Retirement Finance

Retirement planning must go beyond building a corpus, with experts warning against speculative trading after retirement

A step-by-step guide to aligning your budget and investments with your actual take-home pay to build a sustainable financial plan

What happens after you start spending the safe bucket? If it is meant to hold two years of expenses, it has to be refilled from time to time

It is a milestone where you have accumulated enough in your investment accounts to fund your retirement age

Invest at least 25%of your post-tax income exclusively for retirement

Start by saving 15-20% of your take-home income and gradually increasing the amount as your salary grows

Build your own financial security early in your career, no matter your family situation is

Build a corpus that reflects your needs and review your investments regularly

A retirement income plan is not something you set once and forget: It needs small adjustments over time

The entire retirement corpus will not be needed on day one, so it should be split into growth and income-generation buckets to manage inflation and longevity risks

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As the September 30 deadline approaches, the central government employees must choose between the assured payouts of UPS and the market-driven growth of NPS.

Unified Pension Scheme mirrors National Pension System's tax benefits; employees have time till Sept 30 to make switch

The government has opened a one-time window for employees under the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) to switch back to the National Pension Scheme (NPS), reshaping retirement choices for millions

Rising costs and financial goals prompt the wealthy to raise the bar, according to HSBC's Affluent Investor Snapshot 2025

The new scheme provides a guaranteed monthly pension, lump sum payout, and interest-bearing arrears for NPS subscribers who retired on or before 31 March 2025

Central government employees retiring a day before their annual pay hike date would be eligible to get notional increment for the purpose of calculating the pension admissible to them, an official order said. The move follows a Supreme Court order in this regard. "It is advised that in pursuance of the above referred order dated 20.02.2025 of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, action may be taken to allow the increment on July 1/January 1 to the Central government employees who retired/are retiring a day before it became due, i.e., on June 30/December 31, and have rendered the requisite qualifying service as on the date of their superannuation with satisfactory work and good conduct for calculating the pension admissible to them," the order issued by the personnel ministry said. The existing rules allow the employees to choose either July 1 or January 1 as their increment date. As specifically mentioned in the orders of the apex court, "grant of the notional increment on January 1/July 1 .

In the last three years, the top 5 retirement funds have given an average return of 11-16 percent to investors

Their risk-return profiles can vary widely. Equity-focused schemes may perform better in a bull market, while debt-oriented ones may offer greater stability during volatile periods

Rising awareness of financial planning has fueled a 256 per cent increase in retirement mutual fund AUM in the last five years, according to a report. Factors such as rising healthcare costs, increasing nuclear families, and higher life expectancy are likely to fuel further growth in this sector, an ICRA Analytics report said. "Assets under Management (AUM) of these funds have grown by over 256 per cent in the last five years, reaching Rs 29,903 crore in July 2024, compared to Rs 8395 crore in July 2019," it said. ICRA said the growing awareness has led to a surge in the number of folios, which has increased by 17.44 per cent in the last five years to 29.36 lakh in July 2024, up from 25 lakh in July 2019. The number of schemes has also increased from 21 in 2019 to 29 in 2024. A retirement mutual fund is a specialized investment vehicle designed to provide a secure and comfortable post-retirement life. These funds invest in both equity and debt, aiming to balance wealth appreciation