As you may already know, retirement planning is most definitely a long but steady process that begins years before you retire. To many, retirement financial planning could sound complicated, but it can be simple if you get an early start.

Retirement planning simply means creating a long-term and sustainable financial plan for your retirement years. Such a financial plan is not only meant to support you and your needs but also that of your family members. Hence, when you are choosing from retirement plans in India, always ensure that you are able to select a retirement plan with a guaranteed^$ sum assured or a total financial corpus that will be adequate for your family as well as you.

You should aim to have a retirement pension plan where you can choose how you want to receive the benefits, as per your needs and preferences. For instance, many people go for the regular income option in their retirement years, which acts as a replacement for their salary, while others may choose to receive a lump sum benefit from their retirement plan for fulfilling some major financial goals.

An online retirement planning calculator is an easy-to-use online tool that only helps you calculate your retirement investment or corpus. With the help of this calculator, you can also find out how much you need to save on a monthly or annual basis if you need to accumulate a certain amount of funds during retirement.

The pension calculator, as it is also called, makes use of the following details to calculate these estimates:

• Your current annual salary

• Your annual savings

• The expected age of retirement

• Your date of birth

Once you provide these details on the online pension calculator, the tool will be able to give you a clear idea of how much monthly income you can expect during your retirement years with your accumulated retirement corpus.

Using a retirement calculator not only makes it easier for you to create a robust financial plan for your retirement but also helps in saving a lot of time as it is a quick and efficient online tool. Another important advantage of using an online retirement planning calculator is that it is a free tool that does not require you to pay any fees. Hence, let’s find out how a retirement planning calculator works:

• Visit the Tata AIA Life Insurance official website.

• Click on “Calculators” and go to Retirement Calculator.

• Enter your full name and the other necessary details.

• Provide your contact details so that our financial advisor can guide you for the right plan and proceed to the next page.

• After filling in some additional details, you can plan your retirement savings.

• The retirement plan online calculator will fetch the premium quotes for you so that you can compare the quotes, make a choice and select the retirement plan that suits you the best!

To use a pension calculator, you should know that your retirement corpus will be based on several factors such as your retirement age, your present age, how much you intend to invest each year and more. As per your needs and your family’s needs, you will have to save some funds that will sustain your basic needs, emergency needs and also any major expenses that are being planned.

Depending on your age and the funds you want to invest in the retirement plan, the retirement planning calculator will multiply this amount with a certain compounding rate to present a close estimate of the retirement corpus that you will be able to save over the years.

If you are 40 years old and wish to retire at the age of 65 years, it means you have 25 years in hand to save for your retirement. Assume that you will be saving at least 10% of your annual income each year for your retirement, and basis the plan chosen, you will be able to see in the online retirement planning calculator how much you can save when you reach the retirement age. If you start planning your retirement earlier, you will be able to get higher returns, and the compounding will also be greater as the investment tenure is longer.

When saving for your retirement, first understand your monthly and annual salary and your monthly expenses and savings. Once you have this information, allocate at least 10-15% of your monthly income for your retirement planning. This percentage maybe a little more or less, depending on the savings and investments you already have.

It is safe to assume that your retirement corpus should be at least 1 crore as that can be adequate for a monthly income for the next 10-15 years. The amount can and should be more if there are more members in your family and if there are some major financial goals that need to be fulfilled.

Always consider all types of expenses made by each member of the family. For example, if you are aware that you and your family need to relocate to another city after your retirement, this expense will have to be added to your retirement planning.

When using a pension calculator, you will also be able to consider the assumed inflation rate and an expected interest rate that can help you get a better estimation of how much you will have to save for your retirement.