The plan every Indian family needs

Summary: Building long-term wealth does not require brilliant stock picks or perfect market timing. This decade-by-decade roadmap lays out the simple financial habits that can help Indian families build security and wealth over a lifetime.

Summary: Building long-term wealth does not require brilliant stock picks or perfect market timing. This decade-by-decade roadmap lays out the simple financial habits that can help Indian families build security and wealth over a lifetime. People who retire comfortably are almost never the ones who picked a brilliant stock or timed the market. They simply did the basics well for a long time: monthly SIPs, sensible insurance and staying out of bad debt, for 25 to 30 years. Most of us never learned this at home. Our parents kept money in FDs, LIC policies and gold, because deposit rates were 10 per cent and the joint family was the safety net. Both are gone. Today we must build our own retirement, and unlike the US, there is no social security cheque waiting for most Indians. Here is a plan that works for most Indian families, decade by decade. Returns are assumed at around 12 per cent a year, roughly what the Nifty 50 has given over long stretches, though anyone who lived through 2008 or March 2020 knows the ride is never smooth. Your 20s: Start, even if it feels too small At 25, you have little money but a lot of time, and time is worth far more than most people realise. Consider this: put Rs 10,000 a month into a Nifty index fund from 25, and at 12 per cent you are looking at roughly Rs 6.5 crore by 60. Start the same SIP at 35, and you end up near Rs 1.9 crore. The delay quietly cost more than Rs 4.5 crore. What else you need to do in this decade: Keep six months of expenses in a liquid fund or sweep-in FD before putting a rupee into equity, since jobs disappear overnight. Run SIPs in a Nifty 50 index fund or flexi-cap fund, starting at Rs 3,000 a month and rising with your sa

This article was originally published on September 01, 2026.