I work for a software company and earn ?1.2 lakh a month. My wife is a homemaker and we have two daughters aged seven and one. My parents are partially dependent on me. I have booked three apartments of which two will fetch rent of ?20,000, and the third ?10,000. My monthly expenses (including EMIs) is ?92,100. My investments are as follows: mutual funds – ?40 lakh, PF and PPF – ?14 lakh and equity shares – ?2.5 lakh. I have term cover for ?2 crore, endowment and pension plan worth ?6 lakh, and a health policy for ?19 lakh (top-up cover for ?15 lakh). My parents are covered to the tune of ?2 lakh. I wish to save ?23 lakh and ?27 lakh for my daughters’ education and marriage and have a retirement corpus of ?1.5 crore by 2036.

–  Sachin

Restrict your health cover to ?10 lakh and increase your parents’ cover to at least ?3 lakh.

Education: For your elder daughter’s graduation, you will need ?10.5 lakh, assuming 7 per cent inflation (same rate taken for all goals); so invest ?3,870 every month for 11 years. Invest ?2,390 every month for 15 years to keep ?15.8 lakh for your younger daughter’s education, assuming 12 per cent annual return.

Invest ?9,900 every month to have ?49.6 lakh for your elder daughter’s higher studies. For your younger daughter’s post-graduation ?65 lakh may be required; invest ?7,500 every month for 19 years. Earmark your current SIP investments of ?19,500 for these goals and to meet the shortfall, step up your contribution. For your elder daughter’s marriage you may need ?85 lakh after 17 years. Set aside ?12,900 every month for the goal. For your younger daughter’s marriage, earmark your holdings in mutual funds. If ?9.5 lakh grows at 12 per cent, you will have enough for her marriage. For your nieces’ marriage, earmark ?6.5 lakh out of the amount held in mutual funds.

Retirement: Your present corpus, together with the future contributions of EPF, will take care of a part of your retirement needs. You may need ?12.4 lakh at retirement. To receive such a pension, you must have a corpus of ?2.45 crore. The balance ?24 lakh held in mutual funds would suffice. You can consider retiring at 55.