The process of determining retirement income goals and the actions and decisions necessary to achieve those goals. Retirement planning includes identifying sources of income, estimating expenses, implementing a savings program and managing assets.

Retirement planning is the process of planning and managing your short and long-term finances to help achieve your financial dreams both during your working years and retired life. It involves analysing your financial objectives, current financial position and expected future cash flowto develop a comprehensive retirement roadmap.

Retirement planning is not an art but a definitive science which requires taking a 360 degree approach to studying one’s current financial health, long-term goals and risk appetite to design a plan that addresses the retirement and other long-term goals of an individual.

It involves a step-by-step approach:

There is no right time for retirement. Deciding whether or not to retire is a decision that only you can take. If your financial situation, health, age and feelings about your job all point towards retirement, it’s time to call it a day. Ideally you should work as long as you can. Based on individual requirements, financial stability and liabilities, you should plan your retirement accordingly.

It’s never too early to start. Wealth creation is a time-taking process and usually lasts throughout your lifetime. So the earlier you start the more time your money gets to multiply. By starting early with your retirement planning you can benefit from the power of compounding, manage the longevity risk and maximise your returns from high-risk and aggressive investments options. It’s always wise to start saving early.

The early bird catches the worm. Starting late with retirement planning poses many difficulties for creating a strong corpus and sufficient wealth to see you through retirement. However, the good news is that it’s never too late to start. If you are late, all is not lost and you can cover for lost ground. You can take the following measures to make up for starting late: