Most Indian children know that Saraswati is the Goddess of education. Or knowledge. However, for success in life you need the blessings of 3 Indian Gods.

Saraswati – Goddess of learning. This means you should know. Like you know – smoking is bad for health, exercise is good for health, you should eat healthy,….in the times of Google, there is very little excuse for not KNOWING.

Then you need one more God. Hanuman. Who is he? he is the Guru. He holds your hand and makes you do. Like the health coach who calls you at 5.30am asking you to come to the gym. Or the financial coach who forces you to do the SIP on a regular basis.

Then you need the blessings of Uma (Parvati) the Goddess of Wisdom. She has to bless you with the knowledge that doing all this is necessary for you to benefit.

When I go around speaking about planning, insurance, selling, retirement, goal based investing, wealth prescription for doctors……I do find some of the people feeling that they know. Not true.

I have been speaking to the defense personnel, policemen, Ifa, doctors, engineers, chartered accountants, lawyers…..and most of them have no clue about how to plan for retirement. Mark my words, I am not joking.

For knowing how to plan for retirement you need to know how much is the inflation applicable to you. No. Not the headline inflation number that you see in Economic Times. The inflation applicable to you could range from 8% to 10% depending on your spending basket. So you need to know how much is the inflation that is applicable for YOUR life.

You need to know how much you are spending currently. Honestly. With written down expenses. As detailed as you wish to keep, and will not laze off in 2 weeks. You need to do this for 2-5 years to get a hang of the inflation rate.

The third thing to know is to know what is the weighted average return on your OWN portfolio. Important to know whether you are getting a REAL return. If the return is not real, you need to dramatically UP the savings rate. You need to save more than what you are currently saving, to set this right.

Then you need to understand COMPOUNDING. I have 3-4 examples of compounding. The audience has never got the answers right. Across management institutes – IIM, IIT, Nmims, Nirma, Sydenham, ICAI – you are in great company, do not worry.

So if you do not know your inflation, your portfolio return, asset allocation, compounding HOW ARE YOU GOING TO estimate your OWN retirement requirement?

Well if you are an IFA how are you going to help your client estimate his/her own retirement corpus requirement?

If you are an IFA do you know how to use Retirement calculators?

Can you talk about compounding with EXAMPLES without using an excel sheet?

Do you practice with real life examples?

If your client says ‘I think I need Rs. 9 crores for retirement at age 60 and now my age is 24..how much should the SIP be’? If you do not, you need practice.

So I am going around the country telling people – including doctors, ifa, CAs,…..what they need to get going.

No. I am not looking for claps and applause. I am looking for worksheets with end results – results which you can show to your wife. As well as your clients.

When I see worksheets all filled up, I know you have the blessings of Saraswati, Hanuman and Parvati.