# Start investing by 35 or face scary retirement, warns fund manager 2026-08-18T15:38:38+00:00 | Business & Economy | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets (3 source reports) Swarup Mohanty, vice chairman and CEO of Mirae Asset Investment Managers, has warned salaried professionals that delaying retirement planning and investment until after 35 could lead to a financially difficult old age. In a podcast with Finnovate, Mohanty said that active income will stop one day, and individuals must live on their savings. He called failing to invest by 35 a 'very, very scary proposition' and a 'disservice' to oneself. Mohanty explained the cost of delay with an example: to build a corpus of Rs 10 crore at 12% returns, starting at age 20 requires an investment of Rs 10,000-20,000 per month, but starting at 40 requires about Rs 2 lakh per month. He also stressed the importance of adequate medical insurance, saying healthcare will become expensive. A separate report by Livemint quoted retirement strategist Milind Deogaonkar, who said many retirees fear spending despite having a corpus and recommended a separate healthcare buffer of Rs 35-50 lakh for metro retirees. In a related story, SEBI-registered investment adviser Abhijit Kumar advised high earners to run a 20-minute financial audit. He suggested tracking all EMIs, cancelling unused subscriptions, moving SIP dates to salary day, building a six-month emergency fund, and calculating the real savings rate. Kumar noted that saving under 10% of take-home pay indicates a spending leak rather than a salary problem. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Both Hindustan Times and Livemint reported Mohanty's warning in a neutral, advisory tone, with no political slant. Hindustan Times led with the 'scary' reality check, while Livemint emphasised the specific math of Rs 2 lakh per month cost of delay. Livemint added a second expert, Milind Deogaonkar, to discuss withdrawal anxiety and healthcare buffers, broadening the story beyond Mohanty's original podcast. A separate Livemint article by Sounak Mukhopadhyay covered Abhijit Kumar's financial audit advice, which is related but not directly part of the same warning. The coverage is uniform straight reporting with practical financial advice. Readers should note that while the maths assumes a 12% return, actual market returns vary, and the advice to start early and maintain health insurance is standard financial prudence. ## Coverage Coverage: 3 sources, 3 neutral - hindustantimes.com (neutral report) Reports Mohanty's warning directly, no additional expert quotes or editorialising - livemint.com (neutral report) Reports Mohanty's warning with added context from a second expert on withdrawal anxiety - livemint.com (2) (neutral report) Straight reporting of investment adviser Abhijit Kumar's 5-step financial audit advice This story was synthesised by AI from the 3 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 3 sources. Last updated 2026-08-19T12:18:07+00:00. Tags: Mirae Asset Investment Managers, personal finance, retirement planning, Swarup Mohanty Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/investor-swarup-mohanty-warns-salaried-indians-on-retirement-planning/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/investor-swarup-mohanty-warns-salaried-indians-on-retirement-planning/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/