Retirement is the most delicate part of your life. It is free from professional and financial obligations. However, you need to have sufficient financial resources to make the best of your retirement life. And the retirement plan should start as early as you start your career because you will have lesser financial responsibilities, better income and a longer time to accumulate funds at that age. Various retirement schemes in India make this procedure simple and easy.
 

Here is how you can plan retirement in India.
 

Why is Retirement Financial Planning Important?
 

Before we get started, let us realise the need for retirement planning.
 

Retirement starts at the end of your employment phase. Therefore, you will start losing out on a regular source of income. Although you might have earned a huge retirement corpus, you may not be able to spend it wisely. You might have been used to a lifestyle that you may not be able to compromise and a bunch of family obligations left to be fulfilled.
 

Also, your medical expenses might rise abruptly and unexpectedly at an older age. The right way to manage such routine expenses and unexpected financial scenarios to lead a happy retirement life is by planning your retirement early and with the best strategies. Choosing a retirement investment will help you secure your future while also saving on taxes*. Here is how you can plan retirement in India.
 

The Retirement Planning Guide
 

There are different ways to plan for retirement. However, you should get started right. Here are a few steps that you can consider.
 

• Have a monthly budget - Your retirement investment should not hinder your day-to-day living expenses. List down your sources of income and routine expenses such as groceries, clothing, travel, entertainment, etc. Allocate specific funds for the individual expense and set aside a fund for your financial plan for your money goals and retirement investment.
  
  
• Prepare a financial plan - List down your short-term and long-term financial obligations, the extent of finances required and the timelines to accomplish them. Based on these needs, choose the financial products you can invest in to accomplish them in a timely manner. Your short-term goals include purchasing a new car, house, etc., and long-term financial obligations are getting your children married, paying for their higher education, starting a new business, etc. The required funds should be calculated by accounting for the inflation rate if the timelines for the money goals are longer.
  
  
• Plan for retirement - Now that you have planned sufficient funds for your routine lifestyle and long-term financial obligations, you can work on your retirement investment. Decide on the extent of investment and the product based on your financial needs. For example, you might have derived a monthly budget that can satisfy your lifestyle. Make a note of this monthly budget, increasing it to a considerable extent to include medical and other unexpected financial responsibilities and account for the inflation rate. Then, choose retirement schemes in India that can help satisfy this need at an affordable rate.
  
  
• Choose the retirement plan - There are different types of retirement plans in India. A retirement policy in India will be based on two different phases; the accumulation phase and the annuity phase. During the accumulation phase, you will start saving funds for your retirement investment, and at the end of the phase, you will purchase an annuity solution that can help satisfy your financial needs by providing a regular income in the form of a pension.
  
  Banks and life insurance providers in India offer several annuity product solutions. Life insurance providers have introduced different customisable product solutions. You can purchase a retirement investment product with a lump sum payment and ensure a regular income for your retirement or pay premiums regularly to receive life cover and guaranteed¹ returns in the form of regular income for a defined period starting from maturity.
  
  Our Tata AIA policy also provides investment solutions with immediate and deferred annuity plan options. The immediate annuity plan will provide the regular income immediately as you purchase the product, and the deferred annuity plan will start providing it from a later date. You can also invest in financial products backed by the government, such as the Public Provident Fund, National Pension Scheme, Post Office Monthly Income Scheme, etc. Evaluate the returns on investment and your affordability to decide on the product option.
  
  
• Start early and increase your retirement investment timely - Based on your financial requirements and affordability, you can analyze and choose the best retirement policy in India. However, you must start investing early to accumulate more corpus. Also, it would help if you increased your retirement investment at different milestones in your life or when your income enhances to account for the increasing inflation rate that might affect your retirement goals. 
   

There are different ways to do retirement planning. First, you need to evaluate your personal financial needs and obligations to find the best product based on your affordability.
 

Conclusion
 

Retirement is a golden period of your life. However, it would be best if you took the necessary financial initiatives to lead a happy and satisfying retirement. First, you must make a monthly budget and decide on the short-term and long-term financial objectives. Then, you need to allocate funds for the same and set aside a fund for your retirement goals.
 

While allocating funds, you need to consider the inflation rate. Based on these financial needs and affordability, choose the right retirement investment that can serve your purpose satisfactorily. Finally, start investing early in life, keep increasing the investment promptly and stay invested to maximise the retirement benefits in India.


L&C/Advt/2022/Sep/2349