Plan Retirement Carefully and Avoid Falling Prey to FIRE, Says Pranjal Kamra

Pranjal Kamra, Founder of Finology Ventures Pvt. Ltd, shared his financial insights at Outlook Money’s 40After40 Retirement Expo in New Delhi, focusing on why Gen Z should adopt a long-term perspective. Highlighting the excessive use of social media among Gen Z, he remarked, “I don't have a single social media app on my phone, and I don't miss it—not even YouTube.”

Kamra also addressed the influence of social media personalities, cautioning against their impact on financial decisions. He warned that influencers often lead people into risky activities such as using lottery or betting apps. As an influencer himself, his advice for all is: “Follow influencers for entertainment, not education.”

He observed that the young generation is increasingly becoming comfortable with equated monthly installments (EMIs) and taking more and more debt. He emphasised that this "debt culture" is perilous, as it pushes individuals closer to a debt trap.

While talking about retirement planning, he suggested two critical rules one should not forget. One is inflation and that it gets doubled every 11-12 years. “So if your monthly expenses today is Rs 1 lakh a month, 12 years down the line, you will need Rs 2 lakh a month. The other rule is the 4 per cent rule which says that your annual expenses should not be more than 4 per cent of your retirement corpus.

Kamra endorsed the National Pension System (NPS) as an effective long-term investment, particularly because it is a long-term investment. Due to the long-term commitment people tend to save money and resist the temptation to dip into savings for short-term needs.

For those who have delayed retirement planning, Kamra advised avoiding unnecessary risks. “It can be really, really deadly as in some ways or the other, we start gambling to try and make up for lost time, lost discipline, or unplanned expense”, he warned. “If you are falling behind on your retirement planning trek, you could probably moonlight, you could probably teach, do something else, but you can’t take an incremental risk on your investments.”

“If you aim for FIRE, be disciplined, save adequately, and create passive income streams during your active working years. This way, you can maintain your lifestyle during retirement without compromise,” he concluded.