Kalyani Narayanan, CEO and Principal Officer says

In South India, many communities celebrate the 60th and 80th birthday of a man by conducting wedding like event with his wife (no, he does not get a new bride) to celebrate the time the couple had spent together. Living till 60 must have been considered a blessing back when this tradition started. I had the pleasure of attending such one 60th birthday event last month. There were about 100 people seated in the audience. Believe it or not, 72 of them were actually older than the couple; about a dozen among them were 80+ with walking sticks. I was not sure if it really was a 'blessing' to live past 80… Physical problem is one thing, but if you also have to deal with financial problem, it would certainly not be a 'blessing'.

Think about it! If we retire by the time we are 60, in all probability, we and our spouses would all end up living another 25 years if not longer. This requires some serious consideration!!

Here is a fact: My doctor used to charge me Rs. 50 each time I visited her 20 years back. Today, she charges Rs. 200 for each visit. That is roughly about 7.2% inflation rate. If I apply the same rate, in another 20 years, she would charge me Rs. 800. So, let us say, my monthly expenses are about Rs. 25000 today, in 20 years, I would need nearly Rs. 100000 at 7.2%. We have an inflation calculator in our site.  You can access it to do your own calculations:  Visit http://www.easyinsuranceindia.com/inflationindex.do

I don't want to panic you. But, please make sure that you save up enough to have a peaceful life upon retirement. Save some money in real estate, some in safe insurance based plans, some in PF, etc. If you have a fairly decent knowledge on the stock market, then ULIP based pension plans are not a bad option. If you are below 40, invest a bit aggressively; if you are between 40 - 50 play somewhat conservative; and beyond that play very safe. No matter how old you are, you are never too early to start planning for retirement.

Money is not the most important thing in life if you have it, but it is the most important thing in life if you don't have it - I don't know who said that, but it is so true…

Wish you and your spouse a peaceful, happy journey into your retired life.

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