Start investing by 35 or face scary retirement, warns fund manager

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.