Ace investor Warren Buffett recently said inflation swindles almost everybody. “Inflation swindles the bond investor. It swindles the person who keeps their cash under their mattress, it swindles almost everybody,” Buffett said during an address to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders on April 29 this year.
So, needless to say that retired people are no exception.
Regardless of how well you plan for your retirement, inflation can throw your plans in jeopardy. So, you ought to find a way to let your corpus grow in size to match inflation - if not beat it.
Alternatively, if you rely on fixed income instruments, that will not be enough. And interest you stand to earn on your fixed income instruments will invariably be lower than inflation.
So, wealth advisors advice investors to keep some investments in equity for some years after retirement. It is a big mistake to keep corpus untouched and stay away from equity altogether during retirement, say financial experts.
“There is no denying the fact that one should become a conservative investor towards and after the retirement. But it doesn't mean that one can’t risk a small portion of money in equity. It’s alright to keep 25-30 percent invested in equity even in the old age,” said Deepak Aggarwal, a chartered accountant and financial advisor.
“As interest rates offered by fixed income instruments are lower than the rate of inflation, you won't even realise before inflation will start eating into your savings,” he adds.
Marathon requires consistency
Saving for retirement is a marathon, not a sprint. It requires consistency and sincerity, as much it requires patience. But while you do that, make sure that you don’t make avoidable mistakes. First and foremost, remember that you don’t have to match your income but only meet your expenses.
The retirement corpus that you have created by investing consistently over past few decades is your key treasure. So, make sure that you only withdraw anywhere between 4 to 6 percent and do factor in inflation.
The philosophy behind FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) also says that investor ought to save a minimum of 30 times of their annual expenditure before they decide to retire.
And once they retire, they should keep their annual withdrawals in the range of 3 to 4 percent of their total savings.
Keep things simpler
Another thing financial advisor assert is to make assets simple to manage. The retired investors are recommended to sell off the assets they don’t need, and even close all the bank accounts which they don't regularly use.
“Consolidation is the key to tie all loose ends. Instead of maintaining four bank accounts, it is better to keep one, or at the max two — operational,” Aggarwal adds.
So, we can say that to save reasonably adequate for retirement, it is imperative to factor in inflation, stay consistent with your withdrawals and simplify your financial dealings as much as possible.