Retirement planning
retirement
Retirement is an income problem, not a lump sum
The number people ask for is a corpus. The thing they actually need is a dependable income that lasts as long as they do.
the accumulation years
While income is coming in: building the corpus, and choosing how much variation in value is acceptable along the way.
the drawdown years
Once salary or business income stops: turning holdings into predictable cash flow without depleting them too early.
what it involves
Three forces decide whether it works
Inflation is the one most people underestimate, because it works quietly. At 6% a year, the cost of living roughly doubles in twelve years. Someone retiring at 60 and living to 85 will see prices rise several times over during retirement itself. A plan built on today's expenses without inflating them forward will fall short, and the shortfall arrives at the age when earning again is hardest.
Longevity is the second. Planning to a life expectancy average is planning to run out half the time. The practical approach is to plan to a conservative age — well beyond the average — and treat anything left as an inheritance rather than a miscalculation.
Sequence of returns is the one almost nobody is told about. Two retirees can experience identical average returns over twenty years and end up in completely different positions, purely because of the order those returns arrived. A sharp fall in the first few years of drawdown, while withdrawals are being taken, does far more damage than the same fall later. This is why the years immediately either side of retirement usually warrant a different structure from the accumulation years.
In practice most Indian retirement plans draw on several sources at once: EPF and gratuity from employment, NPS if it was used, rental income from property, business sale proceeds or ongoing distributions, and a financial portfolio. Each behaves differently in retirement — some are illiquid, some are taxed differently on withdrawal, some stop entirely if a tenant leaves. Modelling them together is the whole point.
how we help
From a number to a plan
The useful output is not a single figure. It is a sequence of decisions with dates attached.
model the income
Start from the income you will need each year, inflate it forward, and work back to what today has to look like.
structure the sources
Match each part of the income to holdings whose behaviour and liquidity actually suit that job.
review as it nears
Reassess as the date approaches, when the structure usually needs to change well before the last working day.
our approach
What working with us looks like
It starts with you — not with a product.
step
understand
We start by learning about your goals and your situation.
01
step
assess
We look at what you already have before anything else.
02
step
structure
We map out which types of investments might actually fit.
03
step
implement
We put the agreed structure in place, in a sensible order.
04
step
review
We revisit the plan as your goals or circumstances change.
05
is this for you
When this helps, and when it does not
This is arithmetic about a date, not a product sale. It is useful when the date is real and the numbers are honest.
Worth a conversation if
- You want to know what the income you expect actually costs in today’s money
- You have a rough date in mind and want to test whether it holds
- Existing savings, EPF or property are part of the picture and have never been counted together
- You would rather find out now than at fifty-five
Probably not, if
- You want a figure that confirms a plan already decided
- The expectation is a guaranteed income — nothing here can offer that
- You are looking for a single product that solves retirement on its own
faqs
Questions about retirement planning
It is rarely too late to improve the position, but the options change. With twenty years to go, regular contributions and time do most of the work. With five years to go, the useful levers are usually the retirement date itself, the income assumption, the contribution rate, and how existing assets — including property — are structured for drawdown.
It can be, provided it is treated realistically. Rental income is not contractually fixed: there are vacant periods, maintenance and repair costs, property tax, and the possibility that market rents in an area move against you. Used with those allowances built in, it is a legitimate and useful part of a retirement income plan.
Not necessarily, and doing so introduces its own risk. A retirement lasting twenty-five years still has to outpace inflation for most of that period, which is difficult with no growth assets at all. The more common adjustment is to hold the next few years of spending in stable, accessible form while leaving longer-dated money invested for growth.
Usually with an additional step, because the business is often both the main asset and the main source of income. That raises questions a salaried plan does not face: whether the business will be sold, passed on or wound down, what it would realistically fetch, how long a sale takes, and what income exists in the meantime. Building retirement savings outside the business matters more here, not less.
Risk and important information
Retirement projections depend entirely on assumptions — about returns, inflation, life expectancy and future expenses — and actual outcomes will differ, sometimes substantially. No projection is a promise, no return is guaranteed, and market-linked investments can fall in value including the possible loss of capital. Nothing on this page is investment, tax or legal advice.
let's talk
Let's start with a conversation
There's no obligation, no pressure — just a conversation about where things stand and where you'd like to go.