Retirement myths or Investment myths?
there will always be a set of believers and a set of non believers. So there will always be some myths. As a blogger it is nice to keep clearing them…because too many people are creating myths very fast. Let me attack 3 myths today (I was told by somebody that people get confused if u try to teach more than 3 things at a time!!)
Myth No. 1: I am too young to plan for retirement: This is a very very wrong statement. The earlier you start the sooner you reach the goal. What happens if you are not able to earn from the age of 54? You thought you will save very well in those 7 years did you not?
Myth No. 2: I can never be as good as Vallabh Bhansali or Rakesh Jhunjhunwala so why try? So stupid. Of course I cannot write as well a zillions of good to great writers, but I have been blogging, published a book…and till date nobody has called my blog lousy. So what if I cannot be as good as Vallabh in investing or Swaminathan Anklesharia Iyer in writing? Come on I can manage my own portfolio (lot of value copying from Warren and Vallabh, but my money does not know I have copied, does it?).
Myth No. 3: It is too late for me to start planning for retirement: same as point no. 1. Start today, of course yesterday would have been better. However today is still better than tomorrow.
Myth No. 4: Planning for retirement is very difficult. Not at all. Invest some time first – the rest of the pieces fall into place. Sorry to use this post as a plug – ‘Retire Rich Invest Rs. 40 a day’ is my book and a good place to start.
http://www.subramoney.com/book-written-by-me/
PS: there are only 3 myths – the 3rd one is just like point no. 1 and the 4th is a plug.
virendra ahuja
i do agree with u. i am 67 now but i started saving very late for my rest of the age only 3 years back with rs.2000/= pm. suggest other options for people like me if any.
with regards.
v.ahuja
Puneet
I do not agree with myth No. 4.
It might be easy to start investing for retirement, but it is never easy to plan for it..especially for layman like me.
You need lots of time to understand the various options available with pros and cons.
Deciding what would suit you most is next part. Then there are different ways to calculate how much you need to save.
You never know what all factors you missed to account for while planning, (e.g. increasing life-expectancy ); it’s anyways going to be a well-planned-speculation.
So no matter how much you plan for it, it’s going to be based on lot of assumptions.
Then comes, being-persistent mindset. With lot of chaos around, it is not going to be easy to stick to you plan life long!
PS 1: All this does *not* mean you should not plan for it.
PS 2: Pun intended thoughts: http://imposters.blogspot.com/2010/05/simplest-portfolio-idea.html
PS 3: Reading Subra’s book has been a big relief. A must read for every
Ranjan
Enjoyed reading your book. Thanks.
P.Jayaraman
Any time is good for investments. The only thing is that you should know when do you need the fund? Staring earleir is so good in the assumption that you do not have more commitment. Investments is related to individual behaviour towards thier goal.
subra
Thanks Puneet, Thanks Ranjan. Ranjan what topic are you planning to write on?
Though many people are not well informed about financial planning, it is a topic where all areas seem to be already written about. More importantly are people willing to buy a book, read it and apply it? Writing because it is fun…and then hoping people will read it :).
subra
Mr. Virendra Ahuja
assuming all your other investments are in debt based instruments, do a SIP in Hdfc Top 200. However if you already have some exposure to equity, choose Hdfc Prudence fund – it has an element of debt also.