You must have heard quite a number of times from your parents to start saving for the golden days of your life – i.e. retirement. Now-a-days even financial advisors or planners are insisting that you undergo financial planning exercise. Hence, it is evident that the retirement planning is slowly but surely getting its due importance. However, the idea of planning for one’s own retirement can knock the daylights out of one’s self. But don’t worry; you can smoothly sail through your retirement planning process by following this 5-point strategy as described below:
 

1. Start early
   
   One reason why retirement planning is looked upon with much apprehension and even distaste is because most of you are late off the starting blocks. And when you start late, achieving the desired or rather the required investment corpus becomes all the more difficult. Citing this some of you tend to further postpone this exercise which results into financial and emotional strain. So the secret here is to make an early start. Let us understand the benefits of starting the retirement planning exercise at an early stage in life with the help of an illustration.
     Early bird gets a bigger pie

   Particulars	Ram	Laxman	Bharat
   Present age (years)	25	30	35
   Retirement age (years)	60	60	60
   Investment tenure (years)	35	30	25
   Monthly investment (Rs)	7,000	7,000	7,000
   Returns per annum	10%	10%	10%
   Sum accumulated (Rs)	2,65,76,466	1,58,23,415	92,87,834

    

   In the above illustration, Mr Ram starts his retirement planning exercise at the age of 25 years with a monthly investment of Rs 7,000. Assuming a 10% rate of return and his retirement age of 60 years, Mr Ram has investment tenure of 35 years. This helps him accumulate Rs 2.66 crore by the time he retires. On the other hand, Mr Laxman starts his retirement planning 5 years later than Mr Ram. Being late in kicking off his retirement planning process, Mr Laxman is able to accumulate Rs 1.58 crore only. And finally, Mr Bharat, the late boomer of the lot starts his retirement planning at the age of 35 years and manages to accumulate a meagre Rs 92 lakh.
    

   
   Thus, it is evident from the above that an early start to your retirement planning can fetch you a higher accumulated sum.
    
2. Make a plan
   
   Before you embark on saving for your retirement, you must have a plan in place. While a plan may sound fancy and even intimidating, be rest assured it is not all that complicated. Your retirement plan is simply your wish-list of how you wish to spend your twilight years. For instance, if you wish to retire in the suburbs in a 2-bedroom flat with a veranda outside the house with a monthly income of Rs 30,000, then you must make a financial plan based on these inputs. Put simply, this plan must incorporate all your inputs to tell you how much you need to save today to live your dream retirement. Among other expenses, when you plan for retirement, you must make it a point to set aside money for medical expenses and contingencies, as any retirement plan without them is incomplete.
    
3. Consult a financial advisor
   
   While retirement planning is a process that requires a high level of involvement from your side, you must look for someone to partner you for some smart inputs. The partner over here is your financial advisor. While you have to decide on how you wish to lead your life during retirement, your financial advisor will help you translate that dream in numbers. He will put a number to everything i.e. your dream house, vehicle, post-retirement income, medical expenses and contingencies among other inputs. He will tell you how much you need to save and where to invest your savings so as to achieve your retirement corpus. In other words, he will outline a roadmap and more importantly, will implement the same for you.
    
4. Track and review your plan
   
   Once the plan is outlined and implemented you have to still ensure that you are on track at all times to meet your targeted return at the desired level of risk. This calls for a periodic review of your investment plan. This is a task that is best left to an expert, which is where your financial advisor will once again have a role to play. He will actively monitor your investments, exit the investments that are not performing upto the mark and invest in alternative investments. Over time as you approach retirement; he will reduce allocation to risky assets like stocks and/or equity funds in favour of more conservative avenues like fixed deposits. He will also alter your investment plan based on any additional inputs you give him (maybe with a change in lifestyle you may choose to have a 3-bedroom flat instead a 2-bedroom one).
    
5. Don't dip into your retirement savings
   
   A successfully implementation of your retirement planning, calls for loads of investment discipline. One aspect of discipline involves religiously setting aside the money that is committed towards retirement. Another aspect of discipline relates to treating your retirement corpus as sacred. This means that every time you are confronted by a financial emergency you should not rush to withdraw from investments that are earmarked for retirement. Of course, if there is no way out, then you can withdraw from your retirement kitty, but make sure you make good that withdrawal by putting an equal amount at the next opportunity.
   
   So, the next time you think of your retirement please keep in mind this 5-point strategy to make things easier for you.
    

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