5 Must-Haves for Your Retirement

Although Indian employees have the second highest savings rate of 16%, more than 78% Indians feel they are not saving enough for a comfortable retirement, says an article published in The Economic Times in August 2014. You are most likely to find yourself free from financial responsibilities towards your children by the time you retire. It is also the phase during which you can finally invest your time and money to fulfil unachieved life goals and desires.

As you age, healthcare costs also form a significant part of your expenditure. Therefore, retirement planning must be done keeping in mind the various expenses that you might have to incur in the second innings of your life. You must start early in order to build a significant corpus. There are two types of retirement plans you can choose from: traditional plans that do not disclose your investments or unit linked plans that tend to be more transparent in nature.

If you think that sitting around and sipping coffee all day long is the only thing you can do in the second innings of your life, here are a few interesting things you can consider trying:

1. Fulfil Your Hobby: You may have spent most of your time running between office and housework. Now you can enjoy your hobby. Join a class and social media groups of people with similar interests. Dedicate time to your hobby and share your achievements.

2. Work for a Cause: You could dedicate some time to giving back to society, like teaching unprivileged children or helping women learn a vocational skill. Maybe you can contribute towards animal rights or making the environment greener. You may work independently or become associated with an NGO working towards a cause that moves you.

3. Take a Vacation: You may have sacrificed a holiday so many times, with kids having exams and demands of your office. Not anymore! If you had opted for the best retirement plan in India, you may have enough money to enjoy the snow-capped mountains of Switzerland or breath-taking beaches of Bali.

4. Take up a Job: It's a great idea to occupy oneself doing something purposeful. You could become a consultant in your area of expertise. There are contract-based vacancies in colleges and universities, where you can go a couple of times a week and share your knowledge. Maybe you can help a start-up get off the ground. You may even think of starting something small of your own.

5. Babysit or Become a Mentor: Spending time with a baby or a child can bring a lot of happiness. And they tend to shower you with unconditional love. Find a family that needs a child to be taken care off. Moreover, you could be taking a load off the parents' shoulders.

To be able to do these things, you must have a significant corpus at your disposal. So, go ahead a use a retirement calculator to determine the amount of money you would need to put aside to have a comfortable post-retirement life.