I recently met a woman entrepreneur who said, “I don’t need a retirement plan,” because she was going to continue working her whole life and she had enough real estate assets to fall back on. As is well-known, in India most individuals still invest in real estate believing that it gives good returns and is a security in bad times. However, what one doesn’t realize is that with real estate prices stagnating, rental yields being low and the rentals not growing beyond a point; real estate is really not a good investment. One also misses the point that one may not be able to sell easily, at a desired price, when money is needed.
The only thing certain in business is uncertainty. So if, for whatever reason, she is not able to generate a monthly income, the rental income alone may not be sufficient to meet the expenses and live through old age.
These days I see more and more people not thinking about retirement planning because of a false sense of financial security.
