[subbu567]

Great thread! I wish I had seen this earlier!

I am retiring, on the 30th of June, at 58 years and 3 months with a few crores of cash returning 8% and assets worth a few crores- mainly 3 properties (2 of them with rental yields) in Bangalore.

Will be moving to Coorg, to our farm where we have managed to construct our retirement home. Well, not as meticulous as some here in financial planning and investment discipline, but we never led a flashy lifestyle and aggressively saved over the last 10 years to get here.

Nervous and excited at the same time.... will keep sharing my experience.

I had earlier posted a thread on retirement and cars here : https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/what-...ml#post5970952 (An aging fleet, career retirement, farm life beckoning - Help me plan my garage).

Cheers, everyone!

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by subbu567

Great thread! I wish I had seen this earlier!

I am retiring, on the 30th of June, at 58 years and 3 months with a few crores of cash returning 8% and assets worth a few crores- mainly 3 properties (2 of them with rental yields) in Bangalore.

Will be moving to Coorg, to our farm where we have managed to construct our retirement home. Well, not as meticulous as some here in financial planning and investment discipline, but we never led a flashy lifestyle and aggressively saved over the last 10 years to get here.

I dont know about “not as meticulous” - four properties is no mean feat and I’m sure we could all learn a thing or two from you on financial discipline leading up to such asset creation.

Wish you the very best in this new exciting phase of life. Enjoy it to the hilt.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by subbu567

Great thread! I wish I had seen this earlier!

Absolutely. I also wish you had seen this thread earlier. But to share your experience with the planning and execution.

Congratulations on a job well done

Will love to hear more.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by subbu567

Great thread! I wish I had seen this earlier!

Originally Posted by Eddy

Will love to hear more.

Yes, please! Not looking for numbers, of course, but any further general advice on what kind of savings/investment strategy you followed would be invaluable. Thanks in advance!

[sunilch]

Originally Posted by subbu567

Great thread! I wish I had seen this earlier!

I am retiring, on the 30th of June, at 58 years and 3 months with a few crores of cash returning 8% and assets worth a few crores- mainly 3 properties (2 of them with rental yields) in Bangalore.

With three properties providing (2 already and 1 potential) rent, you have executed perfect retirement plan here. No need to touch upon the retirement corpus which can be passed on to next generation or used for investing more when an opportunity arises.

I am sure it would have taken time and patience to do so and hence it would be helpful to share, if you could - the timeline that it took you to achieve this.

However, maintaining three properties in Bangalore while not living in Bangalore might be a task, down the line.

What is your though or plan on managing the same?

[subbu567]

Thanks all.

Firstly, as a village boy I always wanted to retire in a rural setting- a quaint little place with ample water and clean air, with a house under a tree. We did not imagine we would land in a coffee plantation. But when the opportunity presented, we both took it wholeheartedly. It was a bit of a stretch, but we took the risk. It took about 2.5 years to construct the house there and had to change the contractors, carpenters etc couple of times. We absolutely love it, but we have to make the adjustment physically to live there, while we are mentally prepared.

Our decision to move to Coorg was for two reasons primarily- 1. Live sustainably and 2. The very thought of spending some 25 years in Bangalore with expenses going through the roof and rapidly deteriorating life style was daunting.
Our farm house is fully solar and with plenty of water and clean air. In fact we may make a few hundred every month selling electricity!

Investment journey:

While we both were working for many years, it was back in 2015 we chose to close our mortgages after having funded our elder daughter's foreign education, by scraping the bottom of the barrel. We had very little left!

First, we covered us with a 1cr plus cumulative medical care policy. We are primary caregivers for our parents too; we all live together in two different apartments in the same complex. They are all covered in a basic new India assurance policy that took care of minor healthcare expenses.

Since then, we have been living (strictly) on a budget of 1 lakh a month, and saved the rest - 60-65% in senior citizen fd’s (through our parents), 25-30% in NPS and the rest in gold bonds, post office etc.

NPS is wonderful for noobs like me – one can choose the asset classes, percentage distribution and the fund manager all this for very little charges and exit loads. So, my wife and I invested with complementing asset classes and fund managers in tier 1 and tier 2 accounts respectively.
FDs returned roughly 7% over the years while NPS returned 9% CAGR. Nothing fancy just conservative investments.

2 apartments in Bangalore- were bought in 2007 and 2013- the third one is a plot in a gated community that we invested in 2011. Both flats together give 90k in rentals. The plot I am planning to use for any future milestones-like my younger one flying abroad or any health shocks amongst any of us.

In summary - We are far from ‘having made it’- early real estate investments, mortgage closure in the late 40’s and aggressive saving over last 9-10 years helped.

@6% inflation and 7% returns over the next 10 years and updated figures later on, that are likely far lower-we do hope to make both ends meet and live over the next 25 years.

PS: I am heavily invested in music, I collect vinyl records(about 550 currently), have a decent system at home to listen to and in Coorg have built a dedicated music room. That was the only indulgence we had- aprt from the Jimny I bought in 2023-which is the costliest car in my fleet.

Subbu.

[maddy42]

Originally Posted by subbu567

Thanks all.

Firstly, as a village boy I always wanted to retire in a rural setting- a quaint little place with ample water and clean air, with a house under a tree. We did not imagine we would land in a coffee plantation. But when the opportunity presented, we both took it wholeheartedly. It was a bit of a stretch, but we took the risk. It took about 2.5 years to construct the house there and had to change the contractors, carpenters etc couple of times. We absolutely love it, but we have to make the adjustment physically to live there, while we are mentally prepared.


Subbu.

Congrats on your retirement and welcome to Coorg. Happy to help if you have any queries on the farming side of things in coorg.

Maddy

[Siddash]

Very relevant topic as a large working population who started working post liberalization and hence used to much higher standards of living, with no access to retiral benefits such as pension, start to retire over the next couple of years and continue to retire in the years ahead. Being part of an industry partially associated with retiral products, some thoughts:

First and foremost, one needs to assess what would be approximate expenses to maintain a "comfortable" lifestyle, post retirement. "Comfortable" is the operative word here, will vary hugely amongst all individuals and therefore, entirely amongst the family members to be "comfortable" about . What is also important, however, is to factor in inflation in the range of 6-8%, in the current market scenario and keep an eye on the same till retirement and beyond, as that will be the amount by which expenses will also go up. The idea is to generate regular inflows which beat inflation, by creating a corpus through a mix of asset classes.

There are two main asset classes to create this corpus - Financial and Non Financial. I'll restrict myself to financial asset classes and within financial, products such as MF and insurance and real estate in non financial - audience being the vast majority of salaried individuals.

Step 1 - Build the corpus


Regular monthly inflow amount will depend on the size of the corpus generated, and one has to define this size in quantitative terms based on the "comfort" factor described earlier. This is the most important step, and it would be wise to err in the side of caution and fix a target which is 15 - 20% higher than your calculations. As a guiderail, the calculation for returns on financial corpus should range close to 8 - 9%, based on current market conditions.

In the case of real estate, residential real estate gives a rental return in the range of 3% of the current market value of the property annually. Commercial real estate rentals range between 8 - 10%, BUT are volatile and depends hugely on the location, viability of the building, existing tenants etc. IMHO, investment in commercial real estate is best left to experts.

Between these two (financial and real estate), one has to target to build a corpus which is enough to take care of regular inflows, on a consistent basis, for a period of 25 years at the very least.

For financial investments, some basic tips:

1. Start as early, as possible - NOTHING is as important as starting investing early to generate a retirement corpus. The earlier one starts, the lesser the monthly contribution to generate the same final corpus.

2. Be disciplined - Being regular and disciplined gives a huge impetus for the corpus to grow. It's like a well tuned 4 cylinder vs a sputtering, misfiring engine.

3. Stay long term - That's when the power of compounding kicks in.... Turbo boost

4. The Corpus has to be MEANINGFUL - i.e. It should be of a size that will be capable of giving you inflows on a monthly basis, sustainably. As a ball park, one should not withdraw more than 6% annually, from financial assets to ensure the corpus does not get depleted. So, if your annual expenses are 24 lacs, and say 50% (12 lacs) of this has to come from your financial corpus, the corpus should be minimum 2 crores. The magic here is that if your withdrawals are < 6% of the corpus, the corpus keeps increasing year on year !!

In terms of products, to build a corpus:

1. PF - Yes the HUMBLE PF. The biggest USP - Tax Efficiency and Safety. Please note there is huge difference when we look at Absolute Returns and Tax Adjusted Returns. PF offers it with the unparalleled safety of Govt. backing it. Opt for VPF is your organization offers an option.

2. NPS - low cost, well regulated, tax benefits and a balance by investing both in equity and debt instruments. Offering good tax adjusted returns, NPS has started off in earnest in India over the last 5 - 6 years and is an excellent method of generating a retiral corpus. It is the ONLY instrument which offers an additional tax exemption of 50k U/S 80CCD1B

Both these methods should suffice to build a meaningful corpus if one has a time horizon of 20+ years. In case time is lesser, or one needs a higher corpus, invest in equity MF schemes starting with relatively low risk index funds to at most, a diversified equity fund with an investment horizon of min 5 years. Again the later one starts, the more the value of investment per month to reach the same corpus.

Step 2 - Deploy this Corpus to generate regular returns

So once a meaningful corpus is generated through PF, NPS and Equity schemes, the challenge is to deploy it in products which are safe, liquid and generate adequate returns. Annuities are an option if you are looking at guaranteed returns, but they come with lock ins, so factor that in. FD is another option for fixed returns and senior citizens are offered higher rates as well, with lesser lock in and relative safety. If not many other sources of income, FD's are tax efficient, however they become extremely tax inefficient if income is in the higher taxable bracket. MF schemes are also gaining popularity to deploy retiral corpus and amongst them, liquid category schemes (debt funds with very low portfolio maturities) offer safety, liquidity and reasonable returns. Part of the retiral corpus which can be tucked away for more than 5 years should also be deployed in equity MF schemes as these schemes have the potential to generate much better returns with reduced risks if invested for more than 5 years. Also, if a corpus has been generated through SIP's into equity MF schemes, for over a period of 10 years, it's advisable to retain the corpus in equity schemes (the same if it has given good returns) and do a systematic withdrawal plan (SWP) which is extremely tax efficient (pls do check with a financial planner on the method of withdrawal using FIFO for SIP and then SWP post staying invested for 1 year, and you'll see how brilliantly efficient it is, again considering the current tax structure for equity MF schemes ). Equity schemes have the ability to deliver much higher returns with lesser volatility provided one has stayed invested over a reasonable period of time (5 years +).



Those of us lucky enough to have spare real estate to generate rental income, keep in mind annual maintenance. Capability of the owner to maintain the real estate and maintenance requirements of the real estate are inversely related as age of both increases, so either you have the next gen helping out or you start liquidating and add to financial corpus. I have seen enough examples of properties in posh localities / complexes lying idle for the want of someone to manage it, which is quite a waste of resources. Also, for 2nd gen folks who have gone and settled abroad, the idea of managing a property in India is nothing short of a nightmare, if not the returns a pittance for them.

Also, ensure all financial investments have nominations / second holder and they are well aware of the same - enough cases where the next of kin have absolutely no clue of any financial investments been done.

The other extremely important bit which cannot be overemphasized - Term and Health Insurance. Term insurance is an absolute hygiene and as a ball park, at the very least, cover any debt and potential future earnings to ensure family is protected from any unforeseen eventualities. Spiraling medical expenses means one cannot cover oneself enough and health insurance is another absolute necessity. Just be sure that medical expenses in this country will keep on increasing, and age will force increasing spends. While buying a health insurance, keep a sharp eye on exclusions and stick with better known insurers. Also, maintain a regular annual health check up schedule even as early as 30 yrs of age - we do send our beloved vehicles for annual service - don't we??

Lastly, while all of the above is important, its important to have some sort of engagement post retirement - can be anything - travel, cooking, teaching, pets etc. as again enough examples of idle minds leading to unnecessary despondency.

Hope not too much of gyan for readers

Cheers !!

[Jangra]

Well, I’ve gone through all sorts of calculations trying to figure out how much I actually need to retire. At first, ₹2 crore felt like enough. But then, lifestyle changed—and suddenly, we thought, okay maybe an SWP based on ₹6 crore makes more sense, so we can continue living the way we do now. But the moment I started doing reverse calculations—adjusting for inflation, converting everything back to present value—the whole plan just collapsed. Basically, the conclusion is simple: keep working as long as we can.

And then comes our “very smart” government. After 25 years of slogging it out and saving up in my PF, they now deduct TDS just because the interest crosses ₹2.5 lakh. Like seriously? Instead of giving some relief on basics like GST on medical insurance for my family, they’re more interested in taxing my future income—when I won’t even be earning.

I honestly wouldn’t mind paying more taxes if my child’s education was world-class, if we had proper healthcare, and if our roads weren’t nightmares. But no—we get nothing in return. All we hear are big promises, fancy plans meant to benefit someone 60 years from now.

But Infrastructure? It’s not improving—if anything, it’s crumbling behind the PR drama.

I love India. That’s why I came back. But let’s be honest—it’s not the government that makes me stay. It’s my friends and family. That’s what keeps me rooted here, not any love for the system.

[DigitalOne]

Originally Posted by Jangra

Well, I’ve gone through all sorts of calculations trying to figure out how much I actually need to retire. At first, ₹2 crore felt like enough. But then, lifestyle changed—and suddenly, we thought, okay maybe an SWP based on ₹6 crore makes more sense, so we can continue living the way we do now. But the moment I started doing reverse calculations—adjusting for inflation, converting everything back to present value—the whole plan just collapsed. Basically, the conclusion is simple: keep working as long as we can.

Suggest you please go through my post (#648, Page 44, 18. Apr) in this thread. Data shows that people overestimate their expenses post-retirement. Do a category-based calculation, as the video in the post suggests.

Originally Posted by Jangra

After 25 years of slogging it out and saving up in my PF, they now deduct TDS just because the interest crosses ₹2.5 lakh.

This is not correct. Interest becomes taxable if the Employee Contribution exceeds 2.5 lakhs per year, and that too applicable only since 2021. Your old contributions since 25 years is not affected.

I honestly wouldn’t mind paying more taxes...

There are many inspiring stories in this thread where, given the same tax constraints that you write about , members have still achieved early or on-time retirement in India.

[kpkeerthi]

Originally Posted by Jangra

maybe an SWP based on ₹6 crore makes more sense, so we can continue living the way we do now. But the moment I started doing reverse calculations—adjusting for inflation, converting everything back to present value—the whole plan just collapsed. Basically, the conclusion is simple: keep working as long as we can.

A corpus of ₹6 crore (in 100% large cap equity) can sustainably support monthly withdrawals of ₹3 lakh, inflation-adjusted at 7%, for 35+ years. Assuming a modest and realistic 13% CAGR - roughly in line with NIFTY 50's historical average - it would still leave behind over ₹45 crore at the end of the 35th year.

Based on your horizon how long and how much does it take to accumulate 6 cr is pretty easy to calculate. And that's all there is to it. But this entire thread has made the whole business of retirement planning complicated than rocket science. I could see that most people are over doing it. Nevertheless, good luck!

[minzanurag]

For financial planning, I used to read a lot of forums, articles etc and to be fair, even though distilling such information was difficult, I was able to make disciplined investment decision across a variety of assets, thankfully, with decent returns.

However, the question always remains how much is enough for a comfortable retirement. On that topic, I tried a tool developed by one of my juniors, using GenAI for building financial planning advisory, Handa Uncle.

I found it to be quite easy to use and although, some information might be outdated, but still gives a decent guideline. I would urge you to please use the responses with caution

[dee_dust]

Presenting an altogether different perspective to so called retirement. Nowadays the general population is more aware in terms of health, fitness and wealth and life expectancy is considerably higher than earlier times.

58/60 years, while termed as the retirement age in India, may not feel like a retirement to the body. We are mentally and physically in a better shape to continue working and hence the perspective of not building a corpus for retirement and then spending from it.

Rather invest in small/medium business and build multiple channels of income. This way there is constant cash flow and you have enough mental/physical activities to keep you engaged in a meaningful way, post the numerical age of 60. We would be creating employment and contributing to the economy rather than worrying about downturns and external factors that may impact our retirement nest. All I mentioned requires tremendous effort and agree most of us may not be able to pull it off, but just food for thought.

I have reached a point where I am now actively engaged in putting together small businesses and creating streams of income apart from my regular desk job.

Feel free to agree/disagree and hope everyone achieves their definition of "comfortable retirement".

[kvk]

Originally Posted by Siddash

Step 1 - Build the corpus

1. Start as early, as possible - NOTHING is as important as starting investing early to generate a retirement corpus. The earlier one starts, the lesser the monthly contribution to generate the same final corpus.

2. Be disciplined - Being regular and disciplined gives a huge impetus for the corpus to grow. It's like a well tuned 4 cylinder vs a sputtering, misfiring engine.

3. Stay long term - That's when the power of compounding kicks in.... Turbo boost

Cheers !!

Very well summarized Siddash and a good blueprint esp. for young ones starting their investment journey.

I would like to add a few things and include a few quotes to add to your excellent writeup:

Live Within Your Means: Self explanatory. "There is no dignity quite so impressive, and no one independence quite so important, as living within your means" -- Calvin Coolidge

Know Yourself: Your tolerance to risk. This will drive asset allocation (how much equity, how much fixed income). One may not know right away but one starts to get a feel as you go through market downturns. Asset Allocation is more important than the actual instruments (mutual funds etc.) you buy.

Keep Things Simple: One doesn't need to jump directly into stocks or ever own them. Mutual funds/ETFs work just fine and are a lot less work than stocks. Stay away from abstruse instruments that you don't understand or cannot explain to someone else in two minutes. "Don’t try to find the needle in the haystack, buy the haystack". "Simplicity is the master key to financial success" -- Jack Bogle

Discipline mentioned by Siddash is the most important factor. "Lack of FOMO is the single most important trait to accumulating wealth". "Incredible financial outcomes are obtained by being average over an above average (long) period of time" -- Morgan Housel. "It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent" -- Charlie Munger

Set It and Forget It: Don't watch the financial news. Don't react to every gyration in the market. Minimize the number of decisions you need to make. " All of us would be better investors if we just made fewer decisions" -- Daniel Kahneman

"Invest your money passively and your time actively" -- Michael LeBoeuf

[tasty911]

Originally Posted by kpkeerthi

A corpus of ₹6 crore (in 100% large cap equity) can sustainably support monthly withdrawals of ₹3 lakh, inflation-adjusted at 7%, for 35+ years. Assuming a modest and realistic 13% CAGR - roughly in line with NIFTY 50's historical average - it would still leave behind over ₹45 crore at the end of the 35th year.

If I only have 6cr, it may not be prudent to put all in equity (large cap or otherwise)
Factoring in inflation, I would not assume 1%-2% net returns.