Thanks for such detailed explanation on SWP for retirement planning. Typically retirement needs to be planned for long period such as 15 years or 20 years. Should we not be investing in high quality equity funds 100% rather than balanced funds. I believe investing in equity for a 15 year horizon is a better idea with SWP than investing in balanced fund. Can you please comment to clarify my thinking on this?
We are glad that you found our content useful. Your comment on retirement planning is very valid because equity funds are likely to give superior returns compared to balanced funds over a long period. However, our content is not just informed by analysis of asset performance; it is also influenced by our experience of interactions with investors and how they think in different situations. In India there are no social security benefits for retired people and retirees have to depend solely on their retirement savings. Any adverse equity market situation, which can cause depletion of retirement savings (due withdrawals made during market downturns),even if temporarily, can be very stressful for retired investors. We saw this happening in 2008 and even in the more recent bear markets.
There are other practical concerns as well. An average retired investor in India does not have adequate health insurance; getting health insurance after the age of 65 is both difficult and expensive. Many retired people may have to depend on their retirement savings (in addition to health insurance) to take care of emergency health needs. Therefore, reducing investment risk is an important consideration for retired people. Hence we suggest balanced funds, which can give good returns in the long term and at the same time are considerably less risky than equity funds. At the same time, we agree with you high quality equity funds can be excellent long term investment options for SWP for investors, provided they have sufficient contingency funds set aside for emergency and situations like severe market downturns.
We suggest you read what are balanced funds and also read how SWP from balanced mutual funds is a smart option to get regular returns
Hope you find our suggestions useful.
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