Currently, in India, the average life expectancy of people is 70 years, and the retirement age is when you turn 60. This means you can earn up to the age of 60, and after that, you cannot earn by working somewhere. Now, this is when a practical retirement plan comes into the picture. You have to plan your expenses and secure your future expenses in advance to avoid financial problems after retirement. You are supposed to plan to make yourself financially secure for the period starting after your retirement. There are various pension plans for you to choose from. You can go with the option you find most profitable.
Ideally, you are required to save a proportion of your income every month to invest in your pension plan. The percentage that is to be invested can be planned and can be revised when there are changes in your salary, i.e., it can be increased when your salary increases. Say a person’s monthly income is INR 90,000, and you invest INR 4500 every month in this pension scheme in India. By the end of the fifth year, you will have save INR 2,70,000 in your pension fund, and this amount is without interest. The interest that you receive depends on the scheme you invest in. This amount can be further increased when you get an increment in your salary.
Another essential part of securing the future is to start saving at the right time. When you start saving at an early age, only a small investment is sufficient. But if a personal realization of securing your future dawns at the later stages of your working age, you might have to keep aside vast chunks of salary to save a sufficient amount for the future. And then, you have to give up on a lot of expenses and compromise on your wants.
When people start investing right from the early stages, they need to save a small part of their salary as the burden of future finances is distributed over a long period. A person starts typically working around the age of 20-25. This means that you roughly have around 35-40 years to save for his future. In the same way, when you start investing at the age of 40, you will have to collect double the amount you would have saved if you started saving from the beginning as now you only have half the time i.e., 20 years.
To start saving for a financially secure future is always a good idea because even you pass away earlier than expected, the sum of the amount invested goes to your nominee, usually your family. And when you live longer, it helps to a great extent to take care of your expenses. This is because the medical fees keep on rising as you age, and one has to cope with it to live a healthy life.
