Retirement & Succession Planning

A retirement corpus plan begins with one fundamental calculation: the monthly income you will need in retirement, adjusted for inflation over the years between now and the date you retire, and then sustained for the number of years you expect to live post-retirement. Most people significantly underestimate this number — a couple requiring ₹1 lakh per month today, retiring in 15 years, expecting to live for 25 years post-retirement, needs a corpus of approximately ₹6–8 crore at retirement assuming 7% inflation and 8% post-retirement portfolio yield. Arriving at this number requires modelling inflation, expected healthcare costs (which inflate faster than general inflation), lifestyle adjustments, legacy goals, and the tax treatment of corpus withdrawals in retirement. We build a comprehensive retirement corpus plan: current income and expense profiling, target retirement income determination, inflation-adjusted corpus target, gap analysis against existing retirement savings (EPF, PPF, NPS, investments), annual savings required to close the gap, and the investment strategy (asset allocation, instrument selection, accumulation phase vs decumulation phase portfolio) to achieve the target. The plan is updated annually as income, expenses, and market conditions change.

A will is the most fundamental estate planning document — and it is estimated that over 70% of Indians die intestate (without a will), leaving their families to navigate the intestate succession laws, which distribute assets in a formulaic manner that rarely reflects the deceased's actual wishes. A well-drafted will specifies every asset, its intended beneficiary, the conditions (if any) on inheritance, the appointment of an executor who will manage the estate administration process, and guardianship provisions for minor children. For HNI and business-owning families, a will alone is often insufficient — a family trust provides control over how and when assets are distributed, protects assets from creditors and matrimonial claims, provides for minor or financially inexperienced beneficiaries through a trustee structure, and can facilitate succession across multiple generations without the delay and cost of probate. A Private Discretionary Trust — where the trustee has discretion over distribution — is the most flexible structure and is widely used for family wealth management in India. A succession plan goes beyond the legal document to encompass the full governance framework: family constitution, decision-making protocols for jointly held assets, the retirement income plan for the senior generation, and the transition of business ownership or management. We advise on will drafting, trust formation and registration, succession planning document preparation, and ongoing trustee advisory.

Nominee designation and estate planning compliance are two of the most neglected areas of personal finance in India — and the most consequential when they go wrong. A nominee is not the same as an heir: in most financial instruments (bank accounts, fixed deposits, insurance policies), a nominee is only a trustee of the proceeds, not the legal owner, and the proceeds must ultimately be transferred to the legal heir as determined by the will or succession law. However, in mutual funds and demat accounts (under SEBI's framework), a nominee has stronger rights and nomination facilitates a direct transfer — making nomination critical for these assets. The compliance framework for estate planning requires: a complete asset inventory (financial accounts, physical assets, insurance policies, EPF/PPF/NPS, property documents) documenting every asset with its nominee designation and location of documents; alignment of nominee designations across all accounts to match the will; periodic updates to nominations when relationships change; and designation of a trusted executor or successor who has access to all documentation. We conduct a comprehensive estate compliance audit — reviewing all nominee designations across bank accounts, mutual funds, demat, insurance, EPF, PPF, and NPS — identify gaps and conflicts between nominations and the will, recommend and implement corrections, and maintain a structured asset register for the family.