Retirement is unavoidable. It happens eventually to all wage-earners. It is up to us on how we want to spend our sunset years — cushioned or threadbare. Retirement planning can be daunting. A lot depends on our investment strategy and portfolio choices. Indians are partial to investments in real estate, gold and fixed income investments.
But in the current times, will this suffice?
No. Real estate prices have run up out of the range of the common man, while gold also has seen its fall in recent years, plus it is more of a diversification factor to the portfolio, compared to its traditional use of hoarding in the country. Which leaves us with fixed income investments, (mostly bank fixed deposits) while these provide safety, they tend to generate marginal inflation-adjusted returns. We need a long-term wealth-creator for that. The obvious choice, then, is equities.
