Financial planning is not something one can afford to take for granted, and planning finances is something that has to be done judiciously and with prudence. The question of having planned one’s life financially always lurks in the back of people’s minds throughout their lives. Finance is an integral part of everyone’s lifetime, and if planned well, life altogether seems smooth, comfortable, stress-free, and a bit more joyful. And when it comes to retirement, it becomes of the utmost importance that everyone should plan very well as, in their old age, one cannot earn and does not have the energy to survive without necessities even for a day. Therefore, a backup becomes necessary. The book “Retirement Planning: A Simple Guide for Individuals,” written by R.K. Mohapatra, divided into eight chapters, is an impeccable read which is about insights on how someone can plan their retirement.
The author has shared a lot of genuine and worth trying strategies for financial planning for retirement. The author has written in detail about what retirement planning is and why it is essential to plan it financially in the initial chapters. Retirement is not about an age of leaving any particular job, but for this book and for retirement planning financially, retirement is about an age when you want to see your family play beside you without worries, and you can be around them to share the little moments which would become memories with the passing time. The author pragmatically suggests that this age can be planned beforehand. The prerequisites here would include a proper understanding of money and financial planning for retirement.
As the book progresses, the author has shared detailed information about stages of retirement planning, the value of the mutual funds for financial planning for retirement, the importance of different financial instruments and their valuation, advantages, and disadvantages of various financial instruments, succession planning, and many such important aspects about retirement planning. Without hampering the readers’ perception, he presents details in an objective manner and leaves the decision-making to the readers as per whatever best suits their circumstances. To achieve anything worthwhile, one needs to have sincere effort, discipline, determination, and systematic planning. These attributes are required for investing properly to plan for retirement as well.
Mohapatra does not give a step-by-step approach towards financial planning for life post-retirement, but he shares the little details which may otherwise go ignored, but the significance of which can not be undermined. If someone has no knowledge of basic finance and wants to plan retirement according to their financial needs on their own, then the book is an amazing guide. However, if someone has an understanding of finance and financial instruments, then the book may help in updating their prior knowledge or adding on here and there.
The author is an expert in finance and has shared his knowledge of finance in the simplest way possible. He has written about mutual funds and insurance in a detailed manner. At the ending of the book, the author has written about public provident funds, asset management companies, inflation, cost inflation index, and tips for investing smartly. Even for those who may not be planning for finance after retirement, this book would still be useful as the ideas can be applied at any point of time in life.
Retirement planning is not a one-day task, and just like that reading, one book is not enough for retirement planning. One must make efforts consistently and work diligently towards planning and not just towards planning but towards investing the amount of money regularly for the better old age days and a healthy lifestyle. The author has not written any jargon related to finance in the book which makes the book easier to be read. The strategies written in the book are not just theoretical based and have a practical touch to them. At the same time, the author abstains from writing long paragraphs which would stretch into longer pages; rather he keeps them short, concise, focused, and moves with a straight-forward approach.
After his earlier two books, “Mutual Funds: A Powerful investment Avenue for Individuals and “Investment, Risk & Growth,” the author takes a different direction and focusses on the later stage of life in “Retirement Planning” with an objective of both educating the readers and spreading awareness regarding financial planning. While the other two books venture to spread awareness in the same direction, there is a slight difference here in terms of the target time of an individual’s life. In light of this, recommending this book to all readers would not be wrong. Whether they read fiction or non-fiction, finance is a requirement of every individual in every home and in every stage of their lives. Therefore, “Retirement Planning” or merely financial planning becomes more of a mandatory thing than anything else.
Book Title: Retirement Planning
Author R. K. Mohapatra
Publisher: Blue Rose Publishers
Reviewed by: Akhila, Criticspace Literary Journal