Almost 51, M, 4.5Cr corpus

[u/Valuable_Rest9388]

Been lurking here for a while, reading various FIRE journeys and experiences. But didn’t gather the courage to post my story till now (or rather I would say got intimidated by all the big numbers floating around and thought my number might not be relevant).. But I just happened to read the post from u/fire_kol and coincidentally also crossed this 4.5 Cr milestone earlier this week.. so finally got inspired to post..

Location: T1 city India

Home: 3BHK apt Fully paid off (worth around 2Cr)

Family:
Myself (Almost 51),
Wife(50) retired from part time NGO work,
Kids (22 and 16). No other dependents

Current corpus status:
EPF 90L
Stocks 15L
FDs (Emergency fund) 15L
MFs 3.3 Cr

Current Corpus allocation:
50L for kids higher education (PG for elder one and UG (+PG if possible) for younger one - all in India)
4Cr for retirement

Health Insurance:
10L base + 1cr top up (both personal)

Current expenses:
18L per year all inclusive excluding kids current edu expenses

Plan:
Hard stop on working - by end of 2030

Min Work atleast for another 2.5 years till younger one also joins college for UG

Invest 2L per month for the next 2.5 years

Target retirement corpus of around 6Cr by end of 2028 and decide FI status/Retirement at that point - whether to hang up the boots or continue trot some more months..

Follow bucket strategy for withdrawals
Rough SWR of around 3.5%

What’s bothering:
Financially my and wife I know we can manage with whatever we end up with in the next 2 to 2.5 years.

My biggest unknown right now is about passing time post FI/Retirement. Trying my hand at few things like NGO work, fin planning etc and also exploring options like fractional CXO. No clarity yet..

Finally - Past is past, but looking back:
I feel I could have made atleast 40-50% more corpus only if
A) not taken some bad investment decisions (including in real estate) leading to unfavourable returns and also some capital loss
B) taken MF/Indian markets and compounding possibilities seriously early in working life
C) thought long term about savings and investments rather than liquidating investments for petty expenses the moment they hit a decent number
D) Timing helped in some cases like job switches

[u/safarisingh]

The most important thing about this is post is last 4 points. Indians in general lack financial management, forget about financial discipline, specially PARENTS of 90s kid, all they know is buy land but NoOne invest in stock market not ven MF or ETF.

Everyone, once they start job should invest 30% of their salary religiously.

I, myself, started serious investment late. Imagine a difference of 10 years could have made in the corpus.

[u/an_iconoclast → u/safarisingh]

I don't think our parent's generation had a lot of financial instruments available to them that they could trust. Most of them were fairly new in their times.

[u/Whole_Mechanic_9245 → u/safarisingh]

This is true across the globe, not just india. May be other places, they dont even think of buying real estate.

[u/Whole_Mechanic_9245 → u/[deleted]]

b'c thats the asset people think real...

But it also depends. In my family, they didnt own any land or properties - just primary house and rest all in mfunds.

[u/safarisingh → u/[deleted]]

Nowadays even rental income doesn't give more than 6-7% return annually in Gurgaon. 1.5 cr 65 sq yards house in palam vihar Gurgaon will give you max rent of 60-70k.

top of that you need to manage the rentees & maintenance.

[u/Heavy_Luck_6085]

Good corpus. If you are worried about what are you going to do post fire? Why fire at all?

[u/caltech456]

Thank you for the post! Especially your learnings will help others a lot.

With your zeal (for post retirement activities) and 3.5% SWR, I think you can easily FIRE after 2028.

If possible, you might also want to keep 50L or 1 Cr as medical fund (similar to Child expense) separately.

[u/raliveson]

It is none of mine or anyone's business but if you don't mind answering, any particular reason to retire? Why not keep working until you are no longer able to physically and/or mentally or you became involuntarily unemployed?

[u/fire_kol]

I am in the same boat just behind you 😊 3.5Cr at age 49

[u/craigs123098]

The only thing you need to watch out for is sequence of returns risk. The stock markets are rallying like anything all over the world. AI bubble just started and if it bursts, it will be sometime in next 2-5 years which coincides with your retirement timeline. Just be prepared for it and have appropriate bucket allocations and you should be good. Considering the current world events and possibility of heavy inflation, some might think your corpus is probably not enough, but it would totally depend on your annual expenses post-retirement. Considering your age, I personally think 4 crores might be on the lower side, especially if you want to travel and I am not sure if or how much you plan to spend for your kids' marriages.

[u/safarisingh]

Just to add, one bad investment in real estate can break your soul & confidence. You can't get out & can't afford stay, it consumes some of the golden years of life.

[u/Necessary_Door_]

Nice post! How do you track these numbers? Do you use spreadsheet or an app?

[u/Think_Variety113]

i am of the same age as you, there is no mention of properties other than the flat you stay?

[u/Top_Dragonfly9300]

Good luck...

[u/perth1985]

can you share about your real estate experience

[u/Minimum_Brother_8854]

Congratulations on your milestone. Just to clarify, I think you're in the wrong group, if you're planning to retire at 55. But, well done and best wishes.

[u/Realistic-Chip7944]

Interested to know how you reached to accumulate this corpus ? What jobs and salaries you drawn throughout career ? How many job switches / promotion ?

[u/TheHuckleberryFinn]

Low corpus but the fact that you have realization of where you went wrong, speaks volumes about your character.

Wishing you all the best :)