A top investment manager has issued a stark warning to salaried professionals about the financial consequences of delayed investment decisions. Swarup Mohanty, Vice Chairman and CEO of Mirae Asset Investment Managers, cautioned in a podcast with Finnovate that those who have reached 35 without investing could spend the final years of their life running out of money. According to reports from Hindustan Times, Mohanty explained that the cost of waiting can be punishing because a late investor loses years of compounding, with the opportunity cost reaching almost ₹2 lakh per month. He emphasized that at 35, one should realize they will live very long and at some point, active income will stop for a salaried person, making money the only friend for the rest of their life.
The investment manager provided specific examples of the financial impact of delayed investment. As reported by Hindustan Times, if someone wants to earn ₹10 crore and starts at 20, they need to invest ₹10,000 to ₹20,000 per month at 12% returns. However, starting at 40 would require ₹2 lakh per month or more to achieve the same goal. Mohanty observed that while the mid-30s still offer time to act upon the same, "But at 35, you still are not bad. You can start. But realising the need for money is most important. And the biggest disservice that it will do to you for your old age is not investing as on yesterday."
Beyond investment timing, Mohanty stressed the importance of medical insurance coverage. According to Hindustan Times, he warned that not having good medical insurance is another mistake because healthcare will become expensive, noting that your health is very critical and healthcare will become expensive. He advised that people should start investing as if there is no tomorrow because that is your dire need. As reported by Mint, he stated that if you're going to live till 90-95, and invariably many are going to live because medical sciences have become much better, then those last 10-15 years can be very, very brutal if you don't have money.
Retirement strategist Milind Deogaonkar highlighted that having a large corpus doesn't necessarily end anxiety, as many retirees are afraid to spend because they don't know how much they can safely withdraw without exhausting their savings. As reported by Mint, estimating inflation at 6% to 7% and medical inflation at 12% to 14%, Deogaonkar recommended that traditional Indian retirees restrict annual withdrawals to between 2.5% and 3.5%. At a 3% withdrawal rate, a ₹2 crore corpus would provide ₹60,000 a month, while a ₹3 crore corpus would provide ₹90,000.
Deogaonkar emphasized the importance of healthcare planning in retirement. According to Mint, he recommended keeping a separate healthcare buffer of ₹35 lakh to ₹50 lakh for a retired couple living in a metro and relying on private hospitals. He noted that without it, one serious hospitalisation could force a family to break into its main retirement corpus at precisely the wrong time. The strategist observed that most people approaching retirement have spent 30 years learning how to accumulate, but have spent almost no time learning how to withdraw.
