When should I start saving towards my retirement?

The best time to start  saving for retirement  is today. High  inflation, long work  years, lack of family  support system,  and an increasingly  consumption-driven  lifestyle means  retirement is going to  cost you and you are  on your own!  If you have not already  started saving for  retirement, please  start today. The earlier  the better! It doesn’t matter if you have just  started earning and  are not yet married.  In fact, planning for  retirement should  start right from  the beginning of  one’s career and  not the other way  round. Investing  for retirement now  and following a  disciplined approach  throughout your  working years will  ensure that you are  sufficiently prepared  without being  excessively burdened  during the later years.  For instance, if you  are 30, and expect  to retire at the age  of 60, and your  annual household  expenditure is Rs. 3  lakh, you will need  a retirement corpus  of Rs.4.33 crore at  retirement (Assuming  inflation at 7 per cent,  life expectancy as 80  years, and the post  retirement return on  corpus as 8 per cent).  Now if you start  saving every month  from today for the  above retirement  corpus till the age of  60, at 10 per cent rate  of return, you will  need to invest Rs. 19,024  every month. But if you start saving at the age of 40 for the same target corpus and rate  of return, you will  need to invest Rs.56,630  every month. The cost of postponement is thus very high! 

A word of advice

■ Do consider the impact of inflation 

■ Follow a disciplined approach towards  saving and investing 

■ Do not stop the regular contributions or prematurely withdraw from the corpus as far as  possible

 ■ Choosing the right asset class for your investments is very important. Seek help from a trusted and  expert investment or  financial advisor 

■ Plan for medical  exigencies such as  healthcare