Is retiring @ 40 even possible?

I love attending family weddings!

Besides being joyous reunions, such weddings provide me with an opportunity to connect with three generations of my family. I get to meet the newest additions, the young & the restless and ofcourse the senior citizens.

Recently I attended a wedding at my cousin’s place. There I met this amazing young chap who was about to enter his 30s. His father and I share a lot many fond childhood memories. When he was introduced to me, I had to literally wipe off the old memories of young Vinay sitting on my lap. That Vinay had now grown up into a fine young man. I could feel that he was ready to take on the world!

We spoke about many things ranging from sports to technology to life in general. Then I ask him a question “What’s next in life Vinay?”

“I don’t know about the next 25 years, but one thing is for sure. I am gonna hang up my boots by the time I turn 40 and then I will see the world”, he replied.

I could feel that Vinay was determined to retire at 40. Hence I decided to prod him further about how he plans to finance his life once he hangs up his boots.

“No plans are made yet! I am currently doing WHPH, will soon start saving money and in the next 10-12 years I will have sufficient balance to enjoy a smooth retired life” he casually replied.

To be honest, I knew Wi-Fi and WFH, but WHPH was new to me. So I sheepishly asked him to decode it for me.

“Work-Hard-Party-Harder!” he explained.

I knew that this great ship was heading nowhere as he did not have a plan to finance his life after he hung up his boots. I was certain that sooner or later he would be required to retrieve his old boots, polish them and get back to work to finance his retired life.

Deep inside I knew that Vinay was in for a rude shock now, but I had to give him that. I took him to a corner and asked him “now that you have been working for almost 3-4 years, how much have you saved to date and are you certain that the way you are saving or the financial instruments that you are using will help you create a good-enough corpus?”

To be honest, no one around us except me could hear a glass bowl crack! The look on Vinay’s face changed from a ‘happy-go-lucky’ chap to a ‘what-do-I-do-now’ type!

To be honest, Vinay is not an exception, but a norm. Most youngsters, who start earning, don’t even get a thought that their incomes will seize to exist one day. They are happy to remain in the WHPH mode in the initial phase of their professional careers. They believe that the financial instruments that their parents employed in their working life are right and adequate for them to finance their retired life.

Unfortunately, this is not the case.

That is where Tata Pension comes into picture. It is time that youngsters realise that pension planning is a serious exercise that requires trusted professional help. One need not be a pro in understanding the risks, knowing NPS or even knowing thoroughly the science of 'How-to-do-salary-planning'. All it takes is a phone call to companies like Tata Pension or its peers who can help create a safety net around your income even after you retire!

If retirement planning is not done on time, then the inability to hang up one's boots at 40 due to financial constraints might remain the greatest non-achievement of your life!