-Kiran Bhave
Well, did you have your thoughts put together? Now this is tough, needs are limited, but wants are unlimited.
So, let me ask you some simple questions to orient your thoughts. Let’s assume, you are not planning to take an early retirement for whatever reasons and would eventually retire at the age of 58 or 60. Are you sure, you’ve enough to complete all of your current and future responsibilities? Are you confident that you’ll be able to plan foreign trips, your parent’s and family’s health & medical bills with the kitty that you’ve acquired till then? Forget about all, will you be able to sustain your current lifestyle without doing a single compromise?
Many of you will spring back saying I’ve purchased second home, piece of land, retirement plan, I’ve PPF, pension policy, SIP, MF, shares and the like. This is not the answer to my question. My question is whatever is your planning done so far, are you 100% sure that it will take care of your family’s need post retirement? I see a hesitation there to answer a LOUD YES.
Now let’s get real, and take a deep breath for what I’m going to tell you further. It is not something you’d like or expect to hear.
Let me pinch you that you have never sat down to calculate on a piece of paper to estimate what would be your expenses then. Once you hear that your eyes would be wide open with jaws dropped. No exaggeration!!
Now here are some facts – I used to purchase “Modern bakery” bread that was costing Re 1.75 in 1988. The same bread today costs Rs. 22 in 2018. (Update: Rs.32 in 2022). Mind you, that’s the white bread, that no one eats today. So called healthy brown bread costs Rs.33 in 2018. (Update: Rs.50 in 2022). . 30 years later, in 2048, whether you want to trust me or not, in all possibilities, it will cost you in the excess of Rs.300 a loaf of bread! If your monthly expenses are ranging from 40000 to 80000 today, it will then be running into 3 to 6 lacs per month with just 7% inflation with NO upgrade in lifestyle. Your so called comprehensive pension plan / policy won’t even give you 40,000 per month. With that you will barely be able to pay your electricity bill then. Do you still think your retirement pldans and PPF and properties will take care of these expenses?
Well, friends, here I want you to wake up to the reality that the statistics shows that those who retired at the age of 60 without giving any thought to their financial planning with random investments, had to start again some sort of work at the age of 64, whether they desired or not. Imagine your health conditions then as compared to today.
I think that’s enough of horror stories 🙂 although I have more with real examples, I’ll stop here.
Now let me share a part of my story. I’ve taken my early financial freedom at the age of 44 years – 16 years before my conventional retirement age of 60.
Which means, if I assume a life expectancy of 90 years, thanks to medical science, I have whooping 46 years to continue without a paycheck, which is actually more than my age!! Isn’t that stupid and insane decision with the above discussion? Those who know me, they know I am not a risk taker. My household was a single earner home, no inherited properties or wealth. All the planning is done from my Income alone. I am telling you this because, if I can do it, you too can do it.
What makes me so much confident that I’m sure that I’ll never have an issue? The answer is simple, My Money trees are now tall enough and bearing fruits of different colors and shapes that are sufficient for my current and future needs.
Now, how do you know your current and future needs? Here, My personal initiative of अर्थस्वातंत्र्य ™ can come in handy! I can save you a huge amount of time and efforts, as I’ve created a methodology based on my own experience and expertise of over 15 years and extracted into an easy to understand template.
Many of you asked me that you have understood the necessity and would like to spring into action. I’ve a good news for you. With years of my experiments, failures, I now know what works and where are the pitfalls to avoid. I’ve come out with this precious methodology to help my friends achieve their life goals.
If you are interested, you may download the same HERE. This is Level 1 template from Arthaswatantrya. There are 3 Levels and as our discussion progresses, when you complete Level 1, You’ll open up Level 2 template. Level 3 is a personal counseling session with you & your spouse to chalk out an action plan for your family.
The moment you know how much is needed for all your needs and draw an action plan to achieve them based on your current assets, you are well on your way to secure your family financially containing all the worries for money.
When it’s a matter of health, we seek professional advice from qualified doctors. Wealth is equally important too, however, we refrain seeking advice on this front and it’s a huge risk. Without a professional advice, you can’t expect your current random investments will grow into tall trees that will bear enough fruits for your family’s survival when its needed the most.
Without having a comprehensive plan and appropriate actions, you actually cannot stop sowing seeds and start eating the fruits, as the choice of the tree may be incorrect, seeds may be very weak and the fruits from those trees may not be sufficient to satisfy your family needs.
I’ll be happy to become a partner in your journey of financial freedom!
Have a rich, meaningful, happy, healthy and wealthy life!!
(3 Part series ends here)
– Kiran Bhave
Visit http://www.AS-44.com (Artha Swatantrya @ 44)
NISM Level 2 (Highest) SEBI and IRDAI Certified financial advisor
NSE Certified Financial Goal Planner