Retirement planning is one of the biggest financial decisions one makes in life. It has a set of challenges and if you don't get your finances right with smart planning and consistency, you are unlikely to achieve your retirement goal. When planning for retirement, one has a number of questions including: Where to put money? How much and for how long?
Who better to answer these questions than those who are experienced?
In a series on retirement planning, MintGenie interviews a retired senior citizen every week to explore how they planned their retirement, the investments that worked for them, the ones that did not, the advice they have for the younger generations and much more.
This week, we've interviewed Apurba Kumar Sharma, retired MD, Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemical Limited, to know how he planned his retirement and learn some lessons.
“One should accept retirement as happily as possible. Retirement is the completion of a long service career on attaining a certain age,” says Sharma, adding that he has mostly achieved his retirement goals.
Edited Excerpts:
How did you plan your retirement and did you follow that plan?
Retirement from active service life doesn't come all of a sudden. It is known, when one starts his career. The three key requirements for a happy and peaceful retirement life are - good physical health, good mental health and financial strength. These aspects must be clearly understood from the early part of the career and should live a balanced life. I was concerned about these aspects at least from the mid of my service career and followed a plan to achieve these. One auxiliary issue that bothers most of us is a house to live in after retirement. This is more of a psychological need for mental peace. I invested in a house with company's loan when I was about 40, though I didn't stay there at all. I kept on changing houses with new evolving requirement, till I recently moved to a moderate accommodation which is easier to maintain and in close proximity to daily needs.
What were the investments you made?
Too much of investment was not possible for me, as the salary structure those days was not attractive and as a person I did not have high risk taking ability in personal finances. The contributory provident fund deduction which was compulsory in nature was the major investment which I got with accrued benefit on superannuation. Apart from this, I invested systematically in public provident fund and UTI schemes available at that time. The yields from these savings and the superannuation benefits received have been invested in some low risk schemes with a reasonable return.
In your view, what works best for retirement and what doesn't?
One should accept retirement as happily as possible. Retirement is the completion of a long service career on attaining a certain age. This is the end of one chapter and opening of a new one. One should concentrate and pursue areas where he has interest, but couldn't do due to lack of opportunity and time during service life. We, the retired persons should give considerable time to the family, and near and dear ones. One shouldn't live in an imaginary world that he will continue to have all the powers, status, facilities, etc. which he had enjoyed during service life. Comparing everything of the service life with the present circumstances and also with others will move away the happiness from you. We must learn to have flexibilities and adaptability to the new environment and lead a humble life of a senior citizen. We must delicately balance our expectations and reality.
Did you achieve your retirement goal?
I will be unfair to myself if I say that I have fully achieved my retirement goals. But I can proudly say that I have mostly achieved my retirement goals.
According to you, what are the most important factors to consider when planning retirement?
As I said earlier, consideration of physical health, mental health and financial strength are the most important factors to consider when planning retirement. To keep oneself physically and mentally active, there is a need to pursue regular exercise, meditation, some hobbies or creative work and healthy dietary habits. In spite of your best attention to health, you or your family members may come across health issues, many of them may be age related. In view of the rising cost of healthcare, one must have medical insurance cover for self and the dependants if such facilities are not provided by the organisation he served.
Another equally important thing to consider is that on your retirement, your family is also entering into a new era of life, which should be equally rewarding to them.
Any advice for GenZ for early retirement?
In the prime time of life one needs to work very hard to excel in whatever field he works. Everyone must explore his full potential. In my personal opinion, early retirement is not an option except in exceptional circumstances. However, in the present day world, if someone wishes to do his own start-up or look after his family business or pursue a different line of his interest thereby fulfilling his own desire and contributing to the society, can really be appreciated.
