As you may be aware, recently PersonalFN concluded a Retirement Planning survey, and many valued readers like you actively participated in it. In the survey we've got some really interesting findings, which we are about to share with you.

A maximum number of people who took the survey were in the age group of 45 to 60 years of age (comprising of 40.9% of the total sample size), followed by the ones in the age group of 36 to 45 (comprising of 27.0% of the total sample size). Those in the initial stage of their economic life cycle i.e. in the age group of 25 to 35 years of age comprised only 15.2% of the total sample size, being even relatively smaller than those over 60 years of age who also participated in PersonalFN's Retirement Planning Survey (comprising of 16.1% of the total sample size). This seemingly revealed that people in the initial stage of their economic life cycle are yet not very serious about planning for their retirement, right from the beginning possible, due to interim goals on their mind such as buying a house, children's education and other expenses.

While 55.3% of the respondents wished to retire at the age of 60 - which seemed reasonable, 17.8% of the respondents desired to retire at the age of 55. And there were some ambitious one's as well who expressed their desire to retire at their age of 50 (comprising of 6.9% of the total sample size) – and some even at the age of 45 (comprising of 3.1% of the total sample size). Those who were already retired constituted a fairly large portion i.e. 16.9% of the total sample size.

Asset classes and asset allocation…
Now it is noteworthy that, 34.2% of the respondents had a highest allocation to debt instruments (such as Fixed deposits, Recurring Deposits, PPF, Debt mutual funds etc.) followed by those who held investment in real estate (comprising of 33.5% of the total sample size) in the form of land, residential property and commercial premises. Nevertheless, those holding equity (in the form of shares, mutual funds, ESOPs) were also at close margin (to the tune of 29.8% of the total sample size) to those investing in debt and real estate. It was rather surprising, but good to see respondents allocating lower portion towards investment in gold (in a physical form, gold ETFs and gold saving funds).

But notwithstanding their allocation to respective asset classes (as cited above), 45.3% of the respondents preferred to invest in equities for meeting their life goal of retirement, followed by those wanting to deploy their money in debt and real estate (who comprised 28.7% and 20.3% respectively of the total sample size). Therefore given the contradiction to their existing allocation to respective asset classes, vis-à-vis where they would want to invest to live a blissful retired life; the survey revealed that most of the respondents (i.e. 41.1% of the total sample size) were either not sure whether they have sufficient assets or were decisive enough to realise that they do not have sufficient asset for retirement (who comprised 33.6% of the sample size). However, the ones who believed that they are investing as per their asset allocation designed to achieve their goal of retirement outnumbered those who were not following asset allocation or even didn't know what it is. Albeit these admissions, a majority i.e. 97.0% of the respondents believed that proper planning is imperative to live a blissful retired life.

And what drew investment decisions?
You see, what drove most respondents (i.e. 58.3% of the total sample size) was return on investment they would clock on their investments, followed by the investment risk (which comprised 20.6% of the total sample size). Liquidity and tax drove only 12.0% of the respondents while investing, followed by an elfin 9.2% of the respondents who said that they don't think much before investing.

For 36.3% of the respondents, the media, magazines and news channels was a source of information while investing, while around 35.3% believed in doing their own research. Few took guidance from friends and relatives (comprising of 11.4% of sample size) and there were some who took services of financial advisors / agents (comprising of 17.0%).

The challenges…
While 45.5% of the total sample size believed inflation to be a major challenge to achieve the life goal of retirement, some took cognisance of lack of planning (comprising of 22.1% of the sample size). On the other hand 15.6% of the respondents ascribed to high expenses as a challenge to achieve the goal of retirement, while 9.3% of the respondents attributed it to low income.

PersonalFN's view:
Effective financial planning indeed plays a very crucial role while achieving one's life goals – be it even retirement. You see, once a retirement plan is drawn in accordance to your risk profile, the asset allocation would also be optimally set for you; saving you from the risk of allocating your investible surplus in an awry manner to various asset classes (such as equity, debt gold and real estate). This would thus lead to your investible surplus being parked into productive investment avenues / instruments as what your plan calls for. It is noteworthy that, while return on investment is important the other facets such as risk associated thereto, should not be ignored along with other liquidity and taxation aspects.

While sourcing information, although host of information is disseminated through media, magazines and news channels, it is better if one proactively spends some time in doing his own research. Also taking guidance from friends and relatives may not be prudent, because what is appropriate for them may not be in your case. While seeking the services of a financial advisor / agent, it is imperative to select one who can provide you with an unbiased and a credible advice, which can help you achieve the goal of retirement.

Yes we recognise that countering the inflation bug indeed is a major challenge in path to live a blissful retired life. But along with that, in our view it is vital for one to curtail unnecessary expenses, because as it's said “every penny saved is a penny earned”. Also possibly, legitimately increasing the source of income should be considered.


With rising expenses and several commitments to meet in today’s demanding world, many investors fail to take right step to plan their retirement. Have you planned for your retirement wisely? Share your views here Or post your comments below.

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