Ability to beat inflation decides your retirement corpus
I am 44, employed in a private company. My wife, 42, is a home maker. I want to take VRS, two years from now. Please suggest a suitable investment strategy.
My employer provides group medical cover; I don’t have a separate health policy.
Gopalakrishnan.
If you invest your current corpus in instruments that can earn more than inflation, you can lead a comfortable life.
For instance, your present monthly outgo of ?25,000 will be ?28,600 after two years, assuming 7 per cent inflation. If you prefer to have a conservative portfolio, earning returns inline with the inflation, you will need a corpus of ?1.17 crore, which you already have.
But, you can take some more risk now and accumulate more to sustain your wife life-long. Also, once you retire, you may want to go on a vacation/pilgrimage or need money to meet medical emergencies, which is not factored in your monthly budget.
You have adequate savings and can consider taking voluntary retirement. Since you have not disclosed your retirement benefits, we have not factored that in our calculation.
Out of your current corpus of ?1.5 crore invest ?1 crore in bank deposits, corporate deposits, and immediate annuity plans. Invest ?30 lakh in a balanced fund; you can withdraw 0.8 per cent of the capital (?24,000) after 12 months to meet monthly expenses. Monitor the fund performance and switch to liquid funds, if the equity market turns turbulent.
You can park ?15 lakh in one-year deposits of ?2 lakh each; this can help you meet any emergency.
Buy a medical cover for ?5 lakh and a super top up for another ?5 lakh.
The writer is financial planner and founder of myassetsconsolidation.com. Send your queries to blinefp@gmail.com