How to project your retirement corpus

I did it the painful way - one entry for every year of existence. 

On top, were the expenses rows. 

Under that were the income rows. 

The first thing you need to determine is how long you think you will live. I took my parents' average age and added 5 to it for medicine induced longevity. 

These are the assumptions: 

A. Cost of living expenses go up by 6% YoY if one owns a house and 8% YoY if one does not. 

B. Factor in Full time caretaker cost from the age of 75. Take current values and add 12% YoY inflation until you reach the year of turning 75.  

C. Some Capex that can be expected if one is retiring alone: 

      Cremation and inheritance costs 

      House Maintenance cost every 10 years 

D. Assume about 8% YoY growth in the value of your gold bullion. 

E. I took 5% as the return from FD and 10% from equity. There are no mutual funds in my investment portfolio. 

F. For rentals of properties owned, I assumed a 8% YoY growth and a 60% occupancy rate. 

G. For self earning through consulting and other fun stuff, I took a conservative number and gave it at 5-10% YoY growth. Potential age up to which one can earn - 75 

The objective: 

A. The inflow should be at least 10% higher than the expenses, else the corpus will not be able to keep pace with inflation. 

B. There should be some bullion as liquid assets that can be used to deal with unexpected illness. 

C. Find out the cost structure of assisted living and start planning for that at the age of 50. I assumed entry into assissted living at the age of 70 or thereabouts. 

D. Have a plan to either reverse mortgage or sell any real estate that is not manageable for you after a certain age. 

E. Track your portfolio consistently and see if the income and expenses are keeping pace with the retirement strategy. 

The excel sheet, by the way, looks like this: 

Probe8 is now listed by private book stores in India, US, and Australia!!

I just realised.. with Dymocks.. my book has been listed by private bookstores (not Amazon, but websites of real bookstores) in India, US, and Australia!!! 

And all this without promoting the book one bit! 

Even on Amazon, the rank of the book keeps going up and down, which means sales are happening. 

I don't see a penny of those sales, but am so glad that the book is being recognised and loved on its own merit. 

Of all our labours of love - children are the most dear. Books come a close second. 

If you like the book, do give it a nudge - leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, or our own website. 

One more Australia listing for Probe8!

This is a week of surprises! 

Probe8 was listed on ebay Australia earlier this week but today, imagine my surprise when I found it on Dymocks - a 140 years old bookstore in Australia!! 

https://www.dymocks.com.au/book/probe8-by-nidhi-arora-9798890026521

For some reason, Google is not letting me upload the screenshot!! 

Yay and Yay!! 

This now makes the book listed on private bookstore websites in India, Europe, US, and Australia! Yippee!!!! 

Book Review: The Girl who disappeared by Vikrant Khanna

A pacy thriller. 

That would be the headline of the review. 

Thrillers and mysteries are not an easy genre to write. Primarily because readers have read literally hundreds of plots and are waiting to pre-empt the plot. 

Therefore, the author has to take the reader along on the journey, but also find a way to stay one step ahead of the reader. 

The book has easy, credible characters. The story progresses at an easy, bordering on languid, pace. But the advantage of a book is that one can speed read the slow sections if one wants to. 

The characters and the plot develop simultaneously, with details getting added in each chapter. 

While the overall plot is credible, but just so, the rest of the story also has some plot holes that leave the reader, if not frustrated, definitely wondering. Maybe, a writer cannot cover all bases of probability, or the book would become too big to be readable. 

If you have a flight or a short train/bus ride, or are looking for a pacy read to spend a lazy winter afternoon, this book would be a good fit. 

An Ebay Australia listing for Probe8!

 

This is a new one!!!!

Pakistan becomes the first country to successfully counter illegal residents

 While we were busy with other major news, Pakistan, on October 3rd, asked everyone living illegally in the country to move out voluntarily by November 1st or be arrested, and thousands of people left - on their own.

The UN tried to intervene, the Afghan government tried to influence, but the *interim* government of Pakistan kept its stand unchanged. They must leave, or they will be arrested.

This, from an interim government.

Some of these undocumented people reached Pakistan in 1979 but never documented themselves or applied for refugee/citizen status.

This makes Pakistan the first country in the world to successfully deal with illegal immigration.

PS: Is there a human cost? Sure. Is this the right thing to do? No idea. But I think it deserves to be recognised that Pakistan became the first country to issue a warning and actually get illegal residents to voluntarily leave.

Investment Strategies my Gradnparents Taught

 1. Plan for the biggest expenditure first.

2. If it doesnt make common sense, then it doesnt make any sense.
3. Protect your assets and dont blame the managers.
4. While running after Lakshmi, NEVER overlook the importance of Saraswati (meaning, if you have 2 potential partners - one, whose ability to create material wealth is proven but his maturity is slightly lower, and second, who will not help you make as much money, but is a more mature/ wise person, go for the latter.)
5. ALWAYS use a part of your income for charity, and make sure your children know of it.
6. There comes a time when any incremental wealth / income will give u disproportionately more heartburn/ stress. Know what that point is for you. Dont go beyond it.
7. Remember that the reason why you are trying to make all that money, is to be able to sleep peacefully. And remember that peacefully is the key word.
8. Gold never grows old.
9. Dont invest in stocks. Invest in businesses. And then stay.

PS: I will keep adding to this post as more and more things come to mind. I have to put it at one place.. for moi! :-) And.. Thank you!! (to the Grandparents)