mumbai if a large number of senior citizens are not in a position to spend their golden years by going to cruises or doing things they always wanted to do its because they have fallen prey to some common retirement pitfalls for those who are still some years away from retirement there is still an opportunity to plan so that the postretirement years are something to look forward to my kids will take care of me most indians think of life merely in terms of fulfiling responsibilities the common assumption is that looking after retired parents is the responsibility of children such beliefs are however history with the advent of the nuclear family system even if you are are blessed with caring son or daughter longevity will make it difficult to meet parental responsibilities imagine a situation where a 95yearold is dependent on a 65yearold not knowing how much to saveinvestinflation is a silent and an extremely efficient thief it robs a sizeable value of your savings over a period of time if we continue to have 6 inflation items that are available for rs 100 today will cost rs 768 after 35 years there are calculators available on many websites which you can use to ascertain the price you will pay for your dream lifestyle at the time of retirement not now syndromeif one prefers to spend for shortterm consumption goals over the longterm retirement goals it costs dear start as early as you can rs 100 if allowed to earn 15 compounded interest annually for 35 years would grow up to rs 13317 but the same amount would bring a sum of rs 3291 if you invest it for 25 years the difference of 10 years makes a big difference using retirement funds prematurelyjumping jobs is the order of the day many individuals prefer to withdraw the money they have accumulated in provident fund this hurts the retirement corpus building the provident fund should either be transferred and if it is withdrawn it should be invested in ppf or some other longterm conservative investment product such as pension fund asset allocationthese two words define the difference between retiring rich and retiring poor getting into the right asset at the right time matters a lot this is not an easy task hence it makes sense to stick to a predefined asset allocation depending on the risk profile you have and the financial goals you intend to achieve portfolio rebalancing taking into account the asset allocation at regular intervals is a must for attaining financial success instead of choosing something that is fashionable it makes sense to be with plain vanilla products index funds are the best options for those who intend to take equity exposure and know least about equities due to low cost and exposure to broad market an exposure to actively managed sector fund may destroy wealth if the timing of entry and exit goes awry taxationinvestment products that help you attain your goals should be tax