Posts in category "early-retirement"
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Eight Years In Financial Independence
Happy new year 2026 everyone. It is now more than 8 years since we became financially independent! Can’t believe how time flies. At the end of December 2017, I was super excited that we are finally reaching our goal of financial independence according to my calculations at that time. Now it is already 8 years past that milestone. These last few years have been as liberating and peaceful as I had hoped for.
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Kaveri Water vs Water Tanker
If you are not from Bangalore, you may not find this useful. Currently, the water source for our household consumption comes from water tankers. Every few weeks we get a 6000 liter water tanker to fill our sump. The water from the sump is pumped to an overhead tank for our water needs. Recently our layout was being connected with Kaveri water pipes and we have the option of choosing Kaveri water or continue with water tankers. As usual, I have to make a spreadsheet to check which is more financially viable :).
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Seven Years In Retirement
Well, well, well. what do you know? It’s already been 7 years since I retired early exactly on this day in 2018. There isn’t much to write about since nothing much has changed since what I wrote last year when I completed 6 years in retirement.
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How Good Are Chit Funds?
I have never understood chit funds. I still don’t. But I have heard great things about the returns on them, so thought I should learn about them from a friend who knows a great deal about chit funds. So thanks to him, I have some data that I collected and decided to check if they are a good investment. Remember that I only have very cursory information and you should not take my advice without doing your own research. I am presenting all the data as I received from my friend and as such I don’t really know any chit funds which offer similar schemes. I do not have any investments in chits, nor will I invest in them in the foreseeable future. But things can always change and if I do invest in them, you will know about it from my blog.
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Six Years In Retirement
I cannot believe that it is already six years since I retired early. I retired exactly on this day in 2018. In these 6 years I have seen several interesting things, met a variety of people, changed our lifestyle and health in more ways than one. It was a good ride. Of course it might not have been any different even if I was working but things would not have felt so leisurely and I certainly wouldn’t have time to write about it. The finances are going as per plan. Physical health is fine. Coming to things I wanted to do after retirement, or as I like to call as hobby projects have been going amazingly well. Even better than I originally planned and I still have a lot more to look forward to. But best of all, I am thoroughly enjoying the time I get to spend with my daughter. I also have more time for family and friends too.
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Should We Go With 3% Rule?
I recently wrote a post about asset allocation in which a reader commented whether we should be using 3% safe withdrawal rate in Indian context instead of the 4% safe withdrawal rate that is generally accepted in the US (at least in the past). The commenter also provided a video supporting the 3% rule. I strongly encourage you to watch that first. It makes some good arguments. If you are interested, I’d also suggest you read the paper which contains all the details, assumptions, data and methodology used for the simulations. According to the research paper, it is recommended that one should go with a 3% safe withdrawal rate instead of the generally well known 4% rate.
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Should You Prepay Loan Or Invest?
When you have some savings you might wonder whether to invest the savings or prepay your loan. I have always suggested a simple thumb rule, which is that if you anticipate your investments to give you better returns than the loan interest rate then invest, otherwise prepay your loan instead. Generally, for almost all kinds of loans the return on investment is usually lower than the loan interest. One exception is home loan which has a much lower effective interest rate because you get tax benefits. For most other loans it is better to prepay. That is a very simplistic rule, but does it really work? Let’s find out.
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What Is The Right Asset Allocation
In discussions with various people, the question about asset allocation always comes up. Some want to know what asset allocation they should follow. Others question my asset allocation. Unfortunately, there is no one answer for what asset allocation one should go with. Everyone’s situation is different and their risk appetite is different. They should go wih an asset allocation that they are comfortable with. If they can’t figure it out by themselves, then they should hire a financial planner who can tell them what asset allocation to go with given their situation and mindset. If you push me to give one number, I always say 70% in equity and the rest in fixed income if you plan to retire early, but even otherwise too. In this post I want to go into some nuances.
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Be Prepared For Retirement
There are many reasons one might want to retire early. Some may want to travel, some may want to sit and dream, and yet others might want to work on a startup or hobbies. Whatever the reasons might be, be prepared if the plan does not pan out. But more importantly remember that early retirement is not for everyone. I know a lot of people who have realized that early retirement is not for them. They don’t know what they would do if they retire early. For them, work is the thing that keeps them busy. That is a very good reason not to retire early and I am glad these people have a clear idea. While a few others want to retire early because the thought of freedom to do whatever you want sounds nice, or they are in a very stressful job. These kind of people can land up in trouble if they don’t have a plan.
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Revisiting My Stance on SGB
A reader asked if I could share my views on Sovereign Gold Bonds. I have already expressed my views on SGBs more than 3 years ago. Since it has been a while I thought I should revisit and see if my views have changed. Although nothing has changed from my perspective, it may still be a good investment for some. So I decided to do another post on SGB with the latest information.
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