“I want to retire at 50” Dinesh announced, “and then just enjoy life – reading, cooking, writing, everything that I always wanted to do.”
“That sounds like a plan Dinesh. But are you ready to do it?”
“Means?”
“I mean, are you financially ready to retire at 50?”
“I guess so. I am saving up enough that I can live carefree till 70.”
“How do you know you will live only till 70?” I paused. “What if you lived longer?”
“Well, no one in my family has lived beyond that age”, he winked at me. “Plus, isn’t that the normal life expectancy of a urban male in India”, he turned the screen of his smartphone towards me. The Census of India site confirmed the life expectancy number. I took his phone and read further.
“Do you notice here that the life expectancy has been continuously increasing over the years? There is a fair chance that you could go on to live till 80, 90 or even 100.”
“I don’t want to live that long.”
“I am not saying you have to. I am saying you may. In that case, will you have enough money to take care of you and your wife?”
This got Dinesh thinking. After a couple of minutes, he replied, “I don’t know.”
He looked at me and said, “You tell me. What would it take?”
What if you lived longer?
I had just been working on retirement planning for various life expectancy numbers. I opened my laptop and turned the screen towards him.
“Here, see this.”