Subra I am a doctor planning to retire in the next 5 years (I am 63 now) and I have one question to ask : “How many funds should I be invested in and how do I decide what to keep after I retire?

Well, this is a question which many doctors above the age of 65 have asked me in various forms…

Doc, the amount of Rs. 3 crores that you have is just NOT GOING to be enough. YOUR current expenses are Rs. 2L per month (no EMI) and this has to be sustained for the next perhaps 40 years.

Do a simple math – 24L * 30 years that itself is Rs. 7.2 crores. Just the sheer math without including any inflation. Given your current expenditure levels, you cannot retire at this age with this amount of money. Remember your wife is 9 years younger than you and in very good health. This means 40 years is not impossible. That means 10 crores, not even 7 crores.

Yes you can get returns on your corpus of Rs. 3 crores – but assuming that you get about 5% per annum post tax – it is not sufficient even for 2019, forget 2059. This means you will dip into Rs. 3 crores right from the first month/year. That is another big no no.

Of course in a public post like this I do have a limitation of what I can say, but let us look at the options that you have:

Postpone the retirement by 5 years (you will be 73 instead of 68),

Start doing a sip in a Large cap oriented fund like Mirae Asset India Equity Fund – of Rs. 4L per month

Think of withdrawing money from that fund only when you are 75+ which means 12 years from now

Sell off your practice – do not let it just rot and go to dogs. See if your practice will fetch more or the Real estate value is higher.

I am accepting your assessment of the value of your clinic to be of Rs. 5-7 crores.

Assuming that you get Rs. 14 crores for your RE about 12 years later, that too will become your corpus for retiring.

You will have to give up your obsession for Real Estate and bank fixed deposits

Sell off your 2nd flat – you have kept it locked, AND it is not appreciating at all. That will fetch you another Rs. 2 crores

So funnily, I started by saying that you do not have money, but we both soon realized that money was available, but it had to be re-organized better. You need to convert your ‘non-working’ assets to ‘working’ assets.

At your age of 74, 80 and perhaps 84 we will buy 3 annuity policies.

When you retire you will still have your wife’s income as a fall back option.

The other reason why I am asking you to postpone your retirement is that your hobbies box is empty. Completely empty.

Go find a hobby.

Finding the money is my job. I am reasonably competent.