in life.I can find arguments to support either side, but making a decision isn't very easy in this case.

I think a lot of people(including me) grapple with this dilemma. Mainly driven by the uncertainty in the job front in todays time for a vast majority of people. Few thoughts.

• Don't skimp on the vacations. Especially if you all like to travel. Many international destinations are fairly cheap even compared to local destinations. So no harm doing an occasional trip. Of course, don't do it because everyone else is doing it.
  
• Definitely do not buy another house in Bangalore as an investment. If you intent to buy to move there, then do it by selling one of the others. In general, retaining an apartment for rental does not make much sense anymore. If the house you rent is worth 2+ crore today, selling it and investing in other instruments will give you far greater ROI than rentals. Whenever you plan to move to Kerala, you should do that. Definitely don't hold 2 rental apartments. Just not worth the hassle in my view.
  
• School and college fees are increasing rapidly year on year. This is probably the biggest thing to be watchful about as it is mostly beyond your control.

[KL01toKA03]

Originally Posted by Axe77

Given the above a few points from me:

1. You are already over-concentrated on real estate. I don’t feel you should try to buy another house for sure.
5. Hopefully you have also invested suitably in health insurance plans from the right age onwards to avoid undue shocks on this front.
6. Also hope you have some term life insurance policies for both of you to suitably cushion the family in any unfortunate (god forbid) eventualities.

The bias towards real estate could be because I am pleased with the returns (I admit that some of it is notional) that I made buying apartments in Bangalore. I know I should diversify. So, most of my savings is invested in mutual funds.

My wife and I have 3 crore term plans each. However, we do not have any health insurance other than what is provided by our employers.I know it is a risky choice, but the rationale is to invest that amount so that I have a good corpus ready in case of emergencies after I retire. Also, if one of my children get a job which has an option where we can be included in their family floater policy, that should also cover a lot of the risks.

Originally Posted by summerisland

Once or twice a year, go for an international holiday and keep saving the rest. India itself provides huge tourism opportunities so few trips can be national which will be less expensive but still full of fun.

We already travel once in two years to South East Asian countries. The real dilemma is whether to spend on costier trips to US, Europe or Australia. Your suggestion regarding travelling within India is something that I am planning to do more as I grow older.

[speed79]

Originally Posted by KL01toKA03

We already travel once in two years to South East Asian countries. The real dilemma is whether to spend on costier trips to US, Europe or Australia. Your suggestion regarding travelling within India is something that I am planning to do more as I grow older.

I think your kids are too young to keep the memories of experiences at this age. When my daughter was 7 years, we had a relaxed 8 days vacation at Singapore. It was an expensive vacation and we had covered almost each and every significant thing in that small city state at a relaxed pace. But my daughter (currently 11) does not remember a thing of Singapore trip. So you could wait for few more years so they can cherish those memories. When your smaller one is 10+, you can go for costlier USA vacation.

Last year we (me, wife and kids 11 and 16) went to USA for 15 days trip and had covered 2 cities + Grand Canyon. We had spent little more than 1.6 Million rupees on that trip. I think it is not worth it to spend so much money on international vacation. I had lived a year in Japan and to me any developed country is the same. I don't see a difference between Tokyo tower and Eiffel tower. To me, a city in a developed country is just a city in another developed country. If you have experienced one city, another will be similar. There is not much difference between Disney in Tokyo or Disney in Orlando or Universal Studio of Osaka or Universal Studio of Singapore. All these are so similar and you can choose to go to any of these and experience will not be much different.

Originally Posted by KL01toKA03

The bias towards real estate could be because I am pleased with the returns (I admit that some of it is notional) that I made buying apartments in Bangalore. I know I should diversify. So, most of my savings is invested in mutual funds.

I am 47 and too have invested mainly in real estate: 3 houses and a plot in Bangalore and a commercial building in Bhopal. We do get a significant rental income and that has helped us in recent years when my business has suffered from the two wars.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by KL01toKA03

Also, if one of my children get a job which has an option where we can be included in their family floater policy, that should also cover a lot of the risks.

I won't comment on the other points, except to say I think you're all set man! You should really do what you think you need to do, I think you're covered financially.

But on this health insurance part, I'd suggest go for a health plan for you and your wife. It's easier to get one at this age and continue. Banking on waiting till your children get jobs and cover you, it's too many unknowns.

What if they move abroad? What if their health plans don't provide enough cover? Most health plans cover under 10L for family. Good enough for most aliments, but not the really serious ones that have a higher change of manifesting in older age. What will corporate jobs even look like 20 years from now? Will they offer health plans? What will medical costs look like in the future? Do you want your children to be forced to continue working just so their parents are covered? What will job security look like 20 years from now?

[Aviator_guy]

Originally Posted by KL01toKA03

I am 40 with 2 kids who are 9 and 7 years old.
The question is whether I should focus on the present and go on expensive vacations with kids at a time when they love traveling with us, or should we save money to help them in case the kids need something later in life.I can find arguments to support either side, but making a decision isn't very easy in this case.

It is good to see that you are thinking rationally, keeping eyes open and exploring ways to make right life decions.

Others have opined already and quite to the point. Only thing I'd like to add is that if you could come up with an approx amount of money you'd like to save for kids at their important milestones, then you can work backwards to assess how much additionally you need to save regularly, apart from what you have been doing already. From the remaining earnings, you can plan for recreational purposes like traveling etc without gilt and knowing well that you are not digging into child's future savings.

I'm in my forties and my parents didn't (couldn't) have luxury to financially plan the future the way we can afford in today's world, but it turned out to be OK. They provided me with life skills and supported me in whichever way they could, which made me chart my own path in life with confidence.

Bottom line is that we can only plan so much. Having good family time and nice childhood memories are also our gift to the children

[saket77]

Originally Posted by Aviator_guy

I'm in my forties and my parents didn't (couldn't) have luxury to financially plan the future the way we can afford in today's world, but it turned out to be OK. They provided me with life skills and supported me in whichever way they could, which made me chart my own path in life with confidence.

Bottom line is that we can only plan so much. Having good family time and nice childhood memories are also our gift to the children

Great words which linger in our thoughts but you have managed to pen it down well in two lines. I always feel that many people among us (including me), have put ourselves in so much stress thinking about the uncertainty of future that we are not able to enjoy the present.

I heard some time back: Those who have nothing look up in hope that future will bring something good. Whereas people who have much often dread that they will lose it to uncertain future.