The lady who managed it all
Hard work and a savings discipline can ensure that you have enough money to see you through your golden years. Meet Noidabased Shubhra Sharma, 60, who, with careful planning, has made her retirement something that she is doting on. She has travelled a long way from the time in the late 1980s, when she was earning Rs.100 a day as a casual news reader with All India Radio (AIR). “The money was less, considering I was a lecturer at Patna University before I moved to Delhi,” she says.
Now, having retired from AIR in August 2014, Sharma is looking forward to a life in retirement. For Sharma, who’s young in spirit, age is just a number, and she wants to spend her life after retirement doing things she loves. A doctorate in Ancient Indian History from Banaras Hindu University, she stays with her mother and aunt in her own house in Greater Noida.
Living as she does with two elderly family members, Sharma has given special care on the interiors to make it disable-friendly. The entire house has been fitted with anti-skid tiles and the floor has been flushed to a uniform level with no raised or depressed platforms. There are no carpets or rugs to hamper wheelchair movement to any part of the house, including the kitchen. “A lot of planning went into this. I spoke to my architect and spared no expense,” she says. The same goes true for her finances, too.
Overcoming tough times
More than 25 years ago, when Sharma moved to Delhi, things were not easy. “I couldn’t find a job as a lecturer with Delhi University because it did not have the concerned department,” she says. In fact, the university suggested that she obtain a masters degree again to be eligible as a faculty. To make matters worse, her marriage was going through a rough phase and after a period of separation, she applied for divorce in 1990. “It was not easy for a single mother with a year-old son and a career that was headed nowhere,” she narrates. Not only had she to fend for herself, she also had to care of her parents. “A job was a must,” she recalls. Sharma took up freelance work— writing for newspapers and doing voice-overs for Tana Bana, a show for children commissioned by PTI.
She also forayed into scripting a series on Vedic period stories for children for the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and pitched in as the Sanskrit resource for a Doordarshan programme where she was responsible for planning and designing the entire show. The drive to be on her own and manage her finances, at times, even led to 48-hour shifts. “My parents were a big support. My father was getting a pension, which covered the household expenses, but I had to look after myself and my son,” she says. After five years of freelancing, she managed a permanent job as a news reader with AIR in 1992. The job came with security and all the perks of the time. “I actually refused a job from a private production company that was offering better money than AIR,” she says.
Of course, joining AIR also meant she could no more take up freelance assignments which involved issues that were of interest to her, especially those requiring the use of her voice. But she could still take up writing assignments, something that helped her stay engaged in areas of her interest.
Fiscal fitness
A late bloomer, Sharma was quick to understand that money was important and she had to make sure she had it when she’d need it. “I also had to bring up my son and ensure he did not feel missed out on anything. The fact that my parents took care of him when I was working meant he got spoilt with love from his grandparents. It was left to me to play the role of a disciplinarian. I taught him from a very early age to take his own decisions,” she says.
The same advice also applied to her. Though she did not know much about financial products, helpful advice from an elderly relative resulted in her saving and investing money slowly.
Understandably, she started with investments in safe avenues, such as government bonds, bank FDs and National Savings Certificates. “I was earning little money and could not afford to take risks. Whenever an investment matured, I made it a point to reinvest the principal and keep the interest or income for spending if I needed something or reinvested it again,” she says.
But the big financial decision she made was in 1999 when she became a member of a co-operative housing scheme in Greater Noida that constituted members of the AIR and Doordarshan fraternity. “‘Why do you need another house,’ my father asked? But, I thought it was a good chance to have a house of my own,” she says. Moreover, the fact that the society was formed with her colleagues and friends only made her happier, as she liked the prospect of moving to a place where she could find people she could trust.
The decision to go for a house of her own was also triggered by a news item she came across of veteran actress Lalita Pawar dying a lonely death in her flat and her body lying undiscovered for two days. She also considered the possibility of staying away from her parents, which further necessitated her need to go for a flat in a surrounding where she had people she knew. “Here I have friends who personally know me and my habits and will enquire about me if they don’t see me around,” she says. Besides, there was the added benefit of staying far away from the hustle and bustle of the city after retirement, in a quiet place with clean air. She chose from the various options available and settled for a four-bedroom house.
The co-operative approach to acquire a house worked to her advantage financially as well, because it meant she did not have to shell out a big sum at one go. “Initially, the lump sum payments for design, registration, etc., were Rs.50,000-Rs.60,000, which is what we paid periodically over a few years,” she recounts. Once the plan was approved, the construction started in 2001, when she had to fork out Rs.7.5 lakh, for which she took a loan.
Since it was a group loan, it came at a lower interest rate with an EMI of Rs.7,500. “I had always planned to clear off the loan before retirement. I made a couple of lump sum prepayments and closed the loan in 2012,” she says.
Life comes a full circle
Just as life was finding its own rhythm, her father died in 2003, leaving her with the additional responsibility of caring for her mother as well. “We received a lower family pension after my father died, and I was servicing a car loan and a home loan at that time and things were tight again,” she says.
The gutsy Sharma took up several translation assignments to create additional income to tide over those days. She, however, received a respite when the Sixth Pay Commission came into effect in 2006 and eased up matters a bit. Her salary increased, the car loan got over in 2007, and the house was now ready for her to move in. Since she was staying in her father’s house, she let out her flat, which fetched her rental income, that in turn paid for the EMI for the home loan. This is when Sharma finally had some surplus and she invested it in mutual funds through systematic investment plans and has been doing so ever since. “I have enough to sustain myself. As long as one does not aim for bigger and better things all the time, such as big bungalows and bigger cars, you can do with what you earn. That is my philosophy in life,” she says. And we do agree with her.